Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business students come to learn, explore, and build community. As they move forward in their careers, they take everything they've learned and use it to power innovation in industries and businesses across the globe.
In celebration of Spring 2025 Commencement, we sat down with a few undergraduate students to learn about their experiences and the wisdom they've gained in the process.
Meet Caleb Buchanan, who is graduating with a concentration in Strategy and Innovation.
Where are you from?
Conyers, Georgia
Where did you go to high school?
Heritage High School
Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college?
I’ve always had a business mind and an entrepreneurial drive. I likely got it from my parents who have spent most of their lives in the world of business. My parents did everything to cultivate this natural desire within me. I continued to pursue it through entrepreneurial ventures, school programs, and more. Pursuing business was never a question, it was only natural.
Why did you choose Scheller College of Business?
Picture this: Spring 2021, Covid is still rampant. The world is adjusting to life in a pandemic, but everything feels uncertain. For many students, Covid is a distant memory that disrupted their K-12 years. For me, the last time I was in a high school classroom was March 12 of my junior year.
Amidst the chaos, I had to make one of the most important decisions of my life: where to go to college. I was overwhelmed, balancing five AP classes, varsity sports, an internship, family tragedies, and the stress of the pandemic.
When it came time to choose between schools, I was tempted to take the easy way out. I was tired of the stress and hard work. I wanted to choose the easiest school on my list and coast for the next four years of my life. What I didn’t know is that I was prepared to potentially sacrifice a lifetime of success, fulfillment, freedom, and joy for a few years of ease.
A year ago, my family held a funeral for my grandmother, who had moved in with us from Cameroon when my parents were pregnant with me. Her wisdom, despite her limited education, is why I'm about to graduate from Georgia Tech.
On the day of the commitment deadline, I sat with my grandmother and used a paper towel roll, a mug, and a water bottle to represent my different college options. She didn't know anything about college, but she said, "Caleb, God didn’t make you for the easy route. The blessings He has in store for you will come through hard work, but they will be worth it."
Those words changed everything. Immediately, the weight I had on my shoulders for weeks disappeared. I felt a peace that I couldn’t comprehend. I ran down the hall to my parents' room and yelled that I was going to Georgia Tech. My dad, who had been trying his best for weeks to convince me that he’d support any decision I made, leapt onto his bed jumping up and down and celebrating. Even though I was the first, on that day, my whole family became a family of Yellow Jackets.
What concentration did you pursue and why?
I entered as a Finance concentration as I had no idea what I wanted to do and wanted to choose what would give me the most options. Early on in my freshman year, I was introduced to consulting for the first time. It was a foreign concept to me, but I fell in love and dove headfirst into the world of consulting. I remained a Finance concentration but began competing in case competition after case competition, attending networking sessions from MBB and “Big Four” firms, and set up coffee chats and phone calls with consultants ranging from analysts to senior partners to learn as much as I possibly could.
By then, I had already realized that I was not passionate about the Finance concentration as a pathway for my educational career and couldn’t envision myself happy in most of the careers within that industry. I was still unsure about making the switch to the Strategy and Innovation concentration. It all changed, however, when I took Foundations of Strategy with Professor Aleks Rebeka. I absolutely loved it. It made me realize how strategy and innovation as a concentration and field are a perfect blend of creativity and analysis.
On top of that, I’m a lifelong public speaker and have always known that no matter what field I enter, my ability to communicate and present is going to be a major factor. The presentation-heavy world of strategy and innovation became an even more perfect landing spot for me.
What is your best piece of advice to an applicant hoping to get into Scheller College?
Be yourself, not who you think the admissions team wants you to be. So many people try hard to present themselves as the most impressive version possible and sacrifice presenting everything that makes them unique in the process. By trying to stand out like this, you end up making yourself nothing more than another number, a name on a page.
Show what would make you a contributor to the culture at Scheller. Everyone who gets into this school was successful in high school and many people who get into this school will be equally or more successful here. So, show what gets you up in the morning. Show what keeps you going. Show what makes you you.
What is the biggest myth about Scheller College?
The biggest myth about the Scheller College of Business is found in the inaccurate perception that there are only a few paths for a student here, like consulting or investment banking. While many Scheller students graduate and pursue internships and careers in major consulting and investment banking firms, the variety of opportunities for students is astronomical.
I have personal relationships with Scheller students and graduates who have worked in positions across various functions in any industry you can think of, from your commonly known big tech, consulting, and investment banking firms to more niche passion-driven industries like music, non-profits, and sports.
You don’t have to put yourself into a box at Scheller. You have a million different paths to choose from at this school, and those paths are multiplying every year as Scheller introduces new minors and certificates like Fintech and Sports and Entertainment. If you don’t find a path that fits your desires, Scheller and Georgia Tech enable you to pave your own through their extensive entrepreneurship programs and class offerings.
As a business student in the heart of Tech Square, how do you think Scheller College embodies the intersection of business and technology?
Scheller is the perfect marriage between business and technology, and it executes that in a hands-on, tangible way. Scheller is right in the heart of the Atlanta startup scene that is rapidly on the rise as the Silicon Valley of the South. We have tech startup incubators and accelerators like Atlanta Tech Village, ATDC, Engage, Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, and all the numerous Georgia Tech innovation drivers like Create-X, startup exchange, and InVenture.
At Scheller, you can’t separate the business education and experience from the world of technology, because we’re so deeply immersed in it. Here, it's not just about classroom learning. For me, it’s the perfect mix of business smarts and tech innovation. It’s about building frameworks and foundations to turn ideas and thoughts into world-changing realities.
What was your favorite course and what was the biggest insight you gained about business from it?
I have to give this to Professor Aleks Rebeka. Professor Rebeka was one of the big drivers behind my decision to pursue Strategy and Innovation as a concentration. I took both Foundations of Strategy and Corporate Strategy with her as my professor, and I know my experiences in those classes wouldn’t have been the same without her.
I always tell people that if they’re looking for a professor for those classes that will give them an easy road, Professor Rebeka shouldn’t be their first choice. Professor Rebeka is one of the best teachers of strategy material that there is. She knows her stuff, and you’ll never have any doubt about that. She created an environment that offers the trifecta of deeply informative teaching, constant engagement and discussion amongst the students, and hands-on execution of solving real world cases. Coupled with all of that, Professor Rebeka is truly just an all-around wonderful woman who is extremely enjoyable if you make the effort to get to know her after class hours, which makes the classroom experience that much better. I’m grateful that she’s someone I’ve been able to maintain a relationship with even years after being in her class.
I would be remiss not to give an honorable mention to one of my all-time favorite professors, the late Professor Arn Rubinoff. In the classroom, Professor Rubinoff embodied what makes Scheller professors so amazing. His passion for what he taught was infectious. He instilled a desire in me to learn international business law in a way no other professor would be able to.
Every day, he showed up to class with a passion and energy to teach about international business. He genuinely cared and couldn’t hide it if he tried. He taught, not primarily out of a textbook or off of PowerPoint slides, but from his own stories and experiences from his almost 50 years of experience practicing law.
I’ll never forget him telling us that we can reach out to set up a zoom call at any hour of the day, because he’d likely be awake fresh off a call signing a contract with someone in Japan. The way he taught from his own stories, and his uncanny sense of humor, created a classroom experience that can’t be replicated and forever cemented concepts in my mind that I would have otherwise forgotten about and moved on from after leaving the class.
To this day, if I’m handed a business card, I’m going to respect the other person enough to show them I read it. I’ll forever be grateful for the times I’d run into him after taking his class, shaking his hand, and laughing about the same thing every single time. Arn Rubinoff wasn’t just a good professor, he was a great one, and I’m forever blessed to have been taught by him and to have gotten to know him a bit too.
What activities were you involved with on or off campus, and did your business education impact those activities in any way?
One of my biggest involvements in my time at Georgia Tech was as a Scheller Business Ambassador. I was accepted into the prestigious organization my freshman year at Georgia Tech, and it went on to forever transform my experience as a student at Scheller. SBA ingrained me deep into the Scheller community and gave me incredible relationships that made Scheller, in my eyes, the happiest place on campus.
Even outside of weekly meetings and events throughout the week, no matter where I’m walking in Scheller or what class I’m in, I would always have a fellow Scheller Business Ambassador smiling back at me. My position as an ambassador also led to me growing and developing relationships with all the incredible men and women in the Undergraduate Program Office at Scheller, creating a truly familial atmosphere for me across the board.
From giving a speech to a new class of future Scheller grads at Opening Bell and speaking on panels, to giving tours to prospective students and alumni and hosting events for the Scheller student body, being a part of SBA gave me an intense passion for the Scheller College of Business and allowed me to live out servant leadership by giving back to the school I love so much for all four years of my college journey.
At the end of my sophomore year, I was honored to be elected as president of the Scheller Business Ambassadors and got to spend my entire Junior year leading SBA and serving the community I care about so deeply. I will forever be grateful for my time as a Scheller Business Ambassador and am forever grateful for my SBA family.
- 2024 Ramblin' Royalty
- Scheller Business Ambassadors: President (Fall 2023 - Spring 2024)
- Scheller Business Ambassadors: Ambassador (Spring 2022 - Spring 2025)
- African American Male Initiative: President (Fall 2021 - Spring 2023)
- Challenge Counselor (Summer 2022, 2023, and 2024)
- Identity in Christ Church on the Georgia Tech Campus: Associate Minister and Family Group Leader
- Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting: Student Consultant (Fall 2023 - Fall 2024)
- Georgia Tech Event Speaker and Host: ISP Conference host, Scheller Opening Bell keynote speaker, BSRT Gala keynote speaker, Gold Carpet Day Admitted Students Gala keynote speaker (3x), Impact Expo keynote speaker, Juneteenth Festival host (2x), GT Night of Worship keynote speaker (2x), BCIT Panel speaker, Impact Expo keynote speaker.
- Intramural Flag Football: Divisional Champion and League Champion
- Intramural Basketball
Where did you intern/co-op during school?
- Engage Venture Capital as an insights analyst intern
- Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting as a student assistant consultant
- North Highland as a management consulting intern
Where will you be working after graduation?
In August, I will be starting as an associate at Visa here in Atlanta in their Client Services Development Program. Outside of my job at Visa, I will also be continuing to develop and scale my startup, KUREMENT, alongside my co-founder.
Who would you like to thank most for your success?
I would love the opportunity to thank Jesus, the one who has given me everything and everyone who has made my life the picture of joy that it is today. Without Him, I don’t have any of the blessings that make my life so beautiful. Without Him, I don’t accomplish any of what I’ve achieved in my life. Without Jesus, I’m nothing. I would like to thank Him for any success I’ve seen and any success that I’ll see in the future, because I don’t deserve any of the glory. All the praise, glory, and honor belong to Him and Him alone. I’m simply an imperfect paintbrush in the hands of the most glorious artist in history.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
My fun fact is that my goal in life is to work hard, invest well and live minimally so I can retire by 40 to become a teacher and coach in an area with a high concentration of fatherless children. I get some of the most fulfillment in life through mentorship, so I can’t think of anything more fulfilling than being that teacher and coach who did enough to make a difference in the trajectory of a child’s life, whether through mentorship or simply by showing up, being active in their lives, and spreading love.
What are some of your hobbies?
I grew up playing soccer all my life and tennis in high school, but I’ll play just about any sport you put in front of me. I’m a competitor at heart. I’ve done intramural sports here since my freshman year and just love any opportunity I get to compete with a team of my friends around me or against my friends in the heat of the moment. Outside of that, most of my leisure time is spent in my favorite hobby of all, spending quality time with the people I love. Any chance I get, you’ll find me relaxing with my loved ones while talking about life for hours on end, watching movies, playing games, and just enjoying each other’s presence.
What are the top two items on your bucket list?
I’ve never really had the traditional bucket list. But I believe the two things I’m most excited about achieving in life are becoming a loving, present, and active husband and father one day. Nothing else excites me more than the thought of that being my life one day.
My more traditional bucket list item includes travel. I’m going to Japan this summer, which will be the first time I’ve gone on a real international trip like this on my own, so I’m super excited for that.