After Ryan Lojo graduated from college, he wanted to be part of the international development field. He joined the Peace Corps, working on income generation and health projects in a tiny village in the Dominican Republic.

The experience didn’t change his sense of mission but led him to pursue it with a different strategy. He earned a Fulbright grant and worked with a small consulting firm in Mexico assisting startup companies. “I enjoyed this experience but wanted to pursue larger projects over a broader geographic area,” Ryan says. And to accomplish that, he concluded, he would need an MBA.

The combination of “a top 25 business school, in a fun city with nice-ish weather and a strong social mission,” led him to choose Vanderbilt, where he quickly became involved with the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures. During his first year, he served both as a board member for the Center and as team lead for a Project Pyramid group from Vanderbilt that worked in Guatemala. “Being the point person for a cross-border consulting project involving students from different disciplines has been a great way to grow, while also building something that will last,” Ryan says.

For someone who had never spent time in the South until two days before classes began, Ryan has found a home in Nashville, where he spent many weekends his first year exploring the international cuisine of tiny, family-run restaurants in the city. (If you want an amazing food tour of Nashville’s Nolensville Pike, Ryan is your man.)

Especially, Ryan has enjoyed being part of a supportive, tight-knit yet diverse community. “I really appreciate the ability to interact with faculty both in and outside of class,” he says. “And I have been able to have long chats with friends who helped me see their world from a different perspective and who shared their own backgrounds and future plans to help inspire my own ideas.

“I know every classmate of mine, which is normal here. I have yet to find another school where that is the case.”

Fun Fact: Ryan was a ski coach in college.

Being the point person for a cross-border consulting project involving students from different disciplines has been a great way to grow.