Profile Essay

Write a profile essay (1500 words) about business, location, or organization from Hays area. Conduct a personal interview with someone at the select place, and craft a well-organized essay using the information obtained along it to paint a picture of the place.
You cannot know the interview candidate before the assignment.

Example ways of going about the interview:

• what do I need to know if I were to join this place?
• personal curiosity about the place

Any way of recording the interview - phone recording, typing, writing

Read the example of Profile Essay on Blackboard
Focus on his use of descriptive words to enter the paragraphs
There is a fine line before overdoing and underdoing
Stick to Rule of three - three things about whatever you're describing

Research Paper Helpful Information

At the bottom of the Profile Essay, you need to cite the interview
It looks like this:

Works Cited
Jesien, Antoni. Personal Interview. 1 Jan. 2026

Framework for questions:

• minimum 20 questions
• avoid yes/no questions
  For friday:
• Name/Topic of the place/person
• Contact Info/Interviewee Name
• List of questions
• Print on Paper

Interview place ideas

• Fort Hays Foundation (Ava's neighbours)

Interview Questions

FHSU Foundation - Alex Johnson

• What do you think the donators get out of knowing their contributions are making an impact on others' lives?

• Where does the Foundation's funding come from?

• What are the different kinds of donations that the Foundation receives? (If physical – can you show me a difference between $50 and $500’000 gift?)

• Do people ever give non-monetary gifts? Land, grain, mineral rights? What’s the strangest gift that the Foundation has taken it?

• How does the ‘ask’ look like? Could you describe the last meeting with a potential donor?

• What are the biggest difficulties when it comes to fundraising for the Foundation? What came easier than expected?

• Is there a physical record of the endowment?

• Does the Foundation work on year-to-year basis or do you invest the money?

• Coming from Poland, where we don't practice the 'art of giving' anywhere close to the Americans, what do you think drives people to be so charitable?

• What are the areas that the Foundation helps the community, Fort Hays students and alumni?

• What ideas that came to life at the Foundation, and failed?

• Tell me about your best day you’ve had. What about the worst?

• What was the thing that surprised you in your first month?

• What was your first job? Which job before working at Foundation pushed you to career of helping people out?

• Out of all of your previous work places – interning at the 23rd Judicial District Court, working on political compaigns, then at the House of Representatives, Senate, and at News Corp, is there any place that resembles the Foundation? What are the key differences?

• You have been working at the Foundation for the past 6 months. How did the view of the place changed during that time?

• You have a bachelor in Business Law, do you think it helped you with in your career? Personal - how much do you think that university helps people in their career?

• What would make you leave the Foundation? What would you like to leave?

• What are the current biggest challenges of the Foundation right now? I sat at the President's Convocation at the end of previous semester and remember a part how the State of Kansas has decreased part of funding towards FHSU. How does the State political scene impact the Foundation?

• If we sat down to talk again in 5 years, what would you hope to be able to say that the Foundation had accomplished?

• Who can reach out to the Foundation for help? What kind of help can they recieve?