Heidi Giesbrecht is a junior working towards a bachelor of business administration while majoring in marketing as well as obtaining a minor in management at West Texas A&M University. Giesbrecht is from Seminole and passionate about supporting others in a unique career field.

Giesbrecht plans to pursue a career regarding ways to deliver messages to an audience.

“I want to work in Media Planning,” Giesbrecht said. “Where I would help ensure that advertising campaigns reach the right people and in the right place.”

While Giesbrecht enjoyed watching a television show, she realized the ideal career she wanted to pursue.

“I have a weird story when it comes to what I want to do with my career,” Giesbrecht said. “I was watching “Fresh Off the Boat,” which is a show about an Asian family that moves to Orlando, Florida, in the 90s. In one episode, they get a billboard for their restaurant. As the dad explained where he put it and why he put it there, I realized I wanted to do stuff like that. I want to pick where advertisements will be placed, whether on billboards or on merging media, like social media and streaming platforms.”

Giesbrecht plans to help others by ensuring her clients’ time and money is appreciated.

“My career will prevent my clients from wasting their money and time,” Giesbrecht said. “If they are just throwing money and ads everywhere, they will not know what is actually working for them, and they will spend more than they have to.”

One part Giesbrecht enjoys about her major is the blend of different styles and the fact that she continues to look forward to courses each day.

“I love that the marketing field has both creative and analytical aspects to it,” Giesbrecht said. “When creating campaigns and coming up with ads or other promotional materials, I can be creative. On the other hand, I get to be analytical when it comes to the logistics of using the ads and how they will integrate with other promotions to create a cohesive campaign. I am so grateful that I picked marketing as my major, something that was kind of on a whim and it turned out so well. I am so excited to go to my marketing classes every day and get lost in working on class assignments and other projects I am a part of.”

After diving deep into post-high school plans, Giesbrecht was eventually drawn to WT.

“In high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do or where I was going to go to college, so my friend and I decided that we were going to take every three-day weekend to explore different campus opportunities, which lasted for only two schools before we got tired,” Giesbrecht said. “One of the schools we visited was WT. I liked that it had a welcoming community, it was a little far from home but not too far, and the campus had trees, which was a change from my hometown. Throughout my senior year, I also questioned what I was going to major in until I went to a college fair. A recruiter told me to get a pamphlet of all the majors a school had and start crossing off things I didn’t want to do. Eventually, I was left with marketing, mathematics and a couple of other options. Now that I had a major, I went back to looking at schools that could offer me a quality education. I ended up asking one of my teachers for advice, and he said to go to WT because that is where he went and because it [WT] was ‘Harvard on the plains.’ After looking into it, he was right; The College of Business here has the same accreditation as Harvard’s business school, but by going to WT, I would be saving money and staying closer to home.”

Since coming to WT, Giesbrecht has been able to obtain several opportunities.

“I have been able to start building my professional network and portfolio while I am still a student,” Giesbrecht said. “Several of the organizations and programs I am a part of encourage and help students to connect with industry professionals to start getting connected to a possible future career. All of this will help me showcase what I can do for my future employers.”

One aspect of WT that Giesbrecht truly enjoys is the community and people.

“I love the community I have been able to build here,” Giesbrecht said. “Through my involvement on campus, I have met so many different people from different majors, hometowns and communities.”

Around campus, Giesbrecht is quite involved.

“My freshman year of college, I knew the easiest way to make friends was through clubs and organizations on campus, so I visited and got involved in almost ten different organizations,” Giesbrecht said. “Off the bat, I knew most of those weren’t for me, but there are a few that I have grown to love so much during my time here. I am on the leadership team for Delight Ministries, which is a national ministry specific to college women. I am a part of Women in Business, an organization focused on supporting current and future women in the business industry. I am a RogersLEAD WT scholar, which is a highly selective program that teaches students leadership theories and skills while giving them a chance to use them in the community. Last year, I also served on the orientation team as a Peer Leader, representing the university’s incoming students and their families. Currently, I work for the College of Business, where I have been able to help faculty and staff in various ways.”

Aside from academics, Giesbrecht enjoys engaging in a few versatile hobbies.

“I love to hang out with my friends, and I am really close to my roommates,” Giesbrecht said. “I actually met them through Delight Ministries and got closer to them when I moved in with them. I also like to go on walks, especially now that the temperature is nice and the sun doesn’t set until 8:00 p.m..”

Once Giesbrecht graduates from WT, she plans to keep her options open, whether she wants to continue her education by pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or immediately enter the workforce and work towards an MBA in the future.

Giesbrecht believes you should let the Lord guide you along your already-created path and take the initiative to get to know people in hopes of making friendships.

“One piece of advice I would give is that it is okay not to know,” Giesbrecht said. “You do not have to have your life planned out to the minute. Instead of trying to control every aspect of your life, let go and let God. Another piece of advice is to be the friend you wished you had. It can be difficult to make friends when you move away from home, but instead of expecting everyone to reach out to you, you should be the outgoing friend and invite someone else to do something.”