By Madison Donahue, Staff Writer ’21
Originally from Michigan, Brenden Smith moved to Palmyra, Pennsylvania, his sophomore year of high school with his whole family. Fast forward to 2021, Brenden is a senior at LVC who will graduate in May with a degree in business administration.
“I chose to study this because I found myself always leading groups and felt that it was a good fit for me,” Smith said. “Not only is it something I am interested in, but it will also help me to build character and people skills that can be used outside of my career.”
Having always had a passion for leading people, he felt LVC was the perfect fit to earn his degree and pursue other extracurricular activities close to his family. Since he is living so close to home and has a busy work schedule outside of school, he chose to commute to LVC rather than live on campus.
“My experience at LVC has been great,” Smith said. “The professors and advisors have been very helpful and friendly with me during my time here, and I am able to commute to class which makes it easier on my work schedule. Because I’m a commuter, I haven’t had the full experience but feel that if I did it would have been a very positive one from what I have seen when I have been on campus.”
Finishing senior year during the pandemic was very difficult for students all over the world. Even with the job market being extremely limited and competitive, it hasn’t deterred Smith from pursuing a passion for his — gaming.
“My ideal job would be a management position in a technology company, possibly working for a gaming company or other technologically focused company,” Smith said. ” While I have not taken too many computer science classes during my years at LVC, I have taken time to teach myself the basics of many programming languages and plan to continue to do this, as well as taking online certification tests to add to my resume.”
Post graduation, Smith hopes to stay close to home and his family while also finding a job in the industry he is passionate about, but if an opportunity presents itself, he is willing to move away from Palmyra.
“After graduation I plan on applying for management positions in many local businesses, or commuting to companies a bit further away,” Smith said. “I like this area and don’t plan to move far, but if a really good job opportunity opens somewhere, I would be open to it.”
Looking down the road, Smith hopes to continue to move up the chain in the company he is working for, along with networking and meeting people from all over the world.
“In 10 years, I hope to be working for a company that I like and have a stable career working with technology and managing a group of likeminded people to accomplish tasks and ultimately give something to the community and people that they find useful,” Smith said.