HARVESTING through the seed of endowed scholarship, sophia ewalt grew to achieve at baylor

Baylor Business Review, Spring 2005 by Keys, Amanda

Entrepreneurs sometimes use harvest imagery to describe the venture process, the idea or opportunity being the seed and the successful business being the fruitful harvest. The same analogy could be applied when developing students from young, inexperienced freshmen into mature, confident graduates. Sophia Ewalt, a senior entrepreneurship major from Houston, had definite growth potential when she entered Baylor University. However, it took a little help from the John Graham Jones Endowed Scholarship Fund in Entrepreneurship to kick-start Ewalt's Baylor education.

"It's a good feeling when people see what an opportunity it is to invest in a student, an up-and-coming young adult who wants to build a greater community for everyone," Ewalt said. "I've been an entrepreneur putting myself through school. Tuition is a lot of money to someone who doesn't have it." To make Baylor a possibility, she had to apply for scholarships, maintain a strong GPA and fulfill other requirements to keep the scholarship support. However, with her strong entrepreneurial spirit, Ewalt valued the hard work involved in reaching her goals. Ever since she was a young girl, Ewalt has wanted to be an entrepreneur.

"A lot of people feel uncomfortable with the fact that you're not necessarily locked in with a job, that you don't have a set paycheck," Ewalt observed. "I'm the opposite. I look at entrepreneurship as an adventure, as a way of life and thinking."

Ewalt knew she needed an education to accomplish her goals. Although her grandfather and an aunt had gone to college, neither of her parents had attended a university. Her aunt tried to persuade Ewalt to enroll at her alma mater, the University of Florida. Though Ewalt saw that she could receive a good education, and it would have been less expensive, Baylor had the entrepreneurship major she was looking for - and it just felt right.

"This is exactly where I needed to be," Ewalt said. "I think it's important to put intuition along with the facts and follow that emotional intelligence. I see a sense of pride within the Baylor community - it's a community that cares about each other, that harvests creative thinking."

Learning to trust her intuition is an entrepreneurial skill that has proved useful during her business education. "Entrepreneurship is about seeing what's not right in front of your face; it's about being intuitive, really knowing how to build relationships and knowing what people want," Ewalt asserted. "You have to be able to look at a situation and realize there's an opportunity, and when something negative happens, to ask what's the opportunity in it."

Keeping an eye toward the future also does not hurt in entrepreneurship. With that in mind, Ewalt has taken advantage of many opportunities at Baylor, recognizing the importance of studying diligently, making new contacts and being involved. She has been on the Dean's List and National Honor Roll, received the prestigious merit-based Opal G. Cox Charitable Trust Scholarship, and participated in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Golden Key International Honor Society, Professional Sales Club, EastTrac program for entrepreneurs and Edward Jones Strategy Challenge. In addition, she has particularly enjoyed serving as a member of the Student Advisory Board for Entrepreneurship, a group that attends luncheons with visiting business professionals and promotes and provides feedback on Baylor's entrepreneurship program.

"My advice to people considering the entrepreneurship major is to be an empathetic listener, build relationships and study hard," Ewalt said. "Achievement at Baylor will open a lot of doors - doors you never thought would open to you."

As Ewalt grew as a student, she also has grown to appreciate the doors that scholarship donors have opened for her.

"It inspires me that people give back, inspires me for the future so that when I get there, I'll be able to do similar types of things for people," Ewalt reflected. "It's helped me to learn that working for yourself as well as for others is really important. It's about the community you live in, not just about yourself. Entrepreneurs support entrepreneurs."

Although Ewalt, who graduates in May, wants to gain some work experience before starting her own business, she is quite aware of the business atmosphere she will enter. The wide reach of the entrepreneurship major has allowed her to take four semesters of Spanish and an international marketing class, which she hopes will prepare her for an increasingly globalized business world.

"Our economy is no longer a one-country economy. The most important thing we can take with us when we graduate and become business professionals is to recognize that we're in a world community, and that what we do affects everyone. In recognizing that, opportunities arise," Ewalt noted. "I'm absolutely intrigued at wanting to become fluent in Spanish and have business relations abroad, specifically with Spanish-speaking countries, Latin American countries. But why stop there? We're all connected."