Rebecca Plagens had always wanted to be a professional translator. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in German from Gustavus Adolphus College, she went on to earn a master’s degree in translation from Kent State University, and then worked in Germany as an in-house translator for five years.
Earning a business administration degree at LSC in 2018 was a strategic career move for her to improve her translation business. “All of my role models in the translation industry emphasized the need to specialize in a field. This means learning a subject at an expert level, in addition to knowing your native language and working foreign languages. Given Germany’s position as an economic leader, studying business and accounting made a lot of sense for me.”
Plagens chose LSC for practical reasons. “Price was the main selling point for me, and small class sizes were also beneficial. I had already paid off my graduate school loans, and I was not going to take out any new ones. As someone who runs her own business, the things I have learned in my LSC classes have been invaluable to me!”
Plagens had always thought she was best suited to study liberal arts and the humanities, but surprised herself by enjoying business courses, especially accounting. “I was not expecting to get so excited by things like investments and cash flows. The course I took on taxation was probably the most difficult for me. The hard work is worth it, however. For someone thinking about the LSC business administration program, I would say do it!”
Plagens recommends LSC to everyone she knows. “LSC teachers have been top notch. They respect their students and meet people where they are and are incredibly accessible. What made the biggest difference for me was that many of my teachers had worked in the fields that they now teach so they draw on their real world experience when explaining things.”
Plagens has continued to run her translation business after graduating LSC, going on to work on a bachelor’s degree at University of Wisconsin-Superior in accounting. “Without a doubt, the hardest thing has been balancing running my own business with studying. My number one priority is my clients, so I am very proud that I earned a 4.0 at LSC. In five years, I hope to have grown my translation business and specialized further as a translator.”
