Macy McCalip

It might surprise you, but Baton Rouge native and LSU legacy Macy McCalip wasn't sure she wanted to be a Tiger. Although she knew LSU was a strong school, she considered leaving home to challenge herself and grow in a new environment.

Her perspective shifted during the Ogden Honors College Scholars Weekend. The experience revealed something she hadn't fully expected: a supportive community that encouraged ambitious students to explore and grow.

"I like to say, 'find your little flowered Venn diagram of where your circles intersect.' Finding those opportunities to get involved gives you that smaller circle in the middle of your flower of life. LSU does a really good job of creating those experiences. That's why I ended up here, and I have not regretted it."

Since arriving on campus, Macy has embraced those overlapping opportunities. As a member of the Honors College and a Stamps Scholar, she enjoys experiences that enhance her business degree by allowing her to further develop a full complement of skills alongside conceptual and technical competencies.

She has also seized unique opportunities, such as enrolling in an AI project management course where teams of engineering and business students build real solutions for Louisiana businesses. Macy's team developed a document retrieval system for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. Through the experience, she strengthened her technical understanding and saw how interdisciplinary collaboration works in practice.

Last summer, Macy took another step outside her comfort zone, this time hundreds of miles from home. She spent the summer in Manhattan interning at Varadero Capital, an experience that immersed her in a fast-paced professional environment.

"It was a little more finance-oriented and definitely outside my comfort zone," she said. "But I've found—especially through studying abroad with Honors in Oxford—that being somewhere new helps you understand yourself better. When you're in a different environment, you see yourself in a new context and learn things about yourself you might not have discovered otherwise."

The internship gave Macy a glimpse of life as a working professional and expanded her network. She credits Varadero Capital founder Fernando Guerrero and other LSU alumni she met that summer with helping her navigate the experience.

“During my time at LSU, I have had the privilege of reaching out to alumni who have gone down paths I'm considering. They have been incredibly generous with their time and advice.”

Through programs like KPMG's Texas Talent Plus initiative, Macy connected with an alumna who became a mentor and helped her explore potential career paths in advisory services. Conversations like that helped shape some of Macy's decisions on campus.

"Talking with alumni encouraged me to try the LSU Center for Internal Auditing & Cybersecurity Risk Management program, which I've loved," she said. "It's introduced me to a lot of my friends in accounting and the Ourso College. Honestly, a lot of the opportunities I've pursued started with conversations with LSU alumni."

For Macy, those connections represent something larger than networking. They reflect a culture of mentorship that continues long after graduation.

"I've found that LSU alumni really want to give back and help students succeed," she said. "That's been really inspiring to me. One day, I hope to do the same."