Leah Schmidt

Market Analyst, Target Corporation
Retail Merchandising and Management, '05

The four years that I spent at Stout were an amazing experience. This was a time for me to experience new things, find out about myself, immerse myself in everything, and make life-long friends. This was also a time to prepare for life after college.

I feel so prepared for my current job and for the graduate classes that I am taking now as I pursue my MBA at the University of St. Thomas. I currently work at Target Corporation within Merchandising. I make merchandising decisions as they relate to the 500 Starbucks stores that operate within Target. My classes at Stout taught me decision making skills as well as relationship skills with the vendors that I deal with and the people on my team. The classes that I took at Stout also gave me resources to keep me up to date in the industry that I work in. I feel like I came into my job so much more prepared than others because of the specialization of the programs at Stout. Stout also provided me with core classes that I am able to build on with my masters program. Another amazing thing about the curriculum at Stout was the internship program. My internship that I did before my senior year helped me to learn more about the career in which I wanted to pursue. After my internship, the classes that I took helped to synthesize my internship experience with what I was learning in class. Many companies come to Stout to recruit for interns and full-time employees and I was lucky enough to get recruited on campus.

Some of the other things that I enjoyed while I was at school were my on-campus jobs, clubs and intramurals, and seeing the town of Menomonie. I would tell anyone that is looking for a job during school to get an on-campus job. On-campus jobs are always accommodating to your class schedule and they understand that you are a student first. At my on-campus jobs that I held, I met some great people that have become my life-long friends.

Clubs at Stout are another great way to meet people and make connections. There are a lot of professional organizations as well as outdoor clubs, or you could even make up a club of your own. I enjoyed a lot of the time that I spent with intramural sports. Some of it was competitive and some was just for fun.

In my spare time I liked to explore the town of Menomonie and the surrounding communities. I enjoyed frequenting the local BINGO hall, and biking on the Red Cedar Trail.

One other thing that I really enjoyed about Stout was the variety of classes that are offered. I took a wines and spirits class, horseback riding, and scuba diving. These are classes that I did not need in order to graduate, but they are life lessons that I will value for the rest of my life.

To sum it up, I would not give up my experiences at Stout for anything. I meet people everywhere that went to Stout-at work, at grad school, on the volleyball court. We talk about our great experiences that we had while in school. So, take every experience that you can, meet others, try new things. Maybe our paths will cross later in life and you can share with me your memories of Stout.