Wartburg has made me a more successful individual

NAME: Bailey Naig
CLASS YEAR: 2021
HOMETOWN: Emmetsburg, Iowa
MAJOR: Actuarial science

INVOVLEMENT ON CAMPUS: Women’s Basketball, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Phi Eta Sigma, Dance Marathon, Kappa Mu Epsilon, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE WARTBURG: There were a lot of factors that went into choosing Wartburg. I was originally searching for a small Division III school where I could continue to play basketball as well as still receive a really high-quality education. That was always very important to me. I visited a lot of small schools about this size and immediately Wartburg had the people that I was looking for. Everyone was just so warm and welcoming, and I knew that the people were incredibly kind. I knew right away that this is where I wanted to be.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON YOUR MAJOR: I initially came in as an accounting major. I knew I wanted to be involved with numbers, but I didn’t really know anything about actuarial science. I got here and took my first math class and my first accounting class and knew that I wanted more math within my career. I’m really lucky that as a small school Wartburg has an actuarial science program, and I could easily switch.  

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER GRADUATION: I will be working in the actuarial department at Nationwide in Des Moines.

Bailey Naig

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE  FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS MAJORING IN ACTUARIAL SCIENCE: Don’t let it scare you away at first. Get into it, let yourself make a few mistakes. It’s a hard major but do your best to just take in every moment, the good and the bad, and enjoy it because it’s going to be so helpful for you in the future.  

HOW HAS WARTBURG SET YOU UP FOR SUCCESS IN YOUR FIELD: Wartburg has made me a more successful individual in my communication skills and my leadership skills. I never thought that I had these skills and at this point in my life I take them for granted, but in reality they came from Wartburg and I am so appreciative that I came here.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE COURSE AT WARTBURG: I always enjoy my math classes the most, which I think is good because I’m an actuarial science major. Statistics is probably my favorite class that I’ve taken. It was really hard at the beginning, but it definitely shaped the rest of my college career.

DO YOU HAVE ANY MENTORS ON CAMPUS: Dr. Brian Birgen is my adviser and has absolutely been there for me all the time. He’s made sure that my schedule has been fluid, and he’s been such a great support for me. He and his wife, who is also a great support, have come to my basketball games and are always there for me. Of course, my basketball coaches are huge mentors for me as well. They’re both amazing people who would do anything to help me be successful. They always show up whenever I really needed them, and I spend a lot of time with them in the winter.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT BEING ON THE BASKETBALL TEAM:  There’s a lot of really great things about it but it’s just having a built-in family unit at Wartburg who have been there for me since day one and had 20 people on my side that I could call and hang out with whenever I needed. It quickly turned into all of my best friends, and I consider them my family on campus for sure.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BASKETBALL MEMORY: Our NCAA tournament appearances were probably the best big memories. The Final Four my freshman year was a really cool experience as a young player. There’s just so many really little happy memories that I take away from basketball, times in the locker room and in practice that everybody is just happy to be together.

WHY IS WARTBURG WORTH IT: The people. Wartburg introduced me to so many people that have turned into my family and turned into people that I will keep in touch with for the rest of my life, as well as the fact that those people set me up to be successful and prepared me for the real world in so many positive ways that I don’t think I could have gotten outside of Wartburg.