Matt Eickhoff
Honors Graduate, 2003
B.S., Music Industry Management
Some people say that during college you learn just as much outside the classroom as you learn inside the classroom. Well, I would be a great example of this theory.
As a student at Ferris, I chose to get involved in several different student organizations and community service activities. I got pulled into an RSO meeting the first week of my freshmen year, and it was downhill from there. I kept getting involved and doing more and more. In addition to my school work, I had committed myself to some sort of meeting or event almost every night of the week. Soon I was working in the Student Leadership and Activities office as a special events coordinator. By my senior year, I was overall chair of the Student Homecoming Committee and chair of Ferris Fest, probably the two largest annual events on campus.
I knew that getting involved and taking on leadership positions would give me great experience for event planning which is something I wanted to make a career out of. Little did I know just how influential these experiences would be?
I moved to Nashville, Tennessee after graduation for an internship. After almost a year and a half in Nashville, and a few twists and turns in my life, I ended up back in Michigan, searching for a job. I was going through this twenty-something period of doubts about my career and my life. I've heard it called a "quarter-life crisis".
Then one day, I received an amazing phone call. Cindy Horn, the Director of Student Leadership and Activities at Ferris, called to inform me that she had an opening in her office; the very office that I worked in as a student! The Student Activities Coordinator had left the office, and they needed a temporary replacement as soon as possible to help coordinate the many events that were left for that semester, including Ferris Fest. Because I had experience as a student employee, and worked to coordinate campus events in the past, she wanted me to fill this position.
Without hesitation, I took the job. I couldn't believe it actually. I was being given the chance to coordinate fun, entertaining and educational events for my almamater.
Since taking that temporary position, I went through the official hiring process, and I now serve as the Student Engagement and Activities Coordinator at Ferris. I love this job. I don't dread waking up in the morning and going to work, and that is a great feeling. Thankfully, I have a great group of people to work with, both staff and students, and it is a pleasure to be back at Ferris State and see many of the faces I remember as a student.
Best of all, its great to know that my extra-curricular involvement as a student really paid off. So I say it's true; that you do learn just as much outside the classroom as you do inside the classroom. The combination of both landed me in the job I have today.
