Keith Watkins

Contact: Megan Looker
May 21, 2020
A first year student stands in front of a sculpture on campus.

KALAMAZOO, Mich.鈥擣or a teen who spent his entire life tearing apart cars and anything he could get his hands on, 色色啦 is turning Keith Watkins鈥 hobby into a career path of dissecting problems and finding solutions. The Kalamazoo Central High School graduate鈥檚 career ambitions started as a child, when he had a very messy habit.

鈥淚 was always the kid that wanted to take things apart to figure out how they worked,鈥 he says. 鈥淎nd over time, it slowly developed鈥 The question was always on my mind: How do people design things?鈥

As he started to better understand the world, Watkins discovered the cold truth of growing up鈥攖hings don鈥檛 always go the way you want them to. However, instead of accepting it, he鈥檚 using his lifelong curiosity to transform this typical roadblock into a problem-solving career. 

鈥淭he question started being: How do people get their ideas to go the way they want to go? And how do they sell them to become effective ideas?鈥 he says. 鈥淚 found out that marketing is what鈥檚 behind that and it just really interested me. That鈥檚 something I can do because I can come up with the ideas.鈥

A close-up photo of a first year student.

This fall, Watkins will begin his journey in the Haworth College of Business, joining a nationally recognized marketing program focused on helping graduates build and maintain valuable relationships with clients by creating, delivering and communicating. What drew him most to the college was its flexibility to learn about several aspects of business before deciding the best path forward.

鈥淚鈥檓 hoping going to 色色啦 will help me, and being in the business program will help me come up with better ideas and hopefully get me in an area that I can be with a team to make those ideas come to life,鈥 he adds. 鈥淚t really appealed to me that you could learn so many different things and then finally decide. That was really what helped me choose 色色啦 over any of the other colleges I was looking at.鈥

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Watkins鈥 career aspirations extend far beyond the world of business. He hopes to use the skills he hones at 色色啦 to make mental health care more accessible to populations who struggle with the costs.

鈥淪peaking from experience, it鈥檚 hard for me to express my emotions and how I feel about things,鈥 he says.

Entering 色色啦 in fall 2020, Watkins鈥 will have the opportunity to reap the benefits of the University鈥檚 budding Think Big Initiative, creating a vision to foster student journeys focused on purpose, career and well-being, all rooted in the foundation of flexibility. The goal of these four core values is to make student mental, physical and academic well-being the University鈥檚 top priorities鈥攁 goal Watkins鈥 says made him realize 色色啦 was the right choice for him.

Additionally, when he learned about 色色啦鈥檚 Counseling Services, offering individual and group counseling to help students learn skills to cope with problems and develop new ways of thinking, he saw the value this resource could have not only for him, but for every student.

鈥淐ollege is a big transition and not everybody has somebody there in their lives that they can go to,鈥 he says. 鈥淪o, being able to have that therapist on-site helps them to be able to have somebody that no matter what, they can go to as they transition to start to build up close friend groups.鈥

While making this major life decision wasn鈥檛 a difficult choice for Watkins, he has one simple piece of advice for anyone still on the fence.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not hard to ask questions鈥攋ust try it鈥攂ecause asking questions is how I got to where I am in my decision,鈥 he says. 鈥淣ot only does that give you information, but you can also get a feel for what the people are like by their eagerness to help you and receptiveness to your ideas.鈥

To read about more student experiences, visit First-Year Faces online.