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Photos by Ralph Freso
Andrew Huizen has served internships with JP MorganChase, Charles Schwab and Wells Fargo in major cities such as Chicago, Dallas and Houston.
“This kid has been recruited by all the majors,” Grand Canyon University finance professor Alan Klibanoff said days before Huizen delivered the commencement speech Friday morning at Global Credit Union Arena.
“But his plan, and God’s plan for him, is to go back and make a difference in basically blue-collar America. … He’s not going to make as much money as he could, but that’s not important, which is nice to see in this day and age.”
As Huizen’s resume and faith grew during his 3 ½ years at GCU, he remains committed to his roots. Huizen will return to his hometown of Hudsonville, Michigan – with a population of less than 8,000, once known for its ice cream and called “Michigan’s Salad Bowl because of its wet, fertile soil that produces plentiful vegetables.
“I think that town has some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met – farmers, teachers and doctors, and those are the people who don’t know what to do and they get paid,” said Huizen, who will serve as a financial planner for Valentine Capital.
“I don’t want those people working until they’re 80 years old. So that kind of tugged like a string on the emotional side for me. And I was thinking what if I can use something that I think I’m good at and learn a lot about that can potentially help a lot of people, and I can get compensated for it well and provide for my family?
“It just seems right, and I feel like I can use that as a calling to use the skills that God has given me to serve my community.”
Huizen nearly did not make it to GCU. He was already enrolled at Michigan State – about 83 miles east of Hudsonville – and had connections to MSU’s Eli Broad College of Business.
He took a Discover trip to GCU during the spring of his senior year of high school, on the suggestion of a friend, then found himself lost at the College of Nursing.
Program development supervisor Steve Thomas found Huizen and brought him to the Colangelo College of Business library, where he and Klibanoff told him, “At GCU, we don’t just learn business, we DO business.”
Huizen began to think MSU would have seemed “too easy” because everything was planned for him.
GCU, meanwhile, challenged him. He ran the Student Managed Investment Fund, which has more than $5 million in assets.
And he would go out of his way to pay it forward, sharing his story with other students if he saw Thomas take a group of Discover GCU guests through college.
During his commencement address, Huizen not only thanked parents and professors, particularly the professors who directed him toward the Certified Financial Planning program, but he recognized alumnus Riley McCaughn, who served as a big brother during Huizen’s freshman year.
“When he asked me to do it for somebody else, it stuck with me,” Huizen said. “So, when it became my turn to lead, my mission was simple – reflect Jesus in every interaction that I have and serve people with no expectation of anything in return.”
Huizen referenced Romans 13:8 and the obligation to love one another “because the truth is, titles fade, things fade, people won’t remember your position or accomplishments. They remember the way you made them feel,” Huizen said.
“And that’s when it finally clicked for me. I came to GCU thinking success meant doing more, and I was doing more. I’m leaving knowing that success means love people better.”
At the start of his sophomore year, Huizen once asked to borrow Thomas’ office so he could conduct a Zoom interview to line himself up for an internship the following summer.
“It’s not just even at that point … that he knew everything,” Thomas said. “It’s just the fact that Drew was a guy who was willing to do it, figure it out, learn it.
“I don’t see a lot of kids that in the world that have that drive. Drew has the drive. Drew has the drive to be successful in that. And I love the fact that he wants to go back and help families.”
Huizen wanted to pursue finance from his childhood, and his grandfather opened a Fidelity account for his 15th birthday that stipulated he would buy half a share of a stock if Andrew would buy the other half.
Huizen chose Apple (at a full share of $162) because of their technology and the long lines outside their stores when they put new iPhones on the market.
“And that kind of started it for me,” said Huizen, who would sit in the back of the class and check the charts.
Two years later, Huizen recalled a quote that stated seven of 10 people are financially illiterate, “which means if you take a crowd of 100 people, 70 of them don’t know what to do with their money.”
That acumen applied to Huizen’s goal of graduating in 3 ½ years.
“Finance is all about return on investment,” Huizen said. “I thought, ‘What’s the least amount I can spend for the biggest opportunity ahead?’ Well, if I can learn four years of stuff in 3 1/2 years and pay 86 ½ percent of 100% of what I would pay, it seems like a not bad gig that I wouldn’t take that opportunity.”
Returning to Hudsonville will alleviate the lingering homesickness Huizen experienced ever since his freshman year.
“But the worst-case scenario was, I can spend a year at GCU and come back (to Hudsonville) if I don’t like it,” Huizen said. “I can’t do that when I’m 35 with kids. I got to try and figure things out.
“I’ve met my girlfriend who, hopefully, God willing, one day, is my future wife. I have met some of my best friends who are brothers to me now. I have met some people in my life who are mentors, who, God willing, I text, call, hang out with them for the rest of my life.
“So, this place is very special to me.”
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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