Since 1984, Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) has held its annual American Free Enterprise Day (AFE) to honor business and community leaders who exemplify the American free enterprise system.
This year, on November 17, golf legend Jack Nicklaus will be honored as the lead medalist, and PBA alumnus Grant Horvat will be recognized as the companion medalist.
“Receiving the American Free Enterprise Award means the world to me,” said Horvat. “Being next to Jack Nicklaus is a category I never thought would happen in my life, and especially in the golf category. It’s super humbling.”
At PBA, Horvat remembers being uncertain of his career path, but found his way by creating golf videos on social media.
“We’re in a country where the American dream is still alive,” said Horvat. “I did have doubts in college. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t know if I wanted to go into business, do social media, or sell boats. There were so many different things on the table. And the fact that we took the lane of doing social media and YouTube, I feel like I’m living as close to the American dream as you possibly can right now. It is still alive. And that’s what makes this country so amazing.”
Horvat credits his experience and the connections he made at PBA with paving the way for his professional career in social media and excelling at it.
“Now that I’ve been out of college, I’ve realized the importance of connections and meeting different people,” said Horvat. “People who got my brain turning, and the reason I got into YouTube, was meeting someone in college.”
Grant Horvat Golf, the YouTube channel he curates, has over one million subscribers and was built on two foundational principles: faith and family.
“I think the biggest thing for us starting the channel was making sure that families could sit down and watch our videos in the living room; they don’t have to say to their kids, you can’t watch this,” said Horvat. “Our faith is what guides us. It’s what gives us wisdom on the right decisions to make. If you don’t have faith as your backbone, you’re going to get thrown around and not know what to do.”
Horvat reflected on how instrumental PBA was in his spiritual journey. This made it an easy decision to support not only his alma mater, but an institutional event built on Christian values.
“Going to chapel and just being in that environment. It planted a seed, and I started to take my faith more seriously,” said Horvat. “If I didn’t have that, if I didn’t have that seed and go into chapel and be around the right people, I don’t know if I would have the faith that I do now.”
His message to students in search of an institution in a great location that will prepare them for their professional career and spiritual journey is simple: Give PBA a try.
“For anyone looking for a college, I would personally recommend Palm Beach Atlantic,” said Horvat. “It is such a great environment, and the professors were so great. That was such a big part of it for me; they prayed before each class. Being on the golf team was fun as well. There were so many different elements to PBA- faith, professors, location- it all comes together.”
AFE Day will take place at 11 a.m. at the Rubin Arena in the Greene Complex on PBA’s West Palm Beach campus. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
AFE is proudly supported by Kibler Construction, SROA Capital, and Sara and Jim McCann as Innovation Sponsors.
To learn more about PBA’s American Free Enterprise Day, click here.
