Outstanding Graduates Economics & Business

2023

Alison Thomas

Alison Thomas '23 is relentless in her drive to learn. She brings discipline and a resolute intellectual curiosity to every task. Watching her work is joyful and inspiring. Alison quickly grasps the features and implications of economic models in applying economic concepts to current issues, both domestic and global. Her writing is deliberative, careful, and creative.

2022

Maggie Hine

Faculty affirm that Maggie Hine '22 is a joy to have in class. She thinks and communicates with precision, and has a humble disposition.  Maggie devours work with energy and focus, never backs down from a challenge and has a remarkable self-awareness that steadies her. She brings an admirable Christian commitment to bear in seeking the best way to exercise stewardship on behalf of those facing economic

2021

Jared Huff

Jared Huff '21 is lauded by the Economics and Business faculty for his stellar performance in the major. In fact, Jared has been superb in every course he’s taken, having a 4.0 GPA. Faculty members admire his reliably valuable contributions to class discussion, intellectual curiosity and acumen in analytical thinking, precise communication skills, and winsome and helpful manner as a teaching assistant. Jared’s talents stretch outside of economics and business, for he is a budding thespian, having participated in the Magic Flute production. He also represents a legacy, as some twenty-three Huffs have been enrolled at Westmont. Jared will be attending Georgetown University Law Center. We congratulate Jared for his excellent work as our outstanding 2021 graduate.

2020

Jacob Ibrahim

Jacob Ibrahim '20 respectfully appreciates and deeply understands the foundational basics of each subject he studies. His willingness to grind out quality work, to never jump to irrational conclusions, and to embrace challenging assignments is a testament to his step by step approach which purposefully drives him forward. His natural leadership qualities and easy-going temperament round out his stellar work ethic. Jacob can be counted on to bring stability, wisdom, and vision to situations either easy or difficult. We thank you for your diligence, we congratulate you on your acceptance into so many law schools and we wish you all the best as you pursue a law degree at either UC Berkeley Boalt or UCLA in the fall.

2019

Whitney Tice

Whitney Tice '19 has been an aerial dancer for seven years. “Ever since I was little I enjoyed climbing things and being up high,” she says. “Aerial allows me to maintain a sense of childlike playfulness and simultaneously work hard. I think I get most excited about the challenge of trying and mastering new skills and sequences, which I find incredibly fun and exhilarating.”

Her professors say she is industrious, inquisitive and always present in the moment. “Actively listening, gently probing, persistently processing, diligently growing and quietly contributing, Whitney is also an outstanding person who lives her faith daily and who is sincere in reaching out to others, in offering prayers and in being concerned for all,” says Rick Ifland, chair of the economics and business department.

Tice studied on Westmont in Asia during Mayterm and lived in Uganda for a month as part of Emmaus Road. “This was one of the most valuable experiences in my life,” she says of her time at Faith Children’s Home and God’s House of Miracles in Lugazi, Uganda.

“The education I have received at Westmont has prepared me to engage in gracious and meaningful conversations about faith with people from a variety of backgrounds.”

2018

Savannah Reed-Plouffe

After Commencement, Savannah Reed-Plouffe '18 will head to Singapore as part of a Westmont Mayterm course. She will do an internship in market research for the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), which hosts the annual Asian Insights conference considering what Asia will look like by 2030. She watched 37 plays during a five-week London Theatre Mayterm. “I was exposed to so many different worldviews and perspectives,” she says. “The whole experience really tied together everything that Westmont teaches about being a global learner, eager to understand other people’s experiences.” Her professors helped her grow as a whole person and their insights and advice helped shape her career path. She is considering graduate schools and a career in accounting. “I really like the financial side of business as well as the legal intricacies of business,” she says. “In the distant future I could see myself in an advising or counseling role. The most important thing Westmont has taught me is that God is so much more creative than I will ever be and, with Him, my future has the potential to be so much bigger than would have thought.”

2017

Alice McCormick

Alice McCormick '17 is an outstanding student who is a joy to have in class.  Quietly attentive, Alice is always listening, always processing, always growing.  She is industrious, a pleasant collaborator, a seasoned presenter and an inquisitive learner with unique insights that she willingly shares with others.  Alice's assignments, homework and tests are consistently of superior quality in every endeavor that she encounters. 

2016

Megan Litschewski

Megan Litschewski '16 is so much more than a Monroe Scholar. She is thoughtful, polished, organized, determined, competitive, articulate and simply outstanding as a critical thinker, creative writer and vigorous scholar. Resolute to excel at every task, Megan also exhibits prudence and thoughtful concern for others, most especially as a true friend to those most in need. Our collective sense is that as she begins her endeavors as a strategic consultant, Megan is on the path toward making significant contributions in the business world as a faithful follower of Christ.

2016

Kha-Ai Nguyen

Kha-Ai Nguyen '16 is quietly driven, highly intelligent, unpredictably witty, uncannily efficient and obviously friendly to every person to whom she comes in contact. Truly a delight to have in class, she embodies what we desire at Westmont: definitely a thoughtful scholar in the classroom, grateful, Christ-filled servant to others in our community, and faithful leader in so many co-curricular activities. Kha-Ai’s inquisitiveness, diligence and huge heart will serve her well and allow her to flourish in the field of health care management.

2015

Crawford Ifland

Crawford Ifland '15 is a person of unquestioned integrity and high moral character; a person of commitment to excellence demonstrated by the way he uses his talents; and a person who espouses and practices the Judeo-Christian ethic of service to others. He is bright, articulate, a tenacious learner, responsible, self-confident, hard working, curious, goal oriented, cheerful and highly dependable. While excelling in the classroom, Crawford also started three companies, been an official photographer for the Kentucky Derby and has a client base of publicly-traded corporations and well-known Christian non-profits, including the Willow Creek Association and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. His creative work has been published over 150 times. We look forward to his bright future using his many gifts in his entrepreneurial ventures.