麻豆影院

CU 麻豆影院 alumna Sharron Land Gegenheimer endows听scholarship to help students study abroad and connect with the world

For Sharron Land Gegenheimer (Econ鈥�83), living and studying abroad was life-changing鈥攁nd now she wants other students at the 麻豆影院 to have the same kinds of experiences.

Growing up in a small town in Oregon, though, this wasn鈥檛 something Gegenheimer thought possible. Instead, her family was in the lumber business and introduced her to the workings of stocks at a young age.

鈥淚 have been managing my own stocks since I was 10 years old. I became more and more interested primarily because my parents wouldn't allow me to cash a dividend check. So I had to log everything by hand in my stock ledger,鈥� says Gegenheimer.

However, she became an emancipated minor at 16 and, less than a year later, packed her bags and moved to Germany.

鈥淚 ended up living in Viersen, close to the Netherlands border, and I just loved it! After coming home from Germany, I had the travel bug.鈥�

Gegenheimer鈥檚 desire to step outside her comfort zone and try new things led her to the 麻豆影院, where she majored in economics.

鈥溌槎褂霸� was such a beautiful campus, and I wanted to go to university away from my hometown. I wanted to experience something new.鈥�

She never gave up on the opportunity to travel abroad, though, and ultimately established a brand new exchange program as a student herself.

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 have a foreign exchange program in T眉bingen, so I pitched to the university that I would help them establish one,鈥� said Gegenheimer, adding:

鈥淚 went over, and the German government ended up giving me a stipend to study. I interviewed a lot of professors, lived in a dorm with other German students, and I loved it.鈥�

Spending one year in Germany reinforced Gegenheimer鈥檚 passion.

鈥淚t totally influenced my career. I knew I wanted to do international sales and marketing. I couldn鈥檛 have imagined having a domestic base career.鈥澨�

After graduation, Gegenheimer worked with a small consulting company with clients in Somalia and Kenya. Soon after, she continued to move up in the international sales arena.

鈥淚 went to a company called Super Flight, which was a sporting goods manufacturer. There, I worked myself up to international sales manager. We had clients in about 30 countries.鈥�

After eight years of working at Super Flight, Gegenheimer was recruited by Revo Inc., a division of Bausch & Lomb, to work as their international sales operations manager.

At Revo, she managed 34 countries. Her work involved meeting with business partners from all corners of the world. 鈥淚鈥檇 meet them all at trade shows and had to learn a lot of foreign mannerisms. I had to learn what to do, what not to do, how to dress, etc.鈥�

Gegenheimer admits this was a great learning opportunity to continue expanding her global knowledge.

Towards the end of her career, while working as director of partnership services for ImproveNet, Gegenheimer saw the value and benefits that came from her global experience.听

鈥淎 lot of people who rise to these ranks with these large global companies have some kind of international background. When you start chatting about this, it turns out this person had gone to Spain to study abroad for college and, all of the sudden, you鈥檝e got this connection,鈥� she says.

Connecting with others, expanding students鈥� global mindset and giving back were Gegenheimer鈥檚 main priorities when she established the Auf geht鈥檚 scholarship.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a point in your life when you say, 鈥業鈥檝e been taking so much these years, it鈥檚 time for me to give back to my community.鈥� I wanted to help CU 麻豆影院 students become better global members of society. It鈥檚 enriching when you can connect with people, and I want to encourage that Colorado student to think about something beyond Colorado.鈥�

In 2021, Gegenheimer endowed $25,000 to the . In her criteria for student eligibility, she was inspired by her own college journey.

鈥淚 wanted it for the average kids with average GPAs. The ones that are going to do fine, the ones that are not going to Harvard Law School. I wanted to encourage them because that's the kind of kid I was.鈥�

Gegenheimer wants to award students who are already wanting to be part of those global and cultural opportunities.

鈥淚 want it to go to someone who's really passionate and wants to further their language skills. I think often, these students are already willing to look beyond their four walls. They鈥檙e yearning to get out there.鈥�

Gegenheimer has lived, experienced and, she says, reaped the benefits of living in a different country, learning about different cultures and growing a global mindset. The Auf geht's scholarship aims to provide the next generation of CU 麻豆影院 students an opportunity to experience living abroad.

鈥淚 can't end world hunger. I can't stop children being abused. But hopefully, in the next 20 years, the students who have gotten the scholarship are a little more globally minded when they come back to the U.S. That to me is the end goal. To make sure these American kids from small-town Colorado have a chance to experience how wonderful it is to live somewhere else.鈥�