Emmanuel Ricks is a Bowen Scholar from Indianapolis who joined the program prior to receiving an associate degree in business administration at Ivy Tech. Ricks has since transferred to IUPUI to obtain a bachelor’s degree in marketing and international studies, an ambitious double-major pursuit driven by his entrepreneurial mind-set. IUPUI’s Bowen Scholars is one of three scholarships at IUPUI funded by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust and overseen by Charlie Johnson.
Looking back on joining the program, Ricks calls his experience as a Bowen Scholar, particularly Johnson’s course on mindfulness-based emotional intelligence, “a game changer.” Having started his first business of mowing lawns at just 12 years old, Ricks has always been a person with a lot of ideas, but he has struggled with procrastination. Through the course, he was able to understand more about himself. He explains, “It teaches us how to deal with stressors specific to each of us and how to be more balanced.”