The College of Business Executive Mentor Program introduces all the freshmen students to the exciting world of business. Successful business owners and executives of New Orleans volunteered to mentor small groups of students. Our mentors were supposed to introduce us to the different types of jobs and careers available to us as business students, discuss many different topics such as managing time and finances, setting goals and communication skills.
My experience with my mentor was a little different than what is described above and mentioned in the website. My mentor did not limit himself only to business, and rather than a business mentor he became a friend. He was an adult that we could talk to about anything who was not involved with the University directly. The experiences that were most helpful to me were the ones when our mentor told us about his life in college and gave us tips and advice in a very realistic and humorous was, as a friend our age would. My expectations changed the entire semester of this program, because I thought that it was strictly going to be about business but it was not, at least for me and the other people in my group. I enjoyed all the activities we had with our mentor and the interesting college life discussions we often had, but I thought I was going to be learning more about business than what we actually did.
For another peer that is seeking a mentor, I would suggest to them so find someone they can get a long with very well and that they can trust as a friend and not only have a formal, cold and distant relationship with. I would also suggest to them to look for someone that has a personality similar to them so they can feel comfortable talking with that person.
Next semester I look forward to spending more time with my mentor and continue to have comfortable and fun friendly discussions. It is nice to get away from all the stress of college and have a nice talk with someone mature who I wan trust and have a positive conversation with, as well as provide guidance as we overcome our first year in college.
For anyone that it interested in staying business connected over the winter break I would recommend Business Week, which has a wide variety of fun, interesting and easy to read articles. I would also recommend the Economist, which I used in highschool but I find that it has extremely interesting world wide articles!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Passport Assignment #5: Wolves on the Prowl Community Service
This Saturday November the eighth 2008 all the freshmen students from Loyola’s College of Business gathered together for the annual event of community service called Wolves at the Prowl. There were four different activities that we could chose from in order to give back to the New Orleans community. Some of the events like “Cubs in the Den” and “Service starts in Our Own Community” took place in the University while others such as Wilson Charter School and LUCAP’s project Smile were off campus. When it came time to choosing the activity I wanted to participate in I decided to do something outside of Loyola in order to see other parts of the community that also needed help so I decided to go to the Wilson Charter School.
The Wilson Charter School is located in uptown New Orleans, a ten-minute drive from Loyola Univerity. This school was greatly affected by hurricane Katrina, but it has received a lot of help both from individuals and institutions. One of the people that has contributed greatly to the improvement and recovery of this school is supermodel Petra Namcova with the help of her Happy Hearts fund. Although the school has received a large quantity of help there is still help needed.
We arrived at the Wilson Charter School on a school bus provided by the University around nine in the morning. From the moment we got there until we left the women in charge warmly welcomed us. They thanked us for our presence and cooperation and provided us with key holders and coffee, to wake us up and get us working. We were then divided into different groups in order to complete different tasks that needed to be done. Some people painted a moldy wall; others gave life to an old office by painting it blue, while the rest helped with several handy tasks such as decorating bulletin boards as well as repairing chairs and others small jobs.
I am a very creative and active person, so I decided to help with the bulletin boards in school. The decorated bulletin boards that they had were very plain and dull so we were told to help with our creative skills and make them more visually appealing and fun. We decided to improve the Physical Education board. We used many different colors of construction paper to make tennis balls, basketballs, and soccer balls as well as first place prize awards. We added a playful boarder that was in the material that was provided to us that gave the board a fun final touch. When we were done with the board as well as helping moving furniture into the recently painted rooms, the buses back to Loyola were already gone. We had been so focused on finishing our job and doing it well that we had missed the bus. We finally got a ride back to the University, and even though we were late for lunch it was worth it because my friends and I felt happy and rewarded due to the hard work we had done that day and the improvement we made for the school with a simple bulletin board. The people of the school were very thankful and excited for their students to see what we had done. It was truly and unforgettable experience.
After my first experience in community service here in New Orleans I would like to do much more for this community, which I now am a part of. Back home in Ecuador I participated in Habitat for Humanity, and help build houses for members of an extremely poor community. Since Katrina has destroyed the homes of many people in New Orleans I think that it would be a nice project to be a part of. Habitat’s mission is to build houses with the help of different sponsors, individuals, communities, and families in order to change people’s lives. Habitat strives to abolish poverty by providing decent shelter for those in desperate need.
The Wilson Charter School is located in uptown New Orleans, a ten-minute drive from Loyola Univerity. This school was greatly affected by hurricane Katrina, but it has received a lot of help both from individuals and institutions. One of the people that has contributed greatly to the improvement and recovery of this school is supermodel Petra Namcova with the help of her Happy Hearts fund. Although the school has received a large quantity of help there is still help needed.
We arrived at the Wilson Charter School on a school bus provided by the University around nine in the morning. From the moment we got there until we left the women in charge warmly welcomed us. They thanked us for our presence and cooperation and provided us with key holders and coffee, to wake us up and get us working. We were then divided into different groups in order to complete different tasks that needed to be done. Some people painted a moldy wall; others gave life to an old office by painting it blue, while the rest helped with several handy tasks such as decorating bulletin boards as well as repairing chairs and others small jobs.
I am a very creative and active person, so I decided to help with the bulletin boards in school. The decorated bulletin boards that they had were very plain and dull so we were told to help with our creative skills and make them more visually appealing and fun. We decided to improve the Physical Education board. We used many different colors of construction paper to make tennis balls, basketballs, and soccer balls as well as first place prize awards. We added a playful boarder that was in the material that was provided to us that gave the board a fun final touch. When we were done with the board as well as helping moving furniture into the recently painted rooms, the buses back to Loyola were already gone. We had been so focused on finishing our job and doing it well that we had missed the bus. We finally got a ride back to the University, and even though we were late for lunch it was worth it because my friends and I felt happy and rewarded due to the hard work we had done that day and the improvement we made for the school with a simple bulletin board. The people of the school were very thankful and excited for their students to see what we had done. It was truly and unforgettable experience.
After my first experience in community service here in New Orleans I would like to do much more for this community, which I now am a part of. Back home in Ecuador I participated in Habitat for Humanity, and help build houses for members of an extremely poor community. Since Katrina has destroyed the homes of many people in New Orleans I think that it would be a nice project to be a part of. Habitat’s mission is to build houses with the help of different sponsors, individuals, communities, and families in order to change people’s lives. Habitat strives to abolish poverty by providing decent shelter for those in desperate need.
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