From Mount Mercy to mountain air—a path of success

Upon graduation from 皇冠体育, Jennifer Vaughan ’15 moved to Denver, Colo., with a Bachelor of 业务 Administration (BBA) degree from 皇冠体育 and a conviction to maximize any opportunities that were presented to her.

她是锡达拉皮兹人，她和男朋友（现在的丈夫安德鲁）一起搬来这里，觉得是时候开始一段新的经历了。

“I wanted to see something different and try something new,” Jennifer recalled. “Even if I come back, I would rather say I tried than didn’t try.”

从心脏地带搬到山上呼吸新鲜空气的十年后，这种转变对珍妮弗来说很顺利。 她通过自己的努力晋升为自由能源公司的区域行政发展经理，提升了自己的教育水平，并献出了自己的时间，理所应当地为她赢得了2025年芒特仁慈大学颁发的优秀校友证书，该奖项每年颁发给那些利用皇冠体育教育表现出显著成长和成就的校友。

“I’m in my 30s now and I look back and think—I did do it,” Jennifer said. “It wasn’t as awful or scary as the world makes it seem. You get your degree, you’re going to be fine. 门打开。 If you work hard and put in the time, doors open.”

An early door to open for Jennifer was at Mount Mercy, where she double majored in 人力资源管理 and business administration with a minor in Spanish.

“My mom went there, and I remember going there when I was little, being with her while she was working on her degree,” Jennifer recalled. “我离家和家人都很近，而且那是一个很棒的校园，也是一所很棒的学校，所以我觉得挺好的。”

詹妮弗说，她最美好的回忆来自于她在校园里遇到的许多人。 事实上，她说，通过观察她的学生同龄人，以及观察他们如何处理自己的学术旅程，她学到了很多。

“I really enjoyed that the classes and the campus weren’t so large and overwhelming,” she said.

搬到科罗拉多州后不久，2017年1月，一位招聘人员的电话让她进入了石油和天然气公司自由能源（Liberty Energy）。 她的努力工作并没有被忽视，她最终通过自己的努力获得了现在的管理职位，管理着美国和加拿大的六个办事处。

“I travel to each of the office teams and help support them,” she said. “We work with onboarding, orientation of new employees, our payroll system—a lot of problem solving with that people piece.”

即使在她通过自由能源公司取得进步的同时，詹妮弗也增加了她的学术成就。 She earned a master’s degree in International 业务 & Organizational

并有望于2026年获得中北部大学工商管理与组织领导力博士学位。

这是一条始于国会山的学术之路。

“It was my foundation,” she said of her Mount Mercy experience. “All those things I learned kind of laid the foundation for getting started and really helped me.”

她说，即使在今天，她发现自己在呼唤本科学习期间获得的知识。

“It doesn’t happen every day or every week, but sometimes it comes up and I’m like ‘Oh, I learned about this in school,’ or ‘I can teach the next person something I learned.’”

除了她的工作，詹妮弗也致力于服务，志愿与青年成就和DECA，在那里她指导高中生和准备下一代领导人。 As she continues on her own professional track, Jennifer advises today’s students to remain focused on their own path.

“Make sure you’re finding something you truly enjoy and don’t compare yourself to people around you,” she said. “每个人都有自己的旅程。”

Jennifer’s journey today involves living in Denver with Andrew and their newborn son, Hudson—and feeling grateful to be recognized for what she’s been able to accomplish.

“A lot of things I’ve done for myself, or my own personal goals, just to say I can do it,” she said. “So for someone on the outside to see it too—feels good.”