The McDonough Leadership program and professional development provided by Marietta College have prepared Ben Hrovat ’23 (Warwick, Rhode Island) to be a leader in his community. Whether a project involves working with community members at the Marietta College Trading Post, interviewing for internships through the Petroleum Engineering program, or facilitating a book club discussion over Zoom with his fellow interns, Hrovat affirms that “service, community, and learning have been at the forefront of my experience here.”

As a student, he credits his success in these experience to the techniques developed from his communication ethics coursework. Hrovat believes, “In my leadership classes and experience here at Marietta College, the most important thing I have learned is to listen to all perspectives prior to coming to a decision. The more voices that are in the equation, the more successful the decision will be.”

And in Hrovat’s experience, a physical space for students to sit and congregate is critical to these collaborative conversations and deep discussions. The proverbial ability to “break bread” with one another is essential to relationship building and would further enhance creative collisions among students, faculty, staff, and alumni on campus: “Being able to sit and collaborate … results in a much larger student population talking to each other. Student organizations would thrive with the common ground. Collaboration would flourish.”