Peter Jansen '05
Economics
T. Rowe Price Scholar
Gaithersburg, MD

UMBC: For those who are unfamiliar, what is the T. Rowe Price Scholarship is?

PJ: The T. Rowe Price Scholarship was very unexpected. I came to UMBC with a Presidential Scholarship, which is one of the academic scholarships offered by the school. Because I knew I was going to major in economics, I was nominated based on my high school merits for the T. Rowe Price Scholarship. I went through the interview process in the fall of my freshman year starting in about October when I found out I'd been nominated.

I ended up winning the scholarship out of a field of about 20 candidates and it was awesome because it offered a full ride all four years ‚ room and board and tuition that escalated with tuition increases. It was an enormous blessing and very unexpected.

UMBC: How did having this scholarship impact your experience at UMBC?

PJ: Financially it was freeing. Had it not happened I would have spent a lot more money on tuition instead of other stuff. In terms of socially and academically, it definitely pushed me to succeed a little more, to keep my grades up. You have to have at least a 3.25 to keep the scholarship. So it pushed me to excel a little more in that area. Toward my senior year I started getting a few more opportunities because of the scholarship. I got invited to a couple different events and went to President Hrabowski's house for a networking event. That was pretty sweet, to have those opportunities to meet those people and network and be a part of some of the more unique events on campus and off campus as well.

UMBC: You own your own business, Jansen Lawn Service. How did that begin and how do you balance that with your academic requirements at UMBC?

PJ: I started doing that when I was 12 just based on need in my neighborhood just cutting grass and it expanded. Right now I have about 25 clients that I do pretty much everything for, all of their landscaping needs, and my little brother works with me too. Landscaping, if you get the right equipment, doesn't need to be a full-time business. That's been the best thing about it - I can work on my own time and make my own schedule and it's only for eight months out of the year, three of which are during the summer. It's almost the ideal job for a college student to have.

I'll probably keep the business on the side until my next job interferes with it. I'm trying to go into financial services as a broker or financial advisor of some sort but I keep this to pay the bills and save money. Then hopefully I can turn the business over to my little brother or sell it to someone else.

UMBC: You seem to have a very enterprising nature for someone who's just 22-years-old; where did you get this spirit from?

PJ: I credit my parents for giving me a strong work ethic, especially as a young man, to push me to do more and to work, and to value work, not disdain it. They also gave me the freedom to make decisions about my business as far as expanding and contracting it. So it's been trial and error, but having the freedom and not feeling constrained by "oh, you need to get a safe, normal job," has been a huge benefit.

UMBC: How do you balance the business, your full course load and your extracurricular activities?

PJ: I have to admit, academics weren't the most challenging thing for me, they never have been. The real challenge for me has been running the business. And being able to work on my own schedule has been nice for me cause I can add and subtract jobs as needed. Having the flexibility of owning my own business has probably been the best thing for me in terms of doing all these things. Besides that, if you keep your head on straight and prioritize, you end up all right.

UMBC: How has owning your own business impacted your goals for the future?

PJ: Because of having the lawn business, if there's one thing I've learned it is how to make money and that there are a million ways to do it. I'm not really going to be content with the $35,000 a year job unless it's an amazing opportunity for the future. So I've turned down a number of job offers because they were settling for something I'm not interested in. I'm holding out for a job that really stimulates my mind and motivates me to stick with it. It changed my vision for the future because I know the money is out there and I know there are interesting things to do besides just being an analyst or accountant. I'm holding out for something special I guess.

UMBC: You have some interesting extracurricular activities. Tell us more about your interests outside of work and school.

PJ: My mom got us started in music when we were young so I played piano for about 10 years and then guitar is something I picked up on the side and I still play that almost every day. Piano is one of those instruments where the theory translates over so you can pick up other instruments very easily and quickly, so I picked up guitar pretty easily. That's something you just keep doing if you enjoy music, you keep playing.

UMBC: What were some of the important things you learned while at UMBC?

PJ: One thing I learned is to appreciate other people's values and also appreciate how they got to be who they are. I don't want to sound really liberal about it, but just to be understanding of other people and learning from other people ‚ people from different cultures and environments who grew up differently than I did ‚ was really beneficial to me. I think I have a great diverse group of friends from college at this point.

When you are in college, you have to learn how to decide who you want to be and what you want to look back at. So I concentrated on that this past couple of years. I decided I wanted to be a busier person. That may sound funny looking at my resume, but I don't really think I've been all that busy. And I decided I wanted to be more proactive in getting my own stuff done so I can be more available to have fun and also to help people out when they need it, especially at home with my family.

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