“Growing up I always thought I would be a doctor. I was all science, all the time,” says Amanda Tung a first year direct admit to the Wisconsin School of Business who lives in the StartUp Learning Community. “But due to COVID, I went to high school virtually for nearly all of my senior year, which gave me a better idea of what my mom, an accountant with UW-Madison’s University Health Services, did every day.”
Tung claims this time “shadowing” her mom opened her up to the idea that majoring in business could be a conduit to a wide array of professional opportunities including exploring entrepreneurship. Continues Tung, “I decided to live in Startup, as opposed to an all-business major floor, because I wanted to be surrounded by people who had wildly different academic interests. The friends I have met here are interested in so many different things. I know I am laying down roots for terrific connections in the future.”
Amanda is the social glue, in many ways, for the StartUp floor and applied for two Community Development grants to help foster connections among her entrepreneurially-minded peers. This experience was so positive that Amanda was selected to be a House Fellow/Resident Assistant in Sellery Hall next year in hopes of returning to be the StartUp House Fellow in 2023-24.
She feels the Learning Community has had a tremendous impact on her UW-Madison experience, especially the StartUp-exclusive seminar offered in the fall and taught by MHR faculty member John Surdyk. “Sitting in Professor Surdyk’s class and seeing all the speakers come in made me realize that while I am majoring in accounting right now, I may want to explore different careers in my future.” She continues, “I want to use my Badger BBA to create positive changes in the world and it was so inspiring to meet people in seminar who are doing now what I may want to do someday.”
Amanda has strong feelings about the benefits of living in the StartUp Learning Community. “UW-Madison first years, especially direct admits, should definitely think about living in StartUp.” She continues, “Everything this place offers will help you grow as a person which is kind of the point of college.”
She gushes, “I couldn’t be happier about the first year living choice I made.”
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