Nick Variava
Nick Variava finds community on campus – and across the globe – at Creighton
The 2023 grad is putting his international business and management double major to use at Lockton Companies in Los Angeles.
Nick Variava was living an international life when he was deciding between potential universities. Though born in the Midwest, he spent much of his childhood abroad. Employees of the U.S. State Department, his parents moved to a new country every few years, affording their family a global education, inside the classroom and out.
So, when Variava was looking to return stateside for college after his graduation from Jakarta Intercultural School in Jakarta, Indonesia, he sought a school that would build on his international experience but would also feel like home.
Creighton ticked both boxes.
For the global perspective, Variava:
- Participated in multiple study abroad programs. He studied in Sydney, Australia, during the fall semester of his freshman year. Then, in the spring junior year, he spent a semester in Namur, Belgium.
- Interned with Global Partners in Hope, an international NGO founded by Creighton adjunct professor Ian Vickers that provides access to clean water and sustainable health care centers in rural French-speaking West Africa.
- Double majored in international business and management. He pursued the social entrepreneurship track of management, as it aligned with his commitment to service, which includes teaching middle school students English in Tanzania, helping build homes with Habitat for Humanity in both Omaha and Tanzania and organizing a cricket tournament fundraiser for a local orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- Landed a full-time position in Los Angeles as an associate account manager and member of the Global Solutions team at Lockton Companies, one of the top ten international, business-to-business, privately-owned insurance firms in the world.
“Growing up in the diplomat life, you relish getting the chance to meet a variety of people, and I am grateful Lockton will still allow me to do so,” he says.
Variava says Creighton’s Jesuit identity feeds the sense of community on campus and the University’s formation of global citizens in its students. For Variava, a Creighton education is “holistic,” one that tends to growth of the whole person. He wanted to attend a smaller university with a strong sense of belonging, and given his global upbringing, he also wanted a school where he could maintain his international identity.
At first, he was concerned that his two desires would be mutually exclusive. Turns out, his concerns were unfounded.
“I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case at Creighton,” he says. “Not only did I get the small community feel I wanted, but I was also able to get a well-rounded education from experienced professors who were invested in our success as students and earn a business degree from an international perspective.”
