Growth and intentionality are the two main things that come to mind when asked about the last four years for Blake Wynveen. A senior Business & Enterprise Management major, Wynveen has really enjoyed watching people around him grow.
“In high school, there’s less of an intentionality behind things,” Wynveen said. “There’s a little more autonomy for things, and one thing I’m really proud of with that is just watching over time everyone around me and myself just grow as people and grow up a little bit. It’s really cool to look back at freshman year Blake and see the change. That’s really cool and that’s one of the things I’m really proud of.”
A well-involved member of the Wake Forest community, Wynveen served as a tour guide for the University as well as the School of Business. He also served as a President’s Aide, a role he enjoyed immensely due to the ability to discuss campus and national issues with President Nathan Hatch as well as other students. The running club and Alpha Phi Omega (APO), the service fraternity on campus, have been the two main groups that Wynveen has spent the majority of his time with in his four years here.
Wynveen spent the spring of his sophomore year in Panama, an experience he describes as “the best three months of [his] life.” There, he studied environmental science and did environmental research. While it did not directly correlate to his major, it flowed well with his environmental studies minor and concentration in sustainability.
“It was a really unique experience,” Wynveen said. “Environmental science is not my forte, I was pretty well out of my comfort zone with a lot of biology majors from other schools. It was a fantastic experience and I would not have changed a thing about it.”
Professor Sam Beck, who taught Wynveen’s professional development class, nominated him for a Leadership Symposium at the Naval Academy last year. Wynveen ended up going to the event and it was one of the most impactful moments of his experience.
“When I nominated Blake to the Leadership Academy, I told the committee, ‘If you look up the definition of character in the dictionary, you will see Blake’s picture.’ He is truly the embodiment of character in everything he does,” Beck said. “Blake has continued to demonstrate leadership and character throughout his time at Wake Forest. The year after he completed my course, he came back as a volunteer instructor to lead my two classes through a case he had developed utilizing his passion for sustainability. His constant manifestation of his values, universal kindness and servant leadership make him a student that I feel blessed to have encountered.”
After graduation, Wynveen will work as a consultant for Ernst & Young in Charlotte. He completed his BEM internship with the company last summer in their financial services advisory group, and they hired him for a full-time role due to his successes in his few months there. While he will depart the Reynolda Campus, the Wake Forest community down in Charlotte looks to gain a new member in Wynveen and he can’t wait to get there.
