Heather Livingston is a graduating senior from Wakefield, MA.
During her time at Wake Forest, Livingston majored in Business and Enterprise Management (BEM) in the undergraduate School of Business. She describes the major as “the liberal arts version of a Business degree.”
“We take classes in accounting, finance, operations and marketing, and then your concentration lets you specialize,” Livingston said.
Livingston’s concentration within the BEM major is International Business, a concentration which requires a minor in Global Trade and Commerce.
The biggest part of the Global Trade and Commerce minor is a required study abroad experience. Livingston studied in Venice at the Casa Artom during the Spring semester of her sophomore year.
She particularly enjoyed going abroad with a large group of people she did not know. Even though Livingston thought she had her core group of friends set after a year and a half at Wake Forest, she was able to make many new friends while in Venice, many of which she says are some of her best friends today at the brink of her graduation.
Professor Dean Franco of the English Department was the head of Livingston’s study abroad program in Venice.
“Heather is an open-minded, thoughtful and frequently daring student,” Franco said. “As a non-humanities major in a literature class full of humanities majors, Heather consistently distinguished herself with the originality of her questions and a willingness to take on complex answers.”
When describing her character as a person, professor Franco said, “Heather achieves her goals and takes on her adventures with humor and equanimity, genuine traits which will carry her far in the future.”
One of the most interesting parts of the BEM major is a required internship during the summer following junior year. For her internship, Livingston worked for Mass Grow Capital Corporation (MGCC), a non-profit lending company in Boston.
Some of Livingston’s fondest memories of her time at Wake Forest came outside the classroom. As a member of the Spirit of the Old Gold and Black (SOTOGAB), the Wake Forest marching band, Livingston had the pleasure of attending countless Demon Deacon sporting events and seeing the football and basketball improve from her freshman to senior year. She particularly loved being a member of the marching band for the great community she was surrounded with for four years.
After she graduates, Livingston said she will deeply miss the people she has spent four years getting to know and live with. She also added that she admires that everybody at Wake Forest is involved in things they are passionate about along with the general curiosity and thirst for continuous learning. She hopes to take that never-ending passion for learning outside of Wake Forest and continue to embody Pro Humanitate.
Livingston’s post-graduation plans are not typical for many Wake Forest students, let alone School of Business students. Instead of going on to work in the corporate business world, Livingston will be moving to Malaysia to teach English at a middle school — a testament to her desire to continue embodying Pro Humanitate wherever she goes.
