Brandan Coward ’24

How did you choose your course of study?

I knew I wanted to do something with business, and I always liked being in a leader-type of role. Then my minor is biotechnology. My mom’s been a nurse manager for basically my whole life. I always liked the healthcare field and the sciences. 

How do you see your major and minor working together in your future?

I could manage a hospital from a business perspective. For example, my mom works in the NICU, so say the NICU needs 20 new incubators. How do you go about getting that? That’s what interests me.

What draws you to leadership positions?

I like learning and growing from experiences. I was a football team captain throughout high school. Every year I was able to grow as a person, working not only with my friends but also people that I didn’t talk to all the time who became my teammates. I learned how to not only lead them but also how to manage other people besides myself. 

Then I came to Bryant and met my recruiting class for football. I like being there for them. We’re a very close class. And everyone always comes to me. I’m the first person they think of when they need something.

Do you have a favorite class? 

My Global Foundations of Business class. I had Professor Mark Vozella. He is one of my favorite professors. The class leads up to our final project, which is a global business plan. The biggest takeaway was that there are a lot of countries that are less fortunate than us, so the fact that we were able to design something that could help those people, that was empowering. We’re only 18, 19, 20 years old, and we’re making a whole business plan on something that could actually happen. That was eye-opening.

How would you describe the culture at Bryant?

I would describe Bryant as a mixture of two things. One: being able to apply your academic knowledge. Focusing on class assignments, but then also getting something out of it. A lot of people focus on the grade, but it’s not always about the grade. One of my coaches told me it’s not the outcome, it’s the process. So if you go to class, you’re not only learning information, but you’re able to apply it in life.

Two: being part of the community. Bryant offers a lot of clubs that students can take part in. Being not only a good community member, but also expanding your interests and meeting new people. That’s the most important thing about college — finding out who you are as a person and growing up and becoming an adult.