Meet Kam Saalfrank ’25

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
September 24, 2024

Kam Saalfrank '25
Hometown: North Andover, Massachusetts
Majors/minors: Accounting major; data science minor

Have you discovered a course or topic that you didn't expect to study when you first came to W&L?
The fall of my junior year, I took a course on the historical archaeology of Washington and Lee's back campus with professor Don Gaylord. The class completely transformed my perception of the school's beginnings as Liberty Hall Academy and gave me an in-depth understanding of what the field of archaeology entails. Through the transcription of historical documents at the Rockbridge County Courthouse, on-site excavations and building a prospectus for a historical park on the site of Liberty Hall Academy, I was able to broaden my understanding of our school's history.

Have you found a mentor on campus? Who is it, and how have they helped you develop as a student?
Associate professor of accounting Lloyd Tanlu has been a constant source of support throughout my college experience. As my major adviser and the faculty adviser for Washington and Lee Student Consulting, he has helped me both academically and professionally. When we meet to plan my course registration, he consistently encourages me to challenge myself academically and was ultimately one of the reasons I became an accounting major. In the professional realm, his mentorship for each of my pro-bono projects for Student Consulting has helped me develop my leadership and critical thinking skills. Throughout the management consulting recruitment process, he has been a helping hand in preparing me for interviews and networking with W&L alumni.

What was your favorite class and why?
AdClass (BUS 370) has been an incredibly rewarding experience. AdClass is a 20-person class that spends the Winter Term serving as an "ad agency" working on developing a fully integrated marketing campaign for a major corporation. As a member of the class, I've gotten to experience a variety of functional assignments, working closely with others to develop a comprehensive campaign strategy. As I now serve as an adviser for the analytics team, getting to guide my peers through the process of projecting the financial success of the campaign has been extremely fruitful in developing my leadership skills. Most importantly, the class dynamic is incredible. Getting to work with professor Amanda Bower, a great adviser team and the functional team members makes every class worth it.

Have you studied abroad during your time at W&L? Where did you go, and how was your experience?
Last Spring Term, I traveled to Paris as a part of a philosophy course called "The Meaning of Life," in which we studied Parisian existentialism in the aftermath of World War II. Professors Paul Gregory and Angela Sun exposed me well to a discipline I had no prior experience with and made sure that I truly immersed myself in the city of Paris through class visits to Versailles, the Musée D'Orsay and the Catacombs.