When Ethan Sutio first came to the United States from Medan, Indonesia, he knew he would follow in his uncle’s footsteps by attending Blinn College.
What he didn’t realize was that he would blaze his own trail by pursuing his business degree and joining the Blinn Business Society, a Bryan Campus student organization that helps students polish their professional and networking skills, make valuable connections, and learn more about the business world and professional organizations.
Sutio’s uncle, Oscar Parulian, co-founder and president of capital markets at United Realty, studied at Blinn before graduating from Texas A&M in 1984. After graduating high school in 2021, Sutio joined his uncle and other family members in Bryan-College Station.
“I wanted to study abroad because I wanted to experience different things, different cultures, and a large portion of my family is here in College Station,” Sutio said. “When I first came here, I thought Blinn was a normal community college that didn’t have a lot of activities. I was very wrong. When I found that out, I wanted to get involved and experience more things.”
Sutio was introduced to the Business Society by Business Instructor Kim Gonzalez, one of the club’s faculty advisors. Open to students of all majors, the organization provides students guidance in their academic and professional careers while providing networking opportunities.
In addition to fundraisers and guest speakers, the Business Society hosts transfer workshops and arranges for tours of local businesses, including recent tours of the Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center, Barnes & Noble, and Big Shots. Chris Marrs, Blinn’s Executive Dean at RELLIS and a former Navy pilot, recently gave a presentation to the club about leadership.
“There are a lot of different paths under the business umbrella, whether it be marketing, management, finance, accounting, entrepreneurship, supply-chain management, and so the Business Society gives them an opportunity to see some of these things before they transfer to a four-year university and need to choose a path,” Gonzalez said.
For Sutio, who now serves as an officer for the Business Society, the opportunity to learn from local business leaders and discuss the details of establishing a new business was appealing.
“All of the flyers for the Business Society say, ‘Experience how business works,’” Sutio said. “That’s the one thing I want to experience and go through this year, is to go to a local business or a small business and see how you start a business, how you register your business name, and how you operate your business. That’s the thing that not many people tell you.”
Sutio is diving into those details as a Bryan Campus business student. Blinn offers seven different business credentials, including an Associate of Science in Business, Associate of Applied Science in Small Business Management, and an Associate of Applied Science in Business Administration and Management. Students can begin their pursuit of those 60-credit-hour degrees while earning occupational skills awards in business management and office administration or certificates in small business management or hospitality management.
Blinn business students like Sutio transfer to some of the state’s leading bachelor’s degree programs, including Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at RELLIS, Sam Houston State, Prairie View, Texas A&M-Kingsville at RELLIS, Tarleton State at RELLIS, West Texas A&M at RELLIS, and the University of Houston-Victoria.
Now in his third semester at Blinn, Sutio recently decided that he will pursue his bachelor’s degree in agribusiness. He is considering applying to both Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Kingsville at RELLIS.
“Agribusiness and agriculture are very important,” said Sutio, who was named to the Chancellor’s Scholars List last semester. “It’s really hard to feed everybody without the use of steroids, GMO, and other chemicals. I would be really interested to see how the agricultural part of the world works and be involved in that area.”
For more information about Blinn’s Business Program, visit www.blinn.edu/business. To learn more about the Business Society, email kim.gonzalez@blinn.edu.
About the Blinn College District
With innovative programs and award-winning co-enrollment partnerships, Blinn’s academic transfer rate ranks No. 1 among Texas community colleges. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu.
Courtesy of Richard Bray, Director of Communications, Media Relations, and Marketing
