If Kansas Wesleyan University had offered a course on time management, Clay Gagnon ’25 would have somehow made the time to fit it into his busy schedule.
Then again, he might have been better qualified to teach such a course to his fellow students.
It’s difficult to imagine anyone getting more out of their college experience than Gagnon did during the past four years. Among his list of accomplishments since arriving on the Wesleyan campus:
- Two years as president of the Student Government Association, another year as president of the KWU senior class and a member of the Coyotes Activities Board.
- Top 10 finishes at the DECA World Championships as a sophomore and junior, before winning a world title in early April this year.
- Received the Professor Fran Jabara Leadership award, based on entrepreneurial traits and leadership, during graduation ceremonies in May.
- Spent three seasons as a member of the Wesleyan football team.
- Earned his real estate license late in his junior year, then worked 30 to 40 hours a week with Landmark Commercial Real Estate in Wichita throughout his senior year, all while taking classes three days a week in Salina.
“I’m really good at making time,” Gagnon said. “Somebody said that if it’s important, you’ll make the time, and that’s true.
“You have to be organized. I live vicariously through Outlook Calendar. It’s not always the most fun when you are double-booked, and I hate when I have to tell somebody that I can’t do something.”
About the only thing Gagnon didn’t do at KWU was stick with his original major. The Wichita Collegiate graduate had planned to go into the medical field but switched to the business department weeks before arriving on campus his freshman year.
“In the sixth or seventh grade, we had a class called Entrepreneurship,” Gagnon said. “My partner and I started a business selling British chocolate snow cones, and you donate a portion of your profits to charity. We sold 3,000 in three days after school and I think we still hold the record.
“Thinking back, that kind of sparked my interest. I was always a fan of (the television show) Shark Tank, but I never thought about pursuing a career in something like that.”
A self-described extreme extrovert, Gagnon recalls a personal-finance class early in his college career that piqued his interest, and discovering the Wesleyan DECA program took it to another level.
Under the guidance of Wesleyan business professor Dr. Trish Petak, Gagnon teamed with Isaac Stanton to earn top 10 finishes at the DECA World Championships in business-to-business marketing in both 2023 and 2024.
This past spring, there was another top 10 finish in business research with Courtney Auld and his first World Championship in sports marketing with teammate Paige Chauncey.
“In DECA you’re given a business problem to solve and an hour later, you make a presentation to a judge who scores you on how you plan to solve that problem,” Gagnon said.
“During the final round of competition, we went in for our last case and about 20 minutes into it, the Wi-Fi glitched out. We had been doing our research and we lost everything we had done to that point.
“We had 40 minutes, but I had a good feeling we’d get it done. It was a little shaky and was a grind to get it done, but when we came out on top it was otherworldly.
“The difference was knowing we were prepared and having absolute trust in the one next to you and knowing they are thinking the same thing.”
Gagnon knows a thing or two about working under pressure. After earning his real estate license, he did an internship with Landmark during the summer of 2024, then accepted a position with the company in August.
That meant a lot of late nights and early mornings, either with his job-related duties or finishing homework assignments. Even the hours spent commuting between Wichita and Salina did not go to waste.
“I’m a chronic book reader or audio book listener,” Gagnon said. “One of my favorites is How to Win Friends and Influence People. People who have a lot of friends are happy people.
“But it’s all about deposits and withdrawals. You can’t have friends who need things from you all the time, but you feel the best when you are helping people. I loved talking to people, meeting people and hearing their stories. We learn something from everybody we meet, and God puts us in a certain place for a reason.”
Story by Larry Moritz
