A semester in Nashville: How Abby Burbach ’26 built real-world skills through experiential learning

Abby Burbach ’26 went to Nashville ready to learn by doing. Through Bethel’s domestic study abroad program, she built on her interests in leadership, creativity, and bringing people together while gaining hands-on experience in event planning, marketing, artist management, and live show production.

A senior majoring in organizational communication and media production, Burbach spent the semester connecting classroom learning to real-world work. The experience gave her space to grow her skills and explore the kind of work that fits her strengths.

Why Nashville felt like the right fit

Burbach first learned about Bethel’s domestic study abroad program in a media production class, when professor Chris Shofner described opportunities available to students through the Contemporary Music Center (CMC) Nashville program. As he talked about songwriting, live music, event production, social media, marketing and management, the program immediately caught her attention.

“Literally every single thing he said about the program,” she recalled, “I thought, ‘wow, that’s so me.’”

At the time, the idea felt exciting, but Burbach wondered whether it would work financially and whether she could fit it into her four years at Bethel. For a while, she set the idea aside—but it kept resurfacing.

By her junior year, she found herself returning to the possibility again and again. The more she talked about it, the more obvious it became that the program matched both her interests and the kind of future she was trying to build.

“Every time I would talk about the possibility, my eyes would light up,” she says.

Eventually, one of her roommates said what everyone around her was already thinking: “Abby, we’ll miss you so much, but you have to go to Nashville.”

That encouragement helped push her to apply, and she spent the fall of her senior year in Music City.

A passion for leadership and connection

Long before studying in Nashville, Burbach had already started to recognize a pattern in the work she enjoyed most.

“Ever since I was younger, I loved organizing people and events,” she says.

Whether she was helping lead her elementary school talent show, serving on student council, or coordinating communications for her high school choir, she kept gravitating toward roles that required creativity, leadership, and connection.

“I really thrive when I get to be a problem solver and create spaces that build community,” she says. “I feel like that’s kind of my core mission in life.”

That sense of purpose shaped her path at Bethel. Her organizational communication major gave her a strong foundation in leadership, relationships, and team dynamics. Media production helped her build practical skills in filming, editing, and audio production.

Together, those two fields prepared her well for the program in Nashville—one that blends communication, creativity, and hands-on work.

Hands-on experience 

Burbach joined the business track in the study abroad program, where students worked together to produce weekly live shows while also learning from industry professionals through mentorship and site visits.

Students in different tracks contributed in different ways. Artist-track students wrote songs. Tech-track students handled production elements. Burbach and the business team focused on management, event planning, marketing, and coordination.

“Every week, we would put on a live show on Thursdays,” she says. “The program is all experiential, so there are no tests and no papers, which I really enjoyed.”

Instead of moving from assignment to assignment, students stepped into the rhythm of real work. “It felt like I was going to my dream job every day,” she says.

That experience changed the way she saw learning.

“I’ve never learned better than when I was in Nashville. It really reignited a love of learning for me,” she says. 

Leadership experience through live events

As the semester went on, Burbach took on even more responsibility.

After the group selected songs from its live performances and built them into a tour set, she served as the tour manager for a weeklong road tour, CMC Nashville’s equivalent of a final exam. In that role, she helped shape the creative vision for marketing, communicated with venues, and delegated responsibilities across the team.

“I got to set the creative vision for marketing and also do all the external communication with our venues and delegate tasks,” she says. “So I really thrived in that role.”

The experience gave her a clearer picture of the kind of work that energizes her most: work that blends strategy, creativity, leadership, and bringing people together.

Learning to lead with others

Nashville also stretched Burbach in ways she did not expect.

One of her biggest areas of growth was learning how to collaborate more effectively, especially when it came to problem solving and delegation. Because she was interested in so many parts of the creative process, one challenge was accepting that she couldn’t do everything herself.

“I want to do everything, but I realistically can’t do it all by myself,” she says. That realization pushed her to trust other people’s strengths and learn how to lead as part of a team.

The cohort’s small size made that growth even more noticeable. With just 23 students in the program, collaboration was constant. “We all had different strengths and used them to build something special together.” Many of those classmates, she says, are people she expects to stay connected with for a long time.

Mentorship also became one of the defining parts of the semester. Burbach points to business track director Ric Robbins as someone who deeply shaped her experience.

“He walks with so much humility, but has so much music industry experience,” she says. “I learned so much from him.”

Growth through Bethel community

Even while she was in Nashville, Burbach stayed deeply connected to the Bethel community.

During the semester, she saw a Bethel Student Government post looking for speakers to share their testimonials and felt called to apply. Sharing her testimonial became part of a larger reflection on how much she had grown during college.

“My time at Bethel has been so growth-filled,” she says. “It’s crazy to look back on myself as a first-day freshman versus now.”

She credits much of that growth to the people who invested in her through honest conversations, leadership opportunities, and mentorship through Student Life and The Studio for Vocation and Calling.

Burbach points to her time in Bethel Student Government, The 25 leadership program, and mentors like Jenna Holst, Stacy Utecht, and Jo Saxton as especially formative.

“I feel very empowered here,” she says. “I feel like Bethel was the perfect size for me.”

Clearer direction for what’s next

Now, as graduation approaches, Burbach says the Nashville semester gave her more than a memorable experience. It gave her direction.

The specifics of her future are still taking shape, but the throughline is clear: she wants to build community through her work.

“I love to build community,” she says. “Any job where I’m able to do that… I will thrive.”

That could look like event planning, recruiting, marketing, or another creative, people-centered role. Whatever the title, Burbach now has a stronger sense of what matters most to her: creating spaces where people can connect, contribute, and belong.

Bethel helped her recognize those gifts—and taking the opportunity to study in Nashville helped her put them into practice.

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