(upbeat music)
(bicycle bell ringing)
(boat horn honking)
-: I own a public relations company, and that means
I get to combine humanities with actually being an employer
and creating jobs and running a business,
which I'm incredibly proud of.
I discovered Gustavus this spring of my senior year
in high school, when I had no idea
what to do after high school.
I was thinking I would take a leap year,
and I saw the course catalog, and I saw the theater building
in the catalog, and I thought, a place that has that much
arts and literature and theater would be a great place
to study for fun for a year, and so that's why I went.
And that conversation with my advisor
and my professor, who looked me in the face and said
I was allowed to do what I was passionate about,
and that's when I decided to stay.
(bright music)
Liberal arts education is practically unknown in Sweden,
and Sweden isn't particularly strong in the humanities.
I didn't know what it was when I came.
I think liberal arts has shaped me and my head
and my brain into being a better analyst,
a better leader, a better thinker.
Gustavus changed me because it helped me see my culture
from the outside and see myself as a foreigner
from the outside, and understand what it feels like
to be the odd one.
Gustavus changed me in lots of ways.
There were so many opportunities for me at Gustavus.
Some I don't think I recognized at the time.
I see it in hindsight.
To see ways to make a life count,
and most of them was exposing myself
to different examples, and I feel pride when I come back,
and I feel that my time at Gustavus was meaningful.
I'm Elin Ahlden.
I'm a Gustie.
Gustavus Adolphus College.
Make your life count.