Business Matters

By Rebecca Barrett

It started out like any other day at Beaverton High School for Regan Mott. She was sitting in the cafeteria, visiting with friends. Mott was waiting to hear back about a scholarship she had applied for to attend Oregon State University.

Mott has been coming to Oregon State her whole life, attending sporting events with her family. It’s where her parents, Eric and and Michele Mott, went to college before starting Beaver Freight Services. It’s where her older brother, Garrett, is a sophomore. Mott was interested in studying business, and Oregon State was her top choice, too.

She just wasn’t sure how she could afford it. Mott was four when her dad died suddenly of a heart attack. Her mom got help from her dad’s business partner running the company. But not having her dad created a financial hardship. During high school, Mott worked to support her family.

“It has made me the strong, compassionate and independent woman I am today,” she says.

She couldn’t imagine how her mom could pay for both her and her brother to be in college at the same time. So with the help of her high school marketing teacher, Mott applied for scholarships. Mott decided she would take out in student loans to pay for whatever she did not receive in scholarships. But she didn’t have to.

Before heading back to class, Mott refreshed her email one more time.

“When I saw that I got an email from the College of Business, I started freaking out,” Mott recalls. “I was too afraid to open it.”

It was the good news she had been waiting for. She had been awarded the Anne E. and David A. Thompson Family Scholarship through the College of Business, which covers the cost of attendance for four years, including support for experiential learning, professional leadership and development.

“I got up and ran straight into my marketing classroom to tell my teacher,” she says.

Mott’s teacher, Emily Ramberg, cried happy tears and gave her a big hug. Mott also called her mom, then found her anatomy teacher, Paul Romanick, to share the news.

“I felt so proud of myself,” she says. “All the hard work I’ve done up to this point was so beyond worth it.”

In addition to working for the family business, Mott took challenging courses in high school while playing basketball, soccer and lacrosse. She volunteered with an after-school sports program for children and another for kids with special needs to play soccer. She was involved in Beaverton High’s marketing pathway programs, including serving as accountant for the student store and a food delivery service.

As freshman year gets underway at Oregon State, Mott isn’t worried about how she’ll pay for college. Instead, she was busy picking out things for her dorm room. She didn’t have to apply for student loans. She’s making new friends, playing intramural sports and working out at Dixon Recreation Center.

Mott is studying business administration. She wants to participate in student entrepreneur opportunities through the College of Business. She likes the idea of working for herself and doing something she loves, like her parents. She hopes someday to give back to the community like the Thompson family has done for her.

“It means the world to me that the Thompson family chose me for this amazing opportunity,” Mott says. “They helped my family and I in indescribable ways.”