How finance and economics senior Shoya Watanabe ‘carpe diemed’ his career at UAA

Shoya Watanabe is a "student of all trades." The UAA double major in finance and economics senior, who will be graduating in December, has done a little bit of everything at UAA. Watanabe was born in Chiba, Japan, and moved to Alaska with his family when they relocated to Palmer to be closer to family. He speaks a little Japanese and has done everything from mentoring in the university's Seawolf Success program to serving as a student senator in USUAA student government, to joining the Japanese club.

"You've got to find what you're interested in - and talk to people," said Watanabe of making the most of his years at UAA. "Talk to the administration; they can help you find your way."

Creating opportunities

There's no doubt that Watanabe is a friendly guy. He likes to talk to people and says a lot of his involvement on campus and the opportunities he's had, have been the result of him simply talking to people, being open and friendly.

"I'd always hang out in the Multicultural Center - not a lot of people go in there because they think it's just for minority students, but it's for anyone - but I'd always be in there and got to know the staff really well," Watanabe said. "Everyone's very friendly and one day they [Multicultural Center staff] asked if I wanted to apply to this program [Seawolf Success] that was relatively new."

He thought, "why not?," and he and his twin brother both served as mentors during the program's second year. Through the Seawolf Success, he met a lot more people and has made some close friends.

While working as a mentor, a fellow mentor and Watanabe's friend told him he would be great in UAA's University Honors College. It encouraged him to apply and he was accepted as an honors student.

"If it wasn't for me just getting to know people and getting involved, I wouldn't have joined the Honors College, I wouldn't have joined USUAA - or even the Seawolf Success program," said Watanabe. "And I've had the opportunity to meet tons of great people who are doing great things."

Crunching the numbers

Before Watanabe even started his career at UAA, he'd already taken university classes through the Mat-Su Middle College School (MSMCS). He attended Palmer High School his freshman and sophomore years and, at the urging of his father, he and his twin brother attend their junior and senior years at MSMCS.

"That gave me about a year's worth of college underway," he said. Watanabe and his brother were part of the second cohort to go through MSMCS, which was a fairly new program at the time. "That was kind of segue into UAA."

Watanabe started his UAA career as a mechanical engineering major but quickly realized the science part of that equation was not his cup of tea. But math - he was good at solving problems and the numbers just seemed to jump out at him. So he switched majors and changed course to ambitiously pursue a double major in finance and economics.

"I thought what's math heavy, but not so much into science? Oh, economics!" said Watanabe. He added the finance major later on because he's interested in both.

As a young boy, Watanabe's grandfather would purchase stock for he and his brother and he remembers being fascinated about how a little bit of money could suddenly grow. He said that finance deals with the future planning of making money - which he finds exciting because of the possibilities that lay ahead, and where he found the inspiration to conduct his own research project.

Developing research

According to Watanabe, the online retail giant Amazon is "killing it" and the online takeover fascinates him as traditional brick-and-mortar stores struggle to keep up with the online market.

"I'm using financial models to assess bankruptcy in the retail sector," he said. "Since it's my last semester here, I wanted to do a little more research-oriented projects - and actually this is practical experience that I can use in the job market."

He said retailers like Sears and similar companies have filed for bankruptcy over the last decade, finding it difficult to adapt to their customers' changing needs and that the retail world of "going to the mall" is slowly phasing out. He doesn't think it will entirely disappear, but he thinks the way we shop for goods and services in the next 10 to 20 years is going to drastically change.

"I don't want to say physical retail is dying, but companies have to adapt - and Nordstrom has done a really great job," he said. "But there's a lot of change happening right now, and I'm interested in assessing that data to try and see where it's headed."

So what about Alaska? He said the 49th state is a little different. We're kind of like Hawaii - our own little "island" that doesn't always follow national trends. But he does think the shifting retail model of the Lower-48 will affect Alaskans because so much of the state's goods and services rely on shipping from retailers down South.

"I think shipping here will become a lot easier and a lot cheaper," Watanabe said. He thinks that's still a few years out because Alaska seems to be just a little behind when it comes to national trends - a view he shares with many Alaskans. But he is excited to see what the brave new retail world will look like in the future. 

Written by Catalina Myers, UAA Office of University Advancement