From Runway to Real-World: A Student Affairs Leader’s Journey
The Rocky Mountains looked expansive from my window seat on that Southwest flight. I was heading back from a conference my final year of college with my Vice President of Student Affairs and Director of Student Life. The snowcapped mountains, the beautiful terrain, the carved valleys all had me pondering what life would look like beyond my four years of undergraduate education. It was January and I had no solidified plans after graduation. No sense of direction. It seemed all my friends were landing jobs, internships, or getting accepted to graduate schools.
Discovering Purpose in the Unexpected
Like any VP of Student Affairs or Director of Student Life, the flight was filled with higher ed professionals asking me questions about my goals, dreams, and ambitions for life after graduation. I could feel the intensity of insecurity and self-doubt settle in my throat as I was attempting to answer their questions with articulate responses that portrayed a level of confidence that demonstrated I had some post-graduation life competency.
I heard the all too familiar sound of the captain's voice over the intercom, the fastened seatbelt sign light up, and I knew we were beginning our initial descent back into Kansas City. As I was trying to get my ears to pop, I hear a faint question coming from two seats over from my Vice President... “Andy, have you thought about working in higher education after graduation?”
Growing Through Change and Community
About 12 weeks later, I walk across the stage to receive my diploma. The university president shakes my hand congratulates me and mouths, “See you next week!” I had landed a job as an admissions counselor at my alma mater and knew I wanted to have a career in higher education.
I loved working with students, families, and other colleagues across the institution. My fascination with the complexity and nuances of institutions led me to complete a master’s degree at the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk!) where I studied higher education. The intersections of my time in enrollment management and working on my master’s degree solidified that I had a strong desire to work directly with students in student affairs. Not that I was “not content” in enrollment management, but I knew my strengths suited the work of student affairs.
If you have ever spent time around or in enrollment management, you know move-in day in August marks the end of one enrollment cycle and kicks off the next. Eager to greet my students and their families as they arrived on campus, I received information about a student affairs position at Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in Nampa, ID. It was my dream job. After interviewing and flying out, my family and I made the journey to the Northwest.
In October 2021, I was hired as the Director of Campus Life at NNU. I oversaw student government, clubs/orgs, student events and student leadership development. The student-centered nature of NNU made it a great place to work, dream and ideate about how to serve students well.
Coming Full Circle
Early on during my time at NNU, we entered our seven-year review of our accreditation process. If you are not familiar with accreditation, think of this process as an extensive “peer-review” where the institution shows how it accomplishes its mission to other institutional leaders. I had the awesome (and nerdy I will admit) privilege to help in those efforts of data collection and story–telling. I knew we needed a mechanism to help us accomplish the goals we had in student affairs, and that is when I reached out to Modern Campus for a demo of their Involve platform.
After working with the Involve Implementation Team, Account Managers and other individuals at Modern Campus, I knew this company and people were special. We launched Involve at NNU in the Spring of 2023 which helped the institution get a live snapshot of where students were engaging and helping our strategic efforts in student affairs to ensure NNU was a place for all students.
In June of 2024, my wife and I welcomed into the world our first daughter. We knew that having a baby away from family with busy schedules would require adjustment and reevaluations of our professional purposes. Just like peering out the window of that Southwest flight, the Spring of 2025 felt uneasy and unknown.
We had decided it was time to move back to Kansas to be closer to family. My wife had landed an incredible job opportunity, and I thought I would be working within an institution again. Granted, I had yet again no solidified plans to enter another position in a higher education institution.
In February when I made the announcement that I was leaving NNU, I contacted the Modern Campus team about my upcoming professional transition. This was two-fold: to thank them for onboarding us and to let them know about the potential change of personnel and contact to keep Involve moving.
Two weeks before we started loading up the U-Haul, I received an email from an account manager for Involve about a position on the implementation team for the Student Engagement Suite at Modern Campus. I reached out to the implementation team lead who helped us launch Involve at NNU about the opportunity and the rest is history. I accepted the position in early May and I could not be more thankful.
Looking Ahead
Now, I can help institutions across the country launch Involve and Message to enhance their student engagement. I get to work with incredible higher education practitioners who are in the trenches serving students. I’m able to witness first-hand the incredible efforts higher education institutions are making to shape civically engaged students across the country. Ultimately, I get to live out my love for higher education through Modern Campus.
If I could share one thing with my 21-year-old self who was peering out the window of that Southwest flight, I would say make sure to fasten that seatbelt for landing; the ride has only begun.
Last updated: June 25, 2025