Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Autumn 2013 | Page 53

STUDENTprofile
Savvy
Opportunity does not need to knock twice for Jeremy Browning ’13,
who could teach a class on asking the right questions.

j

by Andrew Thompson ’13

eremy Browning ’13 has a gift for
building relationships and making things
happen.
Jeremy came to Wheaton from the
suburbs of Detroit, where he lettered in
three sports and built lasting friendships
with everyone from his high school
principal (a fellow Christian who granted
Jeremy’s request to start a Christian
ministry) to the orchestra director. Jeremy
served as president of the symphony
orchestra though he didn’t begin playing
viola until the seventh grade.
Once at Wheaton, Jeremy took a
freshman introductory Bible course under
Dr. Vincent Bacote, professor of theology
and director of the Center for Applied
Christian Ethics. “I sat at the very center
of the front row,” Jeremy says, “and after
a couple of classes I introduced myself to
him. He offered to be a mentor to me.”
They would meet several times a
month, and Jeremy says he often texted
Dr. Bacote with questions about theology
or life in general. “He’s a Bible scholar,
but he’s also very socially aware and a
voracious consumer of news. We can
always talk about contemporary issues in
a meaningful way.” The key takeaways
from this mentoring relationship have
been clarifying conversations on the issues
of race and class differences.
Says Dr. Bacote, “Jeremy is a unique
combination of brilliance, curiosity, and
innate leadership. This was obvious to me
from the first conversations we had when
he was a freshman.”
A business/economics major and

international relations minor, Jeremy says
some of his most formative experiences
came through three years in Student
Government. He served on the diversity
committee as a sophomore, and then as
vice president and president. As president,
Jeremy helped launch In Support of
the Arts (ISOTA). The project helps
provide venues for artists to display their
creativity outside the classroom, a passion
for Jeremy.
Another mentor, Dr. Steve Ivester ’93,
M.A.’03, dean of student engagement,
says, “Jeremy has a mental hum that seems
to be purring all the time. I’ve never had
a student ask the depth of questions that
he asks.”
In addition to cultivating Jeremy’s
insatiable curiosity, Wheaton also stirred
a deep desire to grow his faith. “I’m going
to miss the rigor with which people try to
converge their life and work for purposes
of Christian fidelity and the advancement

of God’s kingdom,” he says.
Not one to leave life’s next steps until the
last minute, Jeremy intentionally sought the
counsel of Wheaton alumni professionals
in business and the creative arts, and over
the last three years developed relationships
that helped him identify his calling. One
of his mentors, a Wheaton alumnus and
prominent financier, advised him to visit
New York City to meet with other business
professionals, which Jeremy did this past
spring on his own dime. “I bought a lot of
coffee for people,” he says. After five days
of running around the Big Apple from one
meeting to the next, Jeremy was offered and
accepted a position with Vivaldi Partners, a
global strategy consultancy.
One day Jeremy hopes to combine his
passion for the creative arts with business
strategy, potentially working in the film or
music industry, but for now, Jeremy looks
forward to the new opportunities ahead in
New York City.
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