{"id":4448,"date":"2015-04-17T13:37:47","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T18:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=4448"},"modified":"2015-04-17T13:38:30","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T18:38:30","slug":"parents-experience-helps-lead-camden-native-to-career-in-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2015\/parents-experience-helps-lead-camden-native-to-career-in-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents\u2019 experience helps lead Camden native to career in business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jesse<\/a>During the summer of 2013, Jesse Castleberry knew something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

Castleberry, a 2011 graduate of Harmony Grove High School in Camden, had two years of a science degree behind him. But he wasn\u2019t happy with what he was studying. So during that fateful summer of 2013, he decided to change his major to business.<\/p>\n

Not a gradual, take-a-business-class-and-see-how-you-like-it change. Castleberry instead elected to dive in head first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could say that science wasn\u2019t my calling,\u201d said Castleberry.<\/p>\n

So in the fall of 2013, did something he hadn\u2019t done before \u2013 took a business class. And he knew instantly that he was moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn my first day that fall semester, I was in Mrs. Edwards Personal Finance class, and I knew it was the best decision I had ever made,\u201d said Castleberry.<\/p>\n

Castleberry knew a little about business before his first class. Both of his parents have business backgrounds. His father, Randy, works with Lockheed Martin in Camden, and his mother, Iwana, owns a tanning salon in the Camden area and also works with Harmony Grove school district.<\/p>\n

But while business ran in the family, it wasn\u2019t a direction his family necessarily wanted him to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father always pushed me to go into something instead of business because he said I didn\u2019t want to have to deal with it,\u201d said Castleberry. \u201cBut the funny thing was I grew up with business. All I knew was dealing with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In high school, Castleberry took an accounting class, a class that he really enjoyed. And while he didn\u2019t decide then to pursue business as a career, it was always in the back of his mind.<\/p>\n

Since changing his major, Castleberry has found success in his chosen field. He has been a member of Enactus, a student business group, and has acted as a Presenter at Enactus competitions. He has also helped with the SAKE project, which is a competition for fourth grade students and is sponsored by Enactus.<\/p>\n

Castleberry, who was a member of the SAU baseball team for his first two years in school, is also a member of Phi Beta Lambda, which is the college level for Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), and the Business Students Advisory Council.<\/p>\n

But perhaps what Castleberry has enjoyed the most was his internship opportunity. During the summer of 2014, he served as a Products, Planning, and Control intern with Lockheed Martin in Grand Prairie, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great experience. I learned a lot from it,\u201d said Castleberry.<\/p>\n

The company was equally pleased with his work.<\/p>\n

Castleberry will graduate in May of this year, and has accepted a job offer with Lockheed Martin. \u201cWhen I go back in the fall, I feel like I\u2019m going to be able to contribute a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Lisa Toms, dean of the College of Business, hates to see Castleberry leave SAU, but knows he will be successful in whatever he chooses to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesse has been a wonderful student here in the College of Business,\u201d said Toms. \u201cHe works hard and applies himself. He\u2019s a real leader here. I look for him to be very successful in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castleberry said he values all of his experiences in the College of Business, and feels his classes have prepared him for his career ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the family atmosphere here. You can make good connections. The environment is friendly. They welcome you with open arms,\u201d said Castleberry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the summer of 2013, Jesse Castleberry knew something wasn\u2019t right. Castleberry, a 2011 graduate of Harmony Grove High School in Camden, had two years of a science degree behind him. But he wasn\u2019t happy with what he was studying. So during that fateful summer of 2013, he decided to change his major to business…. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":791,"featured_media":4449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[140,7753],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/791"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}