Alumnus and veteran looks to support students through faculty role

From sergeant, to student, to teacher; life has come full circle for Nicholas Lengyel.

The St. Cloud State University alumnus served 10 years in the United States Army — first as a military police officer and then 92 Alpha, which is an automated logistical specialist — before an injury led to him being medically retired. Lengyel then returned home and went back to school, earning his bachelor’s in political science and international relations from SCSU in 2019. He had initially hoped to join the State Department as a foreign service officer, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused a hiring freeze. By the time the department was hiring again, he said he had aged out of the program.

“So I had to make kind of a weird decision, and the MBA program turned out to be probably the best decision I made, so everything worked out,” he said.

Lengyel earned his Master of Business Administration from SCSU in 2022. After previously working in sales, he was then a project manager before joining SCSU as a faculty member, and now teaches in the management and entrepreneurship program. He is also a mentor through HuskiesAdvance.

He feels his time in the Army prepared him for his different occupations over the years, but especially for teaching.

“As a project manager, I just like the challenge. We used to kind of joke that the job of a project manager is to work themselves out of a job. And for teaching, I feel like I'm an NCO (noncommissioned officer) in the Army again. I'm kind of finding leaders and getting students to see that they're bigger and better than they think they are. So that's really kind of cool to be back in that trainer role, because that's what you do when you're noncommissioned, when I was a sergeant in the Army — it's a lot of training soldiers and getting soldiers to kind of want to be in those leadership positions and getting them to go above and beyond what they ever thought they were capable of, and see that they're capable of doing these things. So I kind of feel like I'm a sergeant again, except for nobody's shooting at us.”

Thanks to his time as a student at St. Cloud State, Lengyel feels he learned how to seek out success. He plans to eventually earn his doctorate as well as his pilots license.

“Anybody's capable of anything, no matter what; I tell my students that all the time. I learned how to plan for success while I was a student, and understanding that if you're planning for success, you're going to be successful. And it doesn't matter who you are or what you think — if you plan for this, you will actually obtain that,” he said. “It is rough, but it's always kind of keep-the-eye-on-the-prize mentality. I'd like to say I learned that in the Army, but I think I really learned that at SCSU. … I think I got to learn how to overcome and adapt to that stuff and SCSU really helped drive that home.”

Lengyel credits the support offered to students for getting him through his undergraduate years.

“When I was going through my undergrad, we were quite poor and there was a lot of times where I relied on the Veterans Resource Center and the funds they were able to provide me to keep our lights on or keep food in our house. I mean, I always joke with some of my students: We used to run on a $2,000 deficit every month. Every month started, and I owed the bank money essentially. It was rough and it was hard to get through, and if it wasn’t for those programs that the University has, we never would have made it,” he said. “My wife and I were in school together, we both were focused on completing our degrees. We benefited from the food shelf, we had to use a lot of the things that people donate to so that students can stay in school. And now I see it on the other side, my students who are going through similar challenges. I tell them, ‘Use these programs and resources. They’ll take a lot of stress off your back so you can actually focus on what you need to focus on, and that’s completing your degree. Once we get you on the other side of this, you’re going to be better off in life and you’re going to be able to help carry that forward for other people.’”

Lengyel is now able to support SCSU and the programs that helped him and his wife as they went through school. As a faculty member, he looks to continue helping students thrive because he knows the challenges that can come up during one’s educational journey. He also sees firsthand the impact gifts to SCSU can have.

“I just hope I make people's lives better, and that I can help people trust themselves more and let them see what they're truly capable of,” he said. “Because once they leave SCSU, they're back out in the world … and then they know they'll have the tools and stuff to be self-motivating, even when things get tough.”

He’s excited to see where the future takes St. Cloud State as well.

“No matter what's kind of going on in the world around SCSU, it is a very awesome school. We have more Fulbright Scholars than our private counterparts in St. (Joseph),” Lengyel said. “We’re a top-tier school and you're getting an awesome education here that you're going to be able to use anywhere, and people know who we are. That's just kind of the mind-blowing thing for SCSU, is just how awesome it really is.”