William Scheopner is a very articulate young man with a lot to say about his time with the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He’s proud of his accomplishments and eager to expand his knowledge of business so he can be an effective leader after graduation. This passion is easy to see as he discusses the last four years of college; from his time with the CBA Scholars Academy, to his membership in the Student Marketing Association, to his participation in a service-learning course for the Omaha Freedom Festival.
But everyone has to start somewhere and William is no different.
Raised in Omaha, William spent most of his primary education home schooled. He credits this pathway as an asset to his early development in how he learns and what he can accomplish through hard work and time management. With basic academic requirements met, homeschooling allowed for more specialization in education going above and beyond what the state would recommend. Both parents actively contributed, utilizing online programs and fostering a sense of self-driven learning in their son. This penchant for self-sufficiency allowed William to weather the Covid shut down storm of online learning, being less disruptive to his education.
During most of his senior year before enrolling in college, William earned additional credits from Metro Community College. Those credits included his general education courses of math, sciences, and a foreign language class. All of them transitioned over to UNO and though William is on track to graduate in May, he had the benefit of accumulating a minor in political science due to the flexibility those earlier Metro classes gave him.
The question remained on where to go after high school though. He certainly had options, so what stood out about UNO? Reputation for one. The College of Business Administration is academically rigorous and accredited. Additionally, William wanted to go to an urban school, not a college town. Omaha is an excellent place for business and business-minded students. He was interested in having a thriving community to engage with and found it through one particular program.
Will was accepted into the Scholars Academy which influenced his decision to enroll. The academy gave him the opportunity to be surrounded by other driven students of a similar mindset. He enjoyed being able to interact with the business community through the mentorship component of the academy and build a small network of peers, faculty, and other professionals in and around Omaha.
When it came to deciding what to major in, the concept of marketing attracted William the most. It boiled down to the connection between the spheres of marketing and management within an organization being the practical application of communication and leadership – two things which William is very interested in and passionate about. He sees a future career in this field, but as he learned, he needed clarity in what that meant.
As an undergraduate, William feels like there is an endless amount of possibilities and such a short amount of time to make these decisions. Marketing can be studied in a variety of ways, and he had to consider what that job would look like, being proactive in his decisions along the way. With the assistance of his family, friends, mentors, and the other students, William has successfully navigated these obstacles.
“Thinking back and looking at all the people who have supported me at my time at UNO, I can’t even begin to count as a student so many people who were in my corner.”
William acknowledges Dr. Anne Herman as one of those people. She was instrumental in his decision to pursue the sales concentration and served as a fan and supporter of the Student Marketing Association. She helped set him on the path that he’s on today.
Another is Prof. Heather Nelson and her service-learning course. Starting in the spring of 2021, the class worked on the marketing material and strategy for the Omaha Freedom Festival’s Juneteenth event. This brought marketing to life in a very real way. When the semester ended, the project continued into the summer semester. That class executed earlier plans for the actual Juneteenth event. Twelve students continued through the summer to complete the course. The class won the Gold Citation of Excellence from the Omaha Chapter of the American Marketing Association for its efforts.
William’s plan is to continue his education with UNO pursuing his MBA with a concentration in collaboration science. As a study of how people and information interact, collaboration science jumped out as a pathway that seemed uniquely made for him and what he wants to do. He’s eager for the chance to learn from experts about how those channels of communication can be optimized in the workforce. Beyond the MBA, a role William would enjoy filling is in internal communications within an organization, either academic such as a university or a non-profit that has a personal buy in/mission that resonates with him.
For a student who has a lot to say, William offered some useful advice for the next generation of freshman. “Go the extra mile in classes,” he says, acknowledging that this is not the most popular piece of advice but still vastly important. “That means going to office hours of professors. Ask questions in class if you don’t understand something or are curious about a connection you’ve made.” Additionally, he adds, “Get to know classmates. Get to know what they’re interested in and why they’re taking the class.”