Davis Roberts ’14 manages to stay busy wherever he goes. At Appalachian, for example, he double majored in Marketing and Management while leaving time on the side for a double minor in Supply Chain Management and International Business. In addition, he served as the committee chair for the Homecoming Blood Drive during his senior year and also managed to be the assistant director of video services for the Appalachian football team.
He also made his way to China, where he now lives, via the Williams R. Holland Fellows for Business Study in Asia program. He describes the experience as life changing.
“While I was raised in a very open-minded and respectful home, at most that could only instill in me respect and awareness of other cultures. And awareness is a far cry from understanding. To understand, you have to experience,” Roberts said.
“I went from someone who sees the world between the confines of state lines to someone who sees a world without constraints.”
The Holland Fellows experience so transformed him that he now works as its program assistant, living in Shanghai, China, and serving as a liaison between Appalachian and Fudan University. His job involves reaching out to potential partners and opportunities in the region for Appalachian and its students.
“This role allows me to help serve Appalachian and my hope is that in doing so, I can help offer students the kind of life-changing experience that was provided to me,” Roberts said.
The hard work and dedication, while daunting, comes with a decent reward. Roberts said that he has already received standing offers for interviews and job considerations.
“While a return to North Carolina is certainly possible, I’m already analyzing the opportunities that could be available to me on every continent,” he said. In his job at Shanghai, he said he’s made friends and contacts from 40 different countries.
That’s opened up his world in even more ways, he said. “I’m not planning on ruling anywhere out just because it’s somewhere different. Wherever the best opportunities may take me, I’ll approach it with an open-mind and an enthusiastic attitude,” he said.