The 28th Annual Howard E. Mitchell Memorial Conference was held from December 5th-6th, 2013, and it was truly a great and well attended event! Before we review the HEMM Week, we would like to thank our corporate sponsors for their support in organizing the HEMM Conference. BWUA would also like to issue a special thank you to our HEMM Committee, and the main HEMM Organizers, VP of Corporate Development, Jordan Jett, and HEMM Co-Chair, Erica Charles.
On Thursday Evening, the Alumni Reception was held in Harker Hall on the 8th floor of John M. Huntsman Hall. This was a greatly attended event by our Alumni and incoming members in the class of 2017. After presentation by the Penn Jazz Club, our 2010 Black Wharton President, Triston Francis, gave a speech addressing his HEMM Experiences, advising all those in attendance to meet as many people as possible, and hoping everyone enjoys the conference.
The following morning, students had the opportunity to interact with our recruiters from our BWUA Corporate Sponsors at the HEMM Conference Career Fair. Dressed in business formal, our students truly impressed the recruiters in attendance, networking with multiple firms, and gaining invaluable internship and networking experience.
Afterwards, BWUA hosted it Panel featuring Lieutenant Colonel Rogers - US Marine Corps, John Barfield - Bain & Company, Malcolm Evans - AdviceShare, Triston Francis - Morgan Stanley, and Stanley Greene - PowerThinking Group, all of which moderated by 2013 Penn Graduate and BWUA Haywood Perry. Though the Panel was extremely insightful and inspiring, some key take aways from our panelists were to prepare for the unexpected, to be resilient, continue working hard, and to take advantage of any opportunity that is presented.
The final event of the HEMM Conference was the BWUA Luncheon hosted in Harker Hall. Students enjoyed a nice 3 course meal while sitting along side corporate recruiters at their own tables. Our two $1,000 scholarships were presented by Vice Dean Lori Rosenkopf to Kendall Findlay and Chase Williams. Congratulations to our two recipients, you are truly deserving of this scholarship. Following, we were grateful to hear the inspiring words of our keynote speaker, Anthony P. Carter of Johnson & Johnson. Instead of speaking about his career, his downfalls and struggles, he did a reversal. In focusing on us, he told us not to judge an individual as our image is not a true representation of our story. He inspired each of us to be the Nelson Mandela of our own generation, and to embrace the opportunity that we have been given to attend such a great institution. Our members continued eating their meals while enjoying our BWUA giveaways of computer bags, and t-shirts.
On behalf of BWUA, we would like to thank everyone who came out and made the 28th Annual HEMM Conference such a great event! We look forward to seeing each of you next year!
