Universities often highlight their strong option. But the real story lies beyond the percentages. As these alumni demonstrate, Butler equips students not only for successful careers but also for meaningful lives.

Annie Brown ’21

Annie Brown ’21’s album, Handle with Care, came out January 2025, but its songs were born long before that in her days on Butler’s campus.

“Some of the songs were written in my dorm rooms and in my sorority house and were inspired by my best friends,” Brown says.

As Jordan College of the Arts’ first female Jazz Studies major and the Jazz program’s first vocalist, Brown’s biggest goal for her time at Butler was to improve her musicianship and songwriting skills. Little did she know that she’d graduate with a network of talented friends, prestigious performance experiences, and a soon-to-be-released EP.

That EP, titled Criminal, came out in 2022 and featured fellow Butler alumni Isaac Beaumont ’20, Eric Garcia ’19, Pat Petrus ’18, and Tom Pieciak ’21—friendships made within the walls of Lilly Hall. The group went on to perform at the Alt Indy Series in Garfield Park, at the HI-FI Annex, LOFI Lounge, and even aboard an IndyGo bus for the Emmy Award-winning concert web series, Music in Transit.

“When I got to Butler in 2017, I never anticipated the quality and the longevity of the friendships that I would leave with in 2021,” Brown says. “They always inspire me to be better—personally and musically.”

Another influence on Brown’s music? Opera. In addition to forging new paths in the Jazz program, Brown also studied classical voice. She says that her cross-stylistic training strengthened more than just her pipes.

The style of Brown’s latest project and first full-length album, Handle with Care, is as multifaceted as her time at Butler. The electronic indie pop record blends house and subtle jazz influences to tell stories of young adulthood.

“We encounter so many different sorts of dynamics and experiences in our early ’20s,” Brown says, “and we can turn even our very trying ones into something beautiful.”

Kylie Stine ’20

Kylie Stine ’20 didn’t plan to stay in Indianapolis. The Indy Summer Experience and one class changed her mind and career trajectory forever.

“Bob Schultz’s Hospitality and Tourism course helped me discover that I’m passionate about cultivating community and that I wanted to live in Indianapolis after graduating,” Stine says. “The Hospitality and Tourism class along with Career and Professional Services’ Indy Summer Experience program showed me that the Indianapolis and Butler communities really want you to succeed and that people here care about young people’s ideas.”

A few years after graduation, the Indy community championed one of her ideas: a Barbie-themed party at The Vogue Theatre in Broad Ripple.

Although The Vogue’s production company Forty5 had pivoted away from internally run events, Stine advocated for her vision—a dance party celebrating the release of the Barbie movie, complete with a pink carpet, fashion show, women DJs, and prizes from local women-owned businesses—and proved that life in plastic truly is fantastic.

“It was Forty5’s first-ever internal event to sell out and our most successful event of the entire year in terms of profit margin,” Stine says. “It was so rewarding to see that I could do something with my career that brings people from all backgrounds together.”

This was just the beginning of Stine’s passion for community-building.

That fall, Stine conceptualized Butler University Young Alumni Board’s Beyond the Bubble event, designed to connect graduating seniors and recent alumni to local organizations. The following year, her strategy helped double registration numbers.

In 2024, Stine was nominated for the 1828 IndyHub Leadership Project, a yearlong program that nurtures Indianapolis’ next generation of leaders through mentoring and civic participation.

Currently a Senior Associate of Internal Communications at Eli Lilly and Company, Stine hopes to continue growing her communications, public relations, and community engagement skills.

“I would love to get my master’s degree in communications or industrial-organizational psychology and one day be able to teach at Butler or at a different institution,” Stine says. “I’m so grateful for everyone who poured into me while I was at Butler, and it would be so fulfilling to be a part of that for other students in the future.”