Ricky Hansknecht believes in people. And, in return, they believe in him too. Ricky says it’s all about potential. And if you can see that, it inspires you to work harder to make yourself and the community around you a better place. Ricky has certainly done that.
A Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering student, Ricky has embraced leadership roles in student organizations while maintaining academic excellence — he’s the general manager of WUMD College Radio, an active member of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success and leader of the Student Networking Group. With his bright smile and positive energy, Ricky says it is important to find ways to lift others up. ”Sometimes a push from someone who believes in you is all it takes to be the best person that you can be.”
Ricky, in his own words
On his accomplishments. “One big, major thing I've accomplished at the radio station [WUMD] is to bring the station downstairs into the University Center for students to be able to hear what other students have to say, hear announcements, hear organization actions or events happening. I was also able to incorporate a new podcast system into the radio station to get students who are not comfortable with doing a live radio show an opportunity to still express themselves offline.”
On what motivates him. “My biggest motivation is probably my desire to always improve processes. Whenever I see something being done redundantly or being done in a way that just wastes time or wastes effort or it's complicated, I look at it and think, ‘this has got to be better,” and it motivates me to find the better solution.”
On being a Difference Maker. “What makes me a Difference Maker is that I have a passion to help other people. That's something that my mother has always noticed about me, always putting myself before other people. In my years here at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, I’ve tried to help students in the orgs that I've joined by accepting leadership roles in order to make changes so people have the best experiences and get the most opportunities through the organizations that they can.”