“Let fear drive where you go.”

This is the advice that Griffin Burkhardt ('20), a new Business Informatics graduate, would give to his freshman self. Griffin allowed fear to drive him into his mentor program, internship and future career. He says he is prepared for life after college because Northern Kentucky University “offers students a lot of resources to be their best before graduation.”

As a recipient of Dean’s List and President’s List Honors for five semesters, academics were at the forefront of Griffin’s college experience. With a 3.77 GPA, Griffin excelled in all of his coursework. And for four years, Griffin worked in Griffin Hall as a College of Informatics student ambassador.

Dr. Joseph Rubleske had the opportunity to teach Griffin in two different courses, and he says that Griffin's devotion to the college goes well byeond his job duties.

“He attended every class, was consistently attentive, engaged and produced exemplary work,” Dr. Rubleske says. “He attended seemingly everything, including student recruitment events, training workshops and even departmental committees.”

And Griffin’s hard work has not gone unnoticed—the faculty of the Department of Business Informatics chose him as the winner for this year’s outstanding service award.

Griffin’s favorite memory during his time at NKU was participating in GlobalHack VII is St. Louis, Missouri. Sponsored by Computer Science Chair Dr. Maureen Doyle, Griffin led the front-end of the team’s Cultural Inclusiveness Project, a website which connected immigrants and refugees. This project was awarded 2nd place and a $10,000 prize, a victory Griffin attributes to the efforts of NKU faculty and professors.

"Without it, we never would have gotten the opportunity to compete," he says. 

With dreams of working for Kroger in the future, Griffin hopes to be in a position where he can help people. With his successes both on and off campus, Griffin has an endless array of possibilities after graduation.

“Griffin is a positive and enthusiastic person who’s really easy to talk to,” Dr. Rubleske says. “Employers will be lucky to have him, and he’s got a great career ahead of him.”