Learning by Leading: Experiential Learning at Northeastern University
As Northeastern University’s second Follett Student CEO, Joey Oltman gained hands-on experience leading people, making business decisions, and building stronger connections between the campus store and its community.
A Different Kind of Co-op Experience
For Joey Oltman, the opportunity to become Northeastern’s second Follett Student CEO offered a new hands-on learning experience. The role let him move beyond observing a business and take an active role in leading people, solving problems, and making decisions with real impact.
“This Student CEO role is very unique,” Joey shared during his capstone presentation. “Every day I can look at my store’s profit and loss statements. I can make decisions that will impact them tomorrow. I get to interview and hire real employees.”
That level of responsibility is at the heart of Follett’s Experiential Learning model. Developed in partnership with Saxbys, the program turns the campus store into a hands-on learning environment where students can develop leadership and business skills through real-world experience.
But the value extends beyond the Student CEO. By putting a student into a meaningful leadership role, campus stores gain a student perspective that can help shape decisions, strengthen connections with student organizations, and create experiences that feel relevant and authentic to the campus community.
Learning How to Lead a Team
The student CEO role, an opportunity exclusive to Follett partners, is built into the existing team structure of Northeastern’s campus store. Student CEOs work alongside experienced Follett leaders and team members, giving them room to lead while providing the training, coaching, and operational support of an established campus store team.
For Joey, some of the most valuable lessons came from managing a team.
During his term, he conducted 10 interviews, made four hiring decisions, and trained those new employees, along with more than 10 temporary team members who supported the store during high-volume periods.
But he quickly learned that managing people involves much more than filling positions or teaching processes.
Joey focused on creating an environment built around accountability, inclusion, and empowerment. He introduced team-wide communications to keep employees connected, created opportunities for team members to contribute ideas, and learned to balance positive reinforcement with constructive feedback.
Those experiences also challenged his assumptions about his own strengths. Joey entered the program already considering himself a strong communicator. Working within a large organization, however, taught him how different professional communication can be from leading student organizations with people who share similar backgrounds and goals.
“I came into this experience thinking communication was already one of my strengths, but I learned that communicating in a professional environment requires a different skill set. This experience helped me recognize where I can continue to grow, and that’s something I’ll carry with me throughout my career.”
Connecting the Store to the Northeastern Community
Joey also saw an opportunity to make the campus store a more active part of student life. His approach was simple: If you want to represent a community, put in the effort to be part of it.
He put that idea into action by reaching out personally to more than 50 student organizations and working with campus partners to create new reasons for students to engage with the campus store. During his term, the team generated approximately $91,000 through external graduation events and more than $65,000 through external sporting events, while customer service scores increased.
One of Joey’s proudest projects was a finals event created with Northeastern’s peer tutoring services and the campus Saxbys team. The event generated a 300% return on investment. And, for Joey, an even more memorable sign of success: a line of students stretching along the outside of the store before the event had even begun.
Real Decisions. Measurable Results.
The experience also gave Joey an opportunity to understand the financial side of running a business. He learned to read profit-and-loss statements, connect numbers to what was happening inside the store, and identify where the business was succeeding and where opportunities remained.
From January through April 2026, store revenue increased year over year, while operating expenses decreased compared with the previous year. The store also outperformed the budget each month during that period.
As Joey puts it, skills like these are “virtually impossible to get” without the opportunity to get in and do the work for real. For Joey, the experience provided a chance to discover what he is good at, where he still wants to grow, and what kind of leader he wants to become.
For Follett and Northeastern, it demonstrates what can happen when students aren’t simply given a campus job; they’re given an opportunity to lead.