By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Bowling Green siblings Jake and Abby Stucker have more in common than their family connections.
Though nearly three years separates them, they both participated in DECA and ran cross country at Bowling Green High School. They landed at Bowling Green State University for college and enrolled in the Schmidthorst College of Business. And they both were named to the college’s highly selective student ambassador program.
The difference is–Jake just finished his term as an ambassador while Abby is just starting. Jake graduates this weekend with a business degree in information systems and business analytics. Abby officially completes her sophomore year as a business student specializing in marketing and business analytics.
They agreed that participating in DECA under the leadership of Cara Maxey, marketing education instructor and DECA advisor at Bowling Green High School, was a game-changer for them. Their experiences in DECA competitions set the stage for each of them to decide to pursue business-related careers.
Jake and his best friend Sean O’Donnell competed and won at the district, state and international levels with their innovation for an agricultural run-off filter for fields and ditches.
Abby and her best friend Jenna Hastings won at DECA’s district level with their startup idea to create fun, interactive ceiling tiles for children to look at while they had to be in hospital beds.
The COVID-19 pandemic shutdown happened the day before they were to compete in the state contest. They competed again during their senior year and won at the district level.
When it came time for college, Jake originally had worked hard to enter the Air Force Academy. He had significant support from his high school teachers and earned a Congressional nomination. He attended the academy and finished boot camp when he realized “the military lifestyle wasn’t for me, so I came back here” two days before classes began.
“I like to say, the best decision I made was to leave the academy and come back here, and the second- best decision I made was to go to the academy because it sets a great baseline for comparing the rest of my life,” Jake said.
He knew at BGSU he would join the business college. DECA gave him that foundation, and O’Donnell, his business partner in the ag runoff filter was already a business major and was named a student ambassador during their freshman year.
“My first year I was still figuring things out. I didn’t know what my specialization was. Sean encouraged me to apply during my sophomore year. I applied on the last day, and I am really glad I applied because I got in and it’s been a great experience,” he said.
For Abby, participating in DECA and cross country in high school was a deliberate decision.
“I think I might have kind of followed in Jake’s footsteps in high school,” she said.
After her high school experiences were impacted by COVID-19, Abby was looking forward to college and studying something connected to math or science, her stronger subjects. While she was deciding what to study at BGSU, she started as an undecided major.
She was leaning toward neuroscience or psychology until she talked to a science faculty member about the research opportunities. “What he was saying was cool, but I couldn’t picture myself doing research. I knew I was more interested in working with people rather than researching rats,” she said.
As a commuter student and an undecided major, Abby spent a lot of time in the college’s new Maurer Center. The space was welcoming and good for collaboration.
“When I walked into the building with him, in every corner there was someone he was talking to or saying ‘hi’ to. A lot of that was from being an ambassador. I decided ‘I want that,’” she said. “I didn’t want it just because he was doing it,” but because it was the experience she was looking for.
Once she declared her major in business, she opted to specialize in marketing and then added on business analytics more recently. “I knew right away I was going to apply to be an ambassador.” As soon as the application opened up, she applied and was selected for the 2022-23 cohort, one of the largest groups named for the ambassador group.
Jake is excited about his sister’s involvement in the group which has been so important to his college experience. “First and foremost, the greatest thing about being an ambassador is that you get to work alongside really motivated people. They are the highest caliber of students you could meet, and they are serious about their academics” he said, which is just what he was looking for.
The networks developed as an ambassador have created strong and lasting bonds. “We worked hard together, with some weeks really busy and tough, running around helping to put on events and organizing a lot of events. It creates a great camaraderie,” Jake said.
The mission of the ambassadors is to engage prospective and current students and alumni. Jake has enjoyed giving tours to prospective business students and planning events for current students to get them engaged more in the college, “Beyond this is just where you take classes,” he said.
He has most enjoyed getting to interact with important alumni. “We like to give them a reason to come back to campus and be engaged with what’s going on,” he said.
During the Paul J. Hooker Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame events, Jake had the opportunity to show inductee Tony Drockton ’88, ’96 around campus. When they crossed paths with alumnus David Hainline, Jake got to see the power of two business alumni connecting in person for the first time.
Abby had the opportunity to meet Paul Hooker during the E-Week events on campus. “In the moment, I didn’t realize the impact, but when I stepped away from it, I realized I just got to meet a BGSU alumnus who is a major donor and helped build this building. It was so cool,” she said.
Being a business college ambassador also provides many opportunities to learn beyond the classroom. “You learn about business acumen and how to use technology in communicating effectively and stepping up to be a leader when it’s needed. It really rounds you out and teaches you to be adaptable,” Jake said.
The connection beyond family will continue for the siblings. As Jake moves on into the business world as a graduate, he will cheer on his sister and encourage her to take advantage of all the opportunities of being a Schmidthorst College of Business ambassador. She is ready to follow in his footsteps yet again, but also create her own path as well.
