Name: Heidi Culbertson
Graduation Year: 2018, 2020
Major: B.S. in Math, minors in Finance & HRM | Master of Organizational Leadership
Current Position: Academic Advisor at Evangel University
City and State: Springfield, MO
Tell us about your career and what you do now.
I’m currently an academic advisor for Evangel’s College of Adult and Graduate Studies! I started working at EU in the Center for Student Success after finishing my bachelor’s degree in 2018. In 2021, I started my new position as an academic advisor.
What is your favorite memory from Evangel?
My favorite memory of EU is my senior year when I got to be the RA of the floor I had lived on all four years of college. I loved being an RA and watching the girls grow spiritually, academically, and socially. My lifelong best friends came from W3S.
How did Evangel help you identify/develop your calling?
My professors invested in helping me identify what I was naturally good at and encouraged me to fall into those natural pathways. Although my bachelor’s degree didn’t align with my current career path, Evangel gave me the skills to help me find my why. It became even more evident as I started my master’s degree and was able to apply what I was learning directly to what I was doing.
How did your experience at Evangel prepare you for life after graduation?
I had a lot to learn about life after graduating even after I finished my degree. But I was able to take the relationship-building skills I learned with my professors to help me better understand people. Also, because it was my first time living away from home, it was up to me to decide how I was going to live my life. College was the perfect place for me to practice spiritual disciplines so I would be prepared to continue in those when I was on my own.
What advice would you give a current student preparing for the workforce?
Don’t let your major define your calling. You have a degree because you were interested in a specific path, but you have a natural set of talents and motivators that help you identify your calling. Lean into that and use your degree as a tool to help you live out your God-given calling.
What would you look for if you were in a position to hire new graduates from Evangel?
I would look for someone who understands what they bring to the table. It is also important for someone to know where their shortcomings are and how they can actively work to overcome them, whether it be through finding the right people to work with or through their ability to adapt.