Spotlight: Phillip LeGare

Monday mornings are quiet and peaceful for him. He sits in the Bultman Student Center with a cup of coffee calculating and balancing the week’s budget for the Student Activities Com- mittee, as well as completing assign- ments and tasks for his academically rigorous accounting major.

He organizes and delegates re- sponsibilities every week to his team. Whether that is through communica- tion online or in person around campus ,making sure everyone is on the same page.

Phillip LeGare is the Director of Daily Operations on the Student Activi- ties Committee. This year will be his third year on SAC, but with a new job. He is responsible for the public rela- tions team on SAC and making sure the events run smoothly.

“My role on SAC has changed from action to delegation,” he said. “I am in more of a supporting role. I write a lot of emails and answer questions my team has.”

His team sees emails and reminders from him, but what they don’t see is everything he does behind the scenes.

“Nobody knows he does the books,” junior Jarod Wolters said. “He puts a lot of thought into how much we can spend for an event, but doesn’t need to take the credit for it.”

This was not the first instance Phil has shown his dedication and futuristic thinking in his life.

LeGare grew up in St. Charles, Il- linois. He has a mom, dad, two older sisters and a younger brother. He sees his father as an authoritarian figure and his mom as gentle and caring. They show their love for each other with acts of service and commitment.

His sister attended Hope College, which inspired him to look in Holland, Michigan.

Recruited to play soccer, Phil applied to Hope and later enrolled because of the outstanding business and account- ing program.

“Quitting soccer was a hard decision for me,” LeGare said. “I love the team and all the memories with it, but knew it wasn’t going to be long term and decided to take up other things.”

Training for the military and apply- ing to be on SAC were just some of the things he took up after making the deci- sion to not play soccer after one year.

Phil is an introvert, but he doesn’t let this stop him from being successful. He is driven to get out of bed each morn- ing by his motivation to make his future bright.

His friends would describe him as a “type A personality who is driven and compassionate.”

This can be seen in his search for a job after graduation.

“I was worried all the accounting jobs would be filled up,” he said. “I started applying early, but was still anx- ious because my end goal was to have a job lined up in May.”

Phil has a job lined up at an account- ing firm after school is finished. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Phil was a hedge fund manager in five years,” co-director Jarod Wolters said. “He is always a couple steps ahead of me and really good at talking to people.”

His career started out with him put- ting up and taking down tents at Blue Peak Tents and acting as a sales associ- ate at Lowe’s Home Improvement.

These jobs have taught him to be hard-working and a leader.

“I am a futuristic thinker,” LeGare said. “I believe that I can plan for my future or at least prepare for it, and at the end of the day, it’s in God’s hands.”

Some of Phil’s future options include: accountant, FBI agent or forensic ana- lyst, construction worker, or to start his own business.

As for now, Phil loves his job on SAC and looks forward to the rest of his final year.

“At the beginning of the year, Phil set up one-on-one meetings with every- one on our team,” sophomore Kjersten Johnson said. “He cares enough to get to know us, to build community, in- stead of just another group on campus.”

He displays a servant leadership style in everything he does, especially by do- ing the simplest and smallest tasks that go unnoticed.

“He comes to meetings prepared and organized,” Kjersten Johnson said. “He asks good questions and wants to hear feedback from us on how to make SAC better for next year.”

Engaged in his extracurricular ac- tivities, Phil has been challenged with school work this semester and staying motivated when he has a job already lined up after school.

His impeccable perseverance has kept him going and his bright future to where he will have a great career and be an even better family man.

You may be able to find him working for the FBI in the future or chopping down wood at a remote place, selling it to the locals.

Wherever Phil goes in the future, we are guaranteed to see great things done by him.