Addy Janssen is a senior at our very own Dallas Center-Grimes High School and is making a Des Moines company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wait…what?
Setting into the Business World
Yes, you understood that correctly. Addy participates in DCG’s School-to-Work program where half of her school day is spent in the classroom, and the other half is spent getting her foot in the door of the business world through a powerful internship. She works in West Des Moines, Iowa at Navigate Wellbeing Solutions as a Marketing Intern.
Navigate Wellbeing Solutions is a “Well-Tech” company as defined by the Vice President of Operations: Jim Barclay. For non-techies like myself, the goal of Navigate is to provide a platform for companies to increase the health and wellness of their employees, clients, and community to live happier and healthier lives. For example, Navigate provides companies with resources for employees such as physical well-being support, mental health balance, financial coaching, and even ways to connect with the community. Navigate’s mission is to “Do Good Things.” That message is fundamental to how they operate and is scattered throughout their West Des Moines office.
We had the opportunity to visit Addy at her job where her day-to-day consists of working side by side with Navigate’s Director of Marketing, Lindsay DeMouth, to make an impact at the company. DeMouth told us, “She’s always willing to help with a smile on her face.” Addy has been integrated into Navigate’s own community. She appears on their social media in a “What’s your good?” post where she talks about her future endeavors as an athlete, and you can even find her on their website as a full-blown employee!
Small things Addy does, such as cleaning up the data in their CRM (Customer Relationship Management) files, have the potential to save them thousands and thousands of dollars in the long run. Addy works closely with some of Navigate’s top leadership teams where she has learned skills such as graphic design, social media, and event planning and gained valuable experience, as a high schooler, which not many get.
An Ace for DCG and the Community
Not only has Addy been making waves in the business world, DCG and the community have felt it too. Addy is almost as involved as you can be with her fingerprint in many of DCG’s successes. On the volleyball court, she is a leader through and through and has won numerous awards, as well as, helped her team reach a 4A Regional Final her senior year.
On the soccer field, she has been a huge part of a State Runner-Up and 2X State Champion team. For extracurricular activities, if it exists, she is probably a part of it. From volunteering over 160 hours of community service in her four years to making lasting decisions for DCG in the Student Council Leadership Group. Addy’s impact on the DCG community has been constant throughout her years as a Mustang, and shining light on these successes is hard to do in few words.
Trading Her Mustang Jersey for a Bulldog Jersey
Addy started seriously looking into continuing her volleyball career in her junior year by creating highlight videos of some of her best plays and sending them off to over 50 college coaches who piqued her interest. Her hard work, dedication, and accolades didn’t go unnoticed. Coach David Gannon at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, recruited Addy to continue dominating the volleyball court. Her trust in the process paid off with Truman State as the destination.
As a student, she plans to continue pursuing Marketing at Truman’s School of Business. With a headstart in the marketing field, Addy is well on her way to becoming a professional in a career she has put her focus on.
Set Point
Addy has made her mark at DCG as a friend-to-all, a volunteer to the community, and now a professional who will continue to make an impact wherever that may be. It is hard to find something in the DCG Community that Addy has put her best foot forward to be a part of, and it’s easy to assume she’s not stopping now.
With Addy graduating this May, big shoes are going to need to be filled; whether it be at school, on the volleyball court, at her internship at Navigate, or anywhere in the community. With that being said, Truman State is getting one of DCG’s best, and we can’t wait to see the “Good Things” she continues to do.
About the Author
This article was written by Hannah Renz; a senior at DCG High School. She is a School-to-Work Intern in the Communications Department at DCG.