Student Achievements
Graduate Student Success: Jowei Yek
April 03, 2024
Jowei Yek is an international student from Malaysia, who came to GVSU in 2017 and earned his B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations. He didn't know what Grand Rapids and Michigan were like before he committed to coming here. Since then, GVSU has opened his eyes and opened many doors to experiences and opportunities that profoundly changed his life's trajectory. Jowei came to Grand Valley knowing he would be one of the few Malaysian students on campus. However, instead of being discouraged, being in this situation encouraged him to build connections outside of his comfort zone. This led to his active involvement in the international student population from serving as the president of the Bringing Together the World International Student Organization and leading the International Student Orientation for almost every semester he spent at GVSU.
When he was presented with the option to pursue a master’s
degree, he knew GVSU was his top choice. Jowei was largely drawn by
the rich, nurturing network he built during his undergraduate
tenure. He is grateful for the option and institutional support to
complete two master's programs in Business Administration and Social
Innovation, concurrently. For the past three years, Jowei developed a
strong sensitivity to community issues and systems thinking through
the PMASI program and expanded his toolkit to solve complex business
challenges. His 3-year tenure as the Graduate Assistant at the Center
for Entrepreneurship & Innovation also allowed him to put his
coursework into practice by guiding GVSU students to create businesses
that solve unique issues for communities everywhere. Jowei wishes to
coalesce all these mindsets into his future career and community involvement.
In his 7 years at GVSU, Jowei has earned:
- GVSU 3-Minute Thesis Competition First Place Prize Winner 2024
- Excellence-in-a-Discipline Award Honoree for MBA 2024
- Betta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society Society 2023-Present
- Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Graduate/Teaching Assistant 2021-Present
- Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society 2019-Present
- GVSU Representative for the National Student Advertising
Competition 2019-2020
- Founding Member and President of Bringing Together the World
International Student Organization 2018-2020
- GVSU Advertising
and PR Superior Awards recipient in 2018 and 2019
- GVSU Student
Life Emerging Leader Award recipient in 2019
- Arthur Page Society
PR Case Study Competition student representative in 2019
After graduation, Jowei plans to remain in the Grand Rapids area and
kickstart his business career in this vibrant and growing city that he
has come to love as his second home.