Madalyn Motley

How did you first hear about Rize, and why did you decide to take a Rize course?

Madalyn is a junior at Lenoir-Rhyne University, triple majoring in project management, marketing, and business management. She came in undeclared and explored multiple majors including IT, psychology, and communications before settling on project management.

Professors encouraged her to pursue project management because she enjoys leadership and collaborating with others. This alignment was further validated when she took career assessment tests through the career center at her institution. She's taken Introduction to Project Management and is currently in the second project management course and really enjoying the async experience. "Normally online classes are harder for me, but I've had so much support through Rize that it almost kind of feels like I am in class, just because my professors are so on top of communication."

How did you apply your Rize skills outside of the classroom?

As an incoming freshman in her sorority, Madalyn decided to take on a leadership position as the VP of Events and Programming. During that time, she also happened to be taking her first Project Management course, and saw an opportunity to leverage the skills she was learning to plan a philanthropy golf tournament.

“I was kind of thrown into the position, with no existing guidelines. From my class, I used budget sheets, risk management assessments, creating backup plans with weather conditions. It actually rained out the day I had scheduled, but I had implemented those backup plans and communicated it, and I actually ended up having more players come on the second day.” As a result, her sorority was able to raise $2,000 and successfully put on a tournament for the first time since the early 2000s.

The golf tournament became part of her final project for the Intro course, meaning she was simultaneously planning a real event and completing coursework. "It was really cool for me, because I could see what we were doing each week in Intro to Project Management, and I could see that our final project was going to be a culmination of everything that we'd learned with a project of our choice. So that's whenever I kind of realized this  perfect opportunity.”

Additionally, Madalyn used her Rize skills to secure a budget for events and planning for her sorority. This came after several seniors graduated and membership dues dropped from 22 to 5, so she created detailed budget approval forms for the VP of Finance showing what money was needed, why, and how to use it effectively while maintaining reserves.

How did this experience impact your career trajectory?

The hands-on project work gave Madalyn confidence about entering the job market. While she initially worried that breaking into project management requires experience seeing her coursework translate into real results changed everything. The golf tournament project—with its tangible $2,000 fundraising outcome, risk management planning, and budget proposals—became proof she could deliver. These real-world applications reinforced her interest in project management over her other two majors: "After taking the classes, I'm definitely more lean towards doing something with project management, although I do love marketing."

What's next for you?

Madalyn is studying abroad in Australia from January through late April at Bond University. She's exploring potential internships through faculty-led projects to continue building her resume, and looking forward to discovering what additional types of work truly excites her. She plans to get the most out of the opportunity to be “away from what I’ve been around my whole life” to offer some fresh perspectives on what she envisions for her post-graduate career.