Podcast

As a GA in the career center, I got to work on podcasts. These podcasts ranged in topics from business fairs to interviews with local business leaders. The latest one released is an interview with Patrick Sbarra, president and co-founder of New Creature. You can listen to the podcast, CareerCast, at http://waltoncollege.uark.edu/career/careercast.asp. It's a great way to network and gain perspective from employers. Usually it's a pretty good time too, as you can see from the pictures below.

 Patrick Sbarra, Me

Patrick Sbarra

Me, Patrick Sbarra, Alan Slindee

The location of the Walton College of Business is great for this kind of interaction.  There are plenty of companies around here due to the presence of Wal-Mart, something to think about when selecting an MBA program.

One More Week

Well we just finished up another final. Finance is sort of finished now. We have a take home portion of the final remaining and that's it for that class. We have three finals next week; Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Graduation for the 2010 Class is that Saturday. We also have one homework assignment left for our information systems class. All in all, not too bad.

Looking forward to next semester, we had a meeting today concerning the entrepreneurship track. There were about 10 of us there. It was an information and Q&A session. There are many rewards to taking the entrepreneurship track. The track involves entering in various competitions where there is plenty of prize money to be won. In the past, Walton has done very well competing against the Harvard and MIT's of the world. The expectations are definitely high. I really enjoy competition, and I think that the entrepreneurship track provides a great perspective on business as a whole.

This is a very exciting time in the MBA program. We have the first semester behind us, the summer internship coming up, and the anticipation of the fall.

Three Presentations in Two Days

The last couple of days have been full of presentations. I had a couple yesterday and one the day before that. It was a little difficult to find time to meet and practice the presentations, but we managed to get it done. We have a couple of homework assignments left and finals of course. We took one of our finals last Monday, so that leaves four to go. The next one is finance. The in-class portion of that test is next Wednesday. The take-home portion is supposed to be released some time this weekend.

The semester seems to have flown by. I can't believe we are a third of the way through the program already. It's been a really fun semester getting to know everyone. I'll reflect more on that once the semester is actually over.

After finals we'll have about a week break before we start our internships. In fact I have a meeting today with Walmart to discuss some of the projects I'll be working on this summer. I'll be working in their analytical research department as a project manager. It's a pretty unique department within Walmart, I expect the projects will be pretty interesting. The summer internships are very important. It's the one opportunity we have to work full-time and impress a possible employer. A lot of thought should be put into finding the right internship. It can make a huge impact on what happens after graduation.

Professor Pied

Today was the professor pieing day.  This was part of the American Heart Association fundraiser.  The Walton MBAs set this up by having collection jars set up for each of our professors.  Change deposited into each jar would go towards getting the professor pied, while bills would reduce their total.  So students generally put change in and professors would put bills in.  In the end, Dr. Kali had the highest net total.  There was also an auction to see who would get to pie Dr. Kali.  The winner of that auction was Prasanth Kambhatla, a fellow 2011 MBA candidate.  Dr. Kali took it very well.  Although, he did say that the final has just gotten much harder.

Intense Weekend

This past weekend was crammed full of excitement.  Ok, maybe excitement isn't the right word, but it was definitely crammed.  The Aspen Competition was this past weekend, as well as the American Heart Association Heart Walk.

The Aspen Competition kicked off Friday morning with the release of the case.  This year's case was on the Tata Group.  A large conglomerate of 96 companies including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, and Tata Tea.  It was a very interesting case.  We worked on it most of the weekend.  It was due Monday morning at 9:00am.  We finished it around 5:00am Monday.  Needless to say, we struggled staying awake in class Monday.  Overall, it was a great experience.  We had a good time putting it all together.  I think the main thing to think about when entering a case study is team chemistry.  Make sure the people on your team work well together or it can be quite miserable.  My team included myself, Kevin Oden, Honey Brinkley, and Jake Wineman.  The interesting thing about us is that if you put the first letter of our last names together it makes WCOB, which is also the abbreviation for the Walton College of Business.

The American Heart Association Heart Walk was on Saturday.

Top Picture (left to right): Me, Alan Slindee, Arkansas Natural Mascot, Kevin Oden, Jake Wineman
Bottom Picture (left to right): Alan Slindee, Kevin Oden, Jama Fletcher, Jake Wineman, Me

We took a break from the case competition to go support the cause.  It took place at Arvest Ball Park in Springdale.  It's the home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, a minor league team affiliated with the Kansas City Royals.  There were many people at this event, and plenty of activities aside from just walking.  It was well organized.

The weekend was crammed, but it was a great weekend.  The weather was great for the Heart Walk, and the experience with the case competition provided an opportunity for us to showcase our skills, and we had fun.

Bake Sale

Today we had a little fundraiser for the American Heart Association.  The first and second year MBA class contributed various baked goods to be sold individually or by auction.  I contributed some chocolate fudge with walnuts.  There were two separate batches, about a pound each.

I figured they would sell for around $10 each, but they actually sold for $20.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Overall, the fundraiser was a success.  I think we raised about $700 or so.  We'll also be at Arvest Park on Saturday for the annual American Heart Association Heart Walk. 

Busy, Busy

The semester is almost over and it's a race to the finish.  Spring break has ended and seems like everything is in overdrive.  We have a homework assignment due this Friday, and another one due the following Monday.  We also have a couple of group projects due next Wednesday.  On top of that we also have a couple presentations next week.

This is definitely the busiest time of the semester.  Summer is fast approaching and everyone who hasn't secured a summer internship is scrambling.  Besides the class load and internship search, some us will also be competing in the Aspen Case Competition, which will be held this weekend.

On a brighter note, the weather has greatly improved over the last week or so.  It actually feels like spring.  I don't think we'll have anymore snow to worry about until next winter.  It's so nice to spend some time outside. 

This past weekend I was in Fort Smith and went to the re-opened Park at West End.  The park had been closed for two years.  The park features a ferris wheel and a carousel.  It's not very big in size but has lots of character.  It's definitely worth checking out if you're ever in Fort Smith.