HEM grad takes math, social skills down under

The most challenging, and rewarding, part of Abbey Jones job is dealing with people from different cultures and from different countries, but her small-school experience at H.E.M. left her well prepared.

“The biggest part of it was being in a small school and involved in so many extra curricular activities,” Jones said. “FFA, student council, sports ... I don’t think if I had been able to be part of so many clubs, I would be able to have the skills to interact with so many different types of people.”

Jones is a financial manager with WellDogs, a company that helps evaluate resources and their production. She works out of the company’s headquarters in both Laramie and Australia.

“Being an international company is challenging because there aren’t hours in the day where work is not being done somewhere in the world,” Jones said. “With international work, you have different legal obligations for each country.”

WellDogs is also a small outfit - just 30 people - so Jones is rarely responsible for just one aspect of the company. The variety keeps her focused, though.

“That’s also what I like the most about being in a small company is you do a lot of things,” Jones said. “If you’re a financial manager, you don’t do just finances your whole day, you do everything. We’re still small enough that we chip in wherever we need to to get the job done.”

Not that Jones has not had time for a little fun. In September, she spent some time exploring the west coast of Australia and scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef.

“It’s nice when it’s winter here and it’s summer there because you can get out of the cold weather,” Jones said.

Jones credits the H.E.M. math program with getting her interested in working with numbers and using her knowledge to develop business relationships.

“The math program there is where I learned to like math and business,” Jones said. “I really gained skills in public speaking and learned to be more outgoing. To be involved at such a high level in so many things and learn a ton of different social skills was really great.”