By Abigail Koenig
Makayla Anderson, a Cobber alumnus, has used what she has learned from her time at Concordia in her current internship at a marketing agency. During her time at Concordiacollege, she served as not only one of the captain star players for the basketball team, but also the editor-in-chief of the college’s newspaper, the Concordian.
On the bus ride home after a typical, rowdy basketball game, most of Concordia’s team can be found relaxing with their fellow players, perhaps celebrating their win. One student,however, could be found typing away on her laptop until 2 in the morning, with an iPhone hotspot activated.
On the court and in the paper, Anderson juggled (or dribbled) two very different extracurriculars throughout her time at Concordia. These two leadership roles have taught Anderson valuable lessons about creativity, teamwork and much more, which she carries to this day.
Throughout her childhood, Anderson tried out many activities. She ran cross country, did track, played the violin, and of course played basketball. Basketball carried her through high school, though she remarks not being very talented in the sport then.
“I was not good at all, but then Concordia gave me a second chance to play,” said Anderson. She didn’t foresee playing all the way to senior year, let alone being a team captain.
Even though she is no longer playing regularly she still shoots hoops when she can and calls her four years of basketball at Concordia “a blessing.”
On the other hand, coming into college, writing wasn’t something that she necessarily had a profound passion for. She journaled casually in her youth, but it wasn’t until her 3rd year at Concordia when she switched from majoring in business and finance to English that her love developed.
She then started writing for the school newspaper and found a lot of joy in it.
“It’s actually something I wanted to do in high school, but my friends were like ‘Why would you want to do that?’” Anderson said. “Now I was determined: I’m gonna make writing in the newspaper cool.”
From there, a passion bloomed into a summer internship at the InForum of Fargo-Moorhead, which then led her to becoming the editor of the Concordian. She found that editing was even more fulfilling than reporting.
Her favorite parts of leading Concordia’s basketball team and journalists were getting to know people, leading meetings and practices and seeing other people’s creativity flow.
“It’s all helped me get to where I am right now,” said Anderson.
Currently, she is a project manager intern at an advertising agency. She isn’t entirely sure what will come next for her career, but she’s happy with where she’s at and is excited to be exploring different areas of advertising.
She highlights the confidence she’s gained from her college extracurriculars and notes the similarities between them and her internship position. Especially through people skills, building relationships, and managing communication.
Kyla Nygaard has been close friends with Anderson for almost four years. They call themselves a dynamic duo, always supporting each other’s goals.
“I admire her passion to want to educate herself in every aspect. Continuing to grow and always reach new levels,” Nygaard said.
Anderson looks back on her experience and thanks her teammates, coaches and mentors for supporting her and always encouraging her to pursue her dreams, regardless of how crazy her schedule became.
