MSU student speaker strives to be leader and inspiration
By Terri Hughes-Lazzell
Mario L. McLean never lets obstacles stop him. The Michigan State University graduating senior from Detroit said he strives to do more than is expected of him—an attitude that has taken him from diversity to positive outcomes.
Mario L. McLean will address the audience at the MSU convocation ceremony. Photo by Alan Piñon
McLean learned that if he wanted to accomplish anything, he just had to do it—no excuses.
There have been times when giving up might have been easy. He spent about five years of his life in foster care between the ages of 6 and 12. He didn’t get accepted into his first choice of college majors. And he didn’t earn the student speaker role at his college’s commencement ceremony.
A communications major in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences with a minor in sales specialization at the Broad College of Business, McLean will, however, speak during the Michigan State University convocation ceremony Friday, May 8—the result of perseverance.
He first applied to speak at his own college commencement ceremony—Communications Arts & Sciences—but was not chosen. Then he heard there might be other opportunities, so he applied. The result: speaking to the entire MSU undergraduate student body at the university convocation.
As a child McLean learned to be independent and to persevere. Living in the foster care system for about five years, he decided to make better choices than the adults in his life had made. That’s where his drive began.
As a student at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, he hadn’t thought about what college he might attend. But when a class assignment required students to apply to five colleges, he completed the assignment—and one of those schools was Michigan State University.
He was accepted. It only took one campus visit for McLean to decide on MSU.
He was interested in marketing and joined the MSU Marketing Association his freshman year. He applied to the Broad College, but couldn’t pass the accounting requirements, he said.
He didn’t give up.
He decided to major in communications. And then he heard about the Sales Communication Specialization—a joint endeavor between the Broad College and the College of Communication Arts & Sciences—providing students with educational experiences, courses, and training to become successful sales agents and leaders in a sales-intensive corporate setting—so he applied. He was accepted.
“When I hit obstacles, I try to give more,” McLean said. “I try not to do what is expected, but do more.”
He continued to serve on the marketing board, and continued to connect with mentors that he’d met in the Broad College, including Helen Dashney, director of the Financial Markets Institute (FMI) and corporate academic relations for the Department of Finance in the Broad College.
He met Dashney during his freshman year as a student in her BUS 101 course. He credits her with much of his success.
“She’s helped develop me into the man that I am today through the use of her connections, making sure I’m on top of my game, and giving me the resources when needed to accomplish whatever it is I’m seeking,” he said.
Dashney said it’s the tremendous Spartan alumni that helped to produce a stellar new graduate. She introduced McLean to alumni, including Tarik Davis (MBA Supply Chain Management ’04) and member of the Broad College Alumni Association Board, Steve Polonowski (MBA’00, BA Pre-Law ’97), and Randy Whaley (BA Marketing ’77) and past member of the Broad College Alumni Association Board.
He has learned much through these relationships, and been introduced to opportunities, including with Frito Lay, which he will join as a sales associate in June in Southgate, Mich.
“I can’t believe all of the opportunities that I’ve had here,” McLean said. “I never expected any of this.”
“Mario is a young man in many ways transformed by his time at MSU,” Dashney said. “He will be a hugely loyal alumnus of MSU—all as a result of the involvement of these people and many others.”
Troy Wallace, a master’s of business administration (MBA) student, is one of the others who became McLean’s mentor through the FAME (Fostering Academics Mentoring Excellence) program. McLean said he’s received great career and life advice from Wallace.
Wyatt Schrock, a doctoral student in marketing at the Broad College, reached out following an All-MSU Sales Competition.
“We share so much in common and he helps me. He really wants me to have a successful career,” McLean said. “I think mentors are a great source to have through college. They uplift you to be the best ‘you’ that you could possibly be.”
Another impact on McLean was an Alternative Sprig Break this year, where students volunteered at the Casa de la Niñez Poblana agency in Puebla, Mexico, interacting with children, as well as painting and assisting in other activities.
McLean said he was touched by the experience, working with children who had been abandoned, abused, or neglected, which he said impacted him because of his circumstances.
“I didn’t anticipate these opportunities and a chance to help others, coming from my background,” he said.
In addition to his college studies and activities, McLean has worked at the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development, starting as a conference services representative his junior year and promoted to sales intern. “He inspires me with his drive to be successful and to finish what he starts,” said Melissa Schneider, CMP, CTA, marketing and sales assistant at the Henry Center.
McLean hopes his experiences and stories will also impact his fellow graduates, and help them to never give up.
“I work to exceed expectations—and I will tell the other students to give a greater effort and do more with each time they try something,” he said. “One person can change a mindset.”
Looking ahead, McLean wants to be in a management role, such as a vice president in sales. He believes his leadership would benefit others.
Broad College student speaker stresses Spartans helping Spartan
Ashley John will face her fellow Broad College of Business 2015 graduates for one last time at this year’s commencement ceremonies. Addressing groups is nothing new to John; she has led student organizations while at MSU.
Ashley John will address the audience at the Broad College commencement. Photo by Alan Piñon
One thing her classmates may not know is that she is graduating in three years, leaving an impression on others in a short time.
For John Wagner, associate dean for undergraduate programs
professor of management, John has made an impression with her ability to speak in public, but also her service to the Broad College and MSU.
Crediting her with a significant role in steering the Student Senate toward a more active role in the college, and being one of the primary drivers behind the development of the Broad Store that is currently under construction and scheduled to open in the fall, Wagner said she gets things done.
“She embodies the slogan ‘we make business happen,’ because that’s exactly what she does,” Wagner said.
John has been president of the Broad Student Senate for the 2014-2015 academic year and has been an undergraduate representative for the Broad College of Business dean search committee. In addition, she has been a team leader and member of the Broad College of Business Crowdfunding Project; a student consultant for Students Consulting for Non-Profit Organizations; and a member of the Broad Residential Business Program.
John is driven and used to working toward a goal and succeeding. The Glenview, Ill., native, will receive a bachelor of art degree in supply chain management at the 2015 commencement ceremony, maintaining a 3.4 grade point average (GPA), and with a job in hand with Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle, Wash.
She will join Starbucks in its supply chain management rotational program, a fast track to management with the company. She will work toward a management role, and then eventually, she hopes to work in consulting and earn a MBA. She also hopes to work globally, since she loves traveling abroad and often visits her extended family members who live in India.
Her drive has taken her to areas she never even considered, including a college she hadn’t thought about in the beginning. John always knew she wanted to go into business, following her father’s footsteps. But supply chain management wasn’t in her sites. She learned about supply chain management during a visit to University of Illinois. She became intrigued, and after looking into supply chain management, she knew it was for her.
So, she started digging deeper. Once she discovered MSU’s program was No. 1, she knew there was no other college. After a visit to campus, she was sold.
Now, she said, being a Spartan is essential.
“MSU is an overall great fit,” John said. Her commencement address will detail what it means to be a Spartan. She said that she now understands how people can have such a love for a college, because it’s more than just a school—it’s home.
John was motivated to speak to her graduating class because she loves speaking in public and has always wanted to speak at her commencement.
“I had an amazing three years here and I want to be a part of the last time we are together in our final ceremony,” she said.
She will talk about the perception that college is competitive and cutthroat, but at MSU and the Broad College she found that people were willing to help her, and that being a Spartan really is reaching out to others.
“It was shocking how willing Spartans are to help other Spartans. Even in internships I would get emails from alumni working there,” she said. “When I’m home around Chicago and I’m wearing my shirt, someone says, ‘go green!’”
So, her message to her class is to go forward and help others, and always be a Spartan who is willing to help other Spartan succeed. She plans to do just that coming back to recruit for Starbucks in the fall.