Cary Perrin ’05

Please describe your position and what you enjoy most about it.

I lead a non-profit in my community to help small business owners get started in our community, and I advocate for large businesses to have a good working relationship with the local government. The whole is idea is based on the more economic success our local businesses have, the more they will hire local talents, the more prosperous our community becomes for the future.

I have come to really enjoy helping new businesses find creative ways to get the word out about themselves. A lot of entrepreneurs have a really great idea, but have given little thought of how and to whom to market it. My staff and I have a lot of fun brainstorming with those owners because we get to see their passion and excitement for their business.

What aspects of your HLGU experience helped you prepare for your career?

Strangely enough, all those education classes on psychological and physical development have really help me to work with all kinds of people from different generations and backgrounds. HLGU really help me see how nature, nuture, past experiences really forms a person. Knowing those things ahead of time, helps me to better carve a partnerships. Also, studying how a student learns by building on their previous knowledge has been a huge assist in pitching new ideas and changes to an organization that has been around for decades.

What have you enjoyed most about your career?

Having started and closed a business myself was a very rewarding and depressing experience. It has really shaped me the most since I moved away from Hannibal. Thankfully, God has been able to use that experience to help others in similar circumstances at my current job. Working with people who have staked their entire future on a great idea they have is very rewarding. I get to see their passion, excitement, and fear all working together inside of them as they navigate crazy obstacles. It is very inspiring to me.

How did HLGU shape you as a person?

HLGU really pushed me to take the lead when caring about my community and my local church. I had the fortunate opportunity to help lead one of the first mission emphasis week’s to Hannibal. Helping people who were not from my town see the great spiritual and physical needs in Hannibal really drove to me a career in non-profit work that betters the places we have lived. HLGU’s focus on local missions really refined that drive for me.

Please share a specific example from your career or life when the skills you gained at HLGU helped you most.

As you can see, I haven’t utilize my education degree to do a lot of classroom teaching anymore. I have mainly worked in the non-profit world. I remember when I made that transition and would be put in charge of a few organizations I had little to no experience in. I called a few professors for direction in quickly teaching myself new skills I needed quickly. I learned a lot about how my degree really taught me to be a well-rounded problem solver. The same skills and techniques it took to pass Coach Erskin’s Tests & Measurements class, how to research and learn something totally new to me, were still needed in the career world. Since HLGU, I have gotten to wear many different job titles because I had professors teach me it is okay to not know all the answers yet, but know how to find them.

What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?

A local organization called Communities in Schools awarded me Volunteer of the Year Award in 2018 for my work in helping get students of Hurricane Harvey find much needed resources.

What HLGU professors played a part in your success? How did your relationship with faculty help you succeed?

David Erskin, Betty Rhodes, Clay Biggs, Dan Hurst, and many more were huge helps to me. I cannot thank them enough for their open-door policy to help me answer all the questions I had, juggle the crazy schedules, and to just simply pray over us when things were most difficult.

Do you have any tips to share with students interested in this field?

If you would like to be a part of the Chamber of Commerce, ask the local chamber to have you help plan and attend their networking events. It is a great way to meet local dignitaries and business leaders and learn what works and doesn’t work in business.

What are some of your favorite HLGU memories?

Some of my favorite memories were actually the summer semesters I took. The smaller classes with more of the commuting classmates and the extra time with the professors were a lot of fun helpful to getting through some of my harder subjects. Those classes really had a team atmosphere of working together and pulling for each other.

What on-campus activities were you involved in at HLGU?

I was in student government, choir, an RA, a member of Phi Beta Delta, and a couple of plays. I mostly filled my life up volunteering at Calvary Baptist Church and working at B&B Theater.

HLGU’s motto is “knowledge for service.” What roles have these values played in your life?

I’ve adopted that motto to my life wherever I live. My cause should be to make my community a better place through my energy to serve. I now work with the local Meals on Wheels, Rotary, and Community Foundation as well as my church to help make my town a better place to live.

What is one thing you know now that you wish you’d known when you started in the field?

That it is okay to fail. Failing at some of my career goals has been some of the best continuing education I have received.