Unknown to many, a group of students at Orono have families that own local businesses.
“If I do take over, I hope to instill the same values in my family as my dad instilled in my siblings and myself,” senior and future manager of Stirrup Ranch Mackenzie Iversen said.
The Iversen family business involves PMT Corporation, which is a medical production company located in Minnesota, and Stirrup Ranch that is located in Canon City, Colorado.
“Though my dad manages two businesses, I don’t think I could ever handle both,” Iversen said.
Each grade at OHS has a small group of students like senior Mackenzie Iversen.
Senior Maddie Eastman has “definitely learned what the business world is like and how competitive it is” through working at her family owned company, Hansaton Acoustics, during her summer breaks.
“With the head of the company in Germany, my dad started Hansaton in Minnesota as the representative company for the U.S.” Eastman said.
Many of the students, like junior Lizzy Kroll, have gained insight on how to run a company and learned about what jobs outside of high school are like.
“For a while, [taking over the family business] was my plan, but I realized I want to study medicine instead of business, so my vision had changed a little bit,” Eastman said.
At the moment Eastman thinks that the position will fall onto her younger sister, sophomore Emma Eastman.
Other students, such as juniors Mia Doolittle and Zach Wagner Lund, are not sure about taking over the family business.
“It is my intent to keep the business in the family and the family in the business,” CEO of Lunds and Byerly’s Tres Lund said. “Family businesses have a unique ability to be extraordinary places to work and shop when the cultural values create high levels of staff and customer engagement.”
As of now, Wagner Lund is not sure whether he will pursue his father’s job as CEO of Lunds and Byerly’s, but he has taken it into strong consideration.
Lund believes that passing ownership and leadership are separate functions and that both require considerable planning and effort. If done well, it can be an amazing thing.