Destiny Cherry, Abby Hobrough, Kevin VanEk and Zac Hamilton ‘24 sat down with The Butler Collegian to discuss all things Orr. Photos courtesy of those pictured.
JASPER PILARZ | NEWS CO-EDITOR | lpilarz@butler.edu
The Orr Fellowship is a post-graduate program in Indiana which seeks to connect young people and guide them into their first full-time careers. Of the 84 recipients across Indianapolis and Evansville, seven Butler students were awarded the Orr Fellowship. This week, The Butler Collegian spoke with four of the future fellows.
Destiny Cherry is a senior majoring in strategic communication with a minor in organizational communication and leadership.
THE BUTLER COLLEGIAN: How did you first hear of the Orr fellowship? What did your application process look like?
DESTINY CHERRY: In October, when I was thinking about applying, two of my friends on the lacrosse team told me they were Orr fellows when they graduated, and they loved it. It was an awesome way for them to get two years of good, relevant work experience. They got to meet a bunch of people, network with a bunch of people and now basically all of their friends in the corporate world are from the Orr fellowship. They convinced me to apply, and the application process was very nerve-wracking. You get narrowed down from almost 1,000 applicants to — at the end of the day — 100 and it’s fun and exciting. I think it was a good way for me to feel really confident in the skills that I had to provide.
Finalist Day is probably the most grueling part of it. It’s four or five interviews in one day with four or five very excited companies, but it was nerve-wracking. At the end, I matched with Kiwanis International. It is a kids’ nonprofit, and it’s a global company, so they have stations literally all around the country and in a lot of other countries. I’m excited to work on this branch, and they were amazing people when I met them during the interview process.
TBC: What are you looking forward to?
DC: I’m definitely looking forward to the nonprofit, community service aspect of it all. It’s always been a personal mission of mine to serve other people, and this is a perfect way to do that. Kiwanis runs Key Clubs in high schools, and I was in Key Club all four years, so I feel like it’s a full circle moment.
TBC: What does receiving this fellowship and being an Orr fellow mean to you?
DC: It means that I’m capable. It means that there’s a community of people in Indianapolis that are ready to step up and support me and be there for me and cheer me on. When I first decided that I was going to stay in Indiana after graduation, I was a little nervous. I’m originally from Tennessee, and I have a pretty tight knit community there. It felt nerve-wracking stepping outside of that to come to Butler, and now it feels nerve-wracking stepping outside of Butler to go into this. The Orr fellowship and every new member that I met have [shown me] this is going to be a community that’s really going to guide me through the next two years.
TBC: What plans do you have for your time as an Orr fellow? Do you know what comes after, in the next two years and beyond?
DC: There are [two employment] options [as an] Orr Fellow; you can either do a rotational position with your company or a fixed position. I’ll be in a fixed position in the [communications] department. I’m excited to be working with them on social media, blog posting and things like that. Those are my confident places, my strong places. It’ll be fun to work with them in that area, and then also get to step outside of that and work a little bit with their clubs that they have. I’ll get to do a little bit of promotion for them, too, and [say] “Oh, I was in Key Club, you should join!” After the two years is up, I’m hoping it might turn into a full time position, if it doesn’t, no stress.
TBC: Do you have any advice or closing thoughts for other people who might be considering the Orr fellowship, or maybe this is their first time hearing about it?
DC: Orr is a very hard process, but I will say that it’s incredibly rewarding. You will get so much out of your time there, and you will get so much out of even the application process. There are a lot of networking events that we went to during the application process. We got to hear from two to three keynote speakers during the application process, and I think what they hound on is that anyone can be a leader; anyone can lead in any aspect of their life. We are all qualified to do corporate work after Butler. I think the community aspect of being able to pull a bunch of college seniors from a bunch of universities, and sit them in the same room, where they get along and talk and connect on LinkedIn and get each other’s numbers is such a fun experience and such a fun way to build a place for yourself after you get out college. I think anyone should apply for Orr; it’s such a fun time. The application process is scary, but it’s really, really, really worth it.
Abby Hobrough is a senior majoring in strategic communication with a minor in marketing.
THE BUTLER COLLEGIAN: How did you first hear about the Orr Fellowship? What was that application process like?
ABBY HOBROUGH: I am on the Butler women’s swim team, and one of our alumni had done the program before. She was actually coaching for us at the time, and would always speak very highly of it. I was pretty impressed and amazed by all she was growing and doing in the program, which piqued my interest. Then, I continued to meet people and alumni who were a part of it, and that became a big driver for me.
TBC: What company have you partnered with? How do you feel Butler has prepared you to be a fellow with them?
AH: I’ll be with Old National Bank in Evansville, which is the new chapter of the Orr Fellowship. I would say being involved on campus, being able to have leadership roles, being part of clubs and athletics organizations has helped me find so much purpose and value in programming and leadership opportunities.
TBC: What does receiving this fellowship mean to you?
AH: It’s a really cool opportunity. It was a very selective process, so I’m honored and proud to have received this offer. I’m also really excited to be a part of a community of very goal-oriented, driven people.
TBC: What plans do you have for your time as an Orr fellow and beyond?
AH: I’ll be [doing] a job related to my major, which I’m really thrilled about — that I can continue that skill right out of college. I know there’s going to be a lot of professional development and leadership opportunities, so that’ll be great for [my] resume, skill-building and also preparing me beyond that. I’d say there’s a lot of unknowns, but I’m excited for that.
TBC: Do you have any closing words for anyone else who might be considering the fellowship?
AH: If you’ve even thought about it or thought of applying, apply. It doesn’t hurt. As I mentioned, as you’re going through the process, they teach you more, and they involve you more, even in the fellowship, and you get to meet people. At that point, that helps solidify if you want to do it or not, and it’s very stress-relieving to know what I’m doing [after college].
Kevin VanEk, a senior double majoring in finance and business technology and analytics, spoke to the Collegian via email about his experience securing the Orr fellowship.
THE BUTLER COLLEGIAN: How did you first hear about the Orr Fellowship and what was the application process like? Where were you placed?
KEVIN VANEK: I first heard about the fellowship when I was a junior. Orr definitely makes themselves known around campus, and I’ve heard about them here and there. However, my biggest influence to apply for Orr Fellowship was a Butler alum who accepted a position at Orr and really enjoyed it. We come from similar situations, so I would say that was my biggest influence and gave me confidence about the organization. As for the application process, it was pretty simple in the early stages. Orr made it very easy and was flexible when it came to the first stages of the recruitment process with the initial application and first interview stage. It ramped up when it came for companies to select candidates to interview, and the final interview stage was a great experience but very busy with a lot to take in. I was placed with partner company Hurdle, which is a small consulting firm based in Zionsville that aims to provide financial services to small businesses.
TBC: What does receiving this fellowship mean to you?
KV: Because the fellowship is so competitive, I was truly honored to have received a call from them that I had been matched up with one of the partner companies. The process to receive an offer in the first place was also extremely rewarding and insightful. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of smart people, and it opened my eyes to the possibilities the Indy business community has to offer.
TBC: What plans do you have for your time as an Orr fellow and beyond?
KV: As an Orr fellow, I hope to take advantage of the numerous resources that I will have access to, while also using it as a springboard to get settled into life after college. Being from Chicago, I did not originally expect to be living in Indy after graduation, so I am also excited to embrace the new experiences which come with living in a new place full-time.
TBC: Do you have any advice for anyone considering applying to be an Orr Fellow?
KV: Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Not only is there a lot to learn about Orr Fellowship, but if you are asking questions that also shows you are reaching out and being proactive. Reaching out and finding fellows to connect with also provides great networking even if it isn’t about the Orr Fellowship specifically. There are lots of companies that Orr partners with that have their own internship programs which many Orr fellows could be familiar with.
Zac Hamilton graduated in the Fall ‘24 semester with a degree in entrepreneurship and innovation.
THE BUTLER COLLEGIAN: How did you first hear about the Orr fellowship? What was your application process? Where did you end up getting placed?
ZAC HAMILTON: I had an internship this past summer through the Extern Program. It’s through TechPoint, so it’s kind of the same as Orr, where you enter the program and they match you with a tech company within the Indianapolis area. That’s where I started and through that, I got introduced to some people that were in the Orr fellowship that worked with the Extern Program. They were like, “It’s the same thing as Extern, you should apply.” I got placed with NCW, a staffing company, and I started that in January.
TBC: What does receiving this fellowship and being an Orr fellow mean to you?
ZH: It means a lot because I want to put myself more out there after college. I don’t want to be going to work and then just going home. I feel like the Orr Fellowship forces me to be in that environment where I have to interact with people, and I can make the most of the opportunity by being with other business leaders that are in the industries that I want to be in.
TBC: What plans do you have for your time as an Orr fellow now that you’ve graduated? Do you have any idea for where this is going to lead you next?
ZH: No, I don’t know where it’s going to lead me, but I think that’s the exciting part about it. I don’t think anybody even really knows what they want to do after college. [I’m excited to be] able to connect with people [who can tell me], “Hey, I’m working in this industry, this is how it is,” [so I don’t] have to jump between eight jobs to figure out what I like. [I think] knowing what companies there are and what different roles you can have within different organizations is [a cool opportunity available] through the Orr Fellowship. The career growth afterwards is something I look forward to, too. I feel like they really market how far their connections go, and I’m able to use those connections to not only further my career, but then I can help somebody else through my connections as well.
TBC: Do you have any advice for anyone who might be considering the Orr fellowship?
ZH: Just jump into it and just do it. I mean, they have a list of qualifications [for applicants], but I say apply, and just see where it goes. Just be yourself throughout the whole process, and that’ll get you through.
