BWUA Opportunity with Bain

In a special treat for the membership, BWUA joined with Wharton Latino to host an Associate Consultant Meet-and-Greet on March 28. Attendance from both clubs was high, however BWUA members were in the majority. The meet-and-greet was relaxed and informal, and the consultants spoke really to encourage the students to choose the career path that fits them best be that Bain or elsewhere. Mike Gomez was the senior consultant present, and he boasted an impressive resume. He had worked at JP Morgan for four years in Investment Banking when he realized that the field was not for him and promptly took off to join The Peace Corps. He lived in Benin, West Africa for two years teaching entrepreneurship and small business skills before returning to the United States. Soon thereafter, he began working with Bain and asserted that he could not he does not think he could be happier anywhere else. He attributed part of his love for Bain to the strong sense of community among co-workers, saying “ In investment banking, the mindset is more if a man falls you keep going and leave him there. At Bain, if a man falls the team picks him up and keeps moving. No man left behind.” Also present was a 2010 Penn Graduate Julio Erdos, who having studied Mechanical Engineering found himself drawn to consulting. Julio asserted that he had not known early on that he would want to do consulting, however he also maintained that he is incredibly happy working where he is. He corroborated Mike Gomez’s statement about the family community at Bain and asserted that the variety of cases was also part of Bain’s appeal. Because any company can come with a complex problem, Bain consultants have to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative skills with a bit of creativity to get the job done. In the end, both Mike and Julio encouraged the all rising juniors to apply to Bain’s Building Entrepreneurial Leaders program in August to get a stronger feel for the consulting industry and to begin making connections if Bain is a company any member would like to work for post-Penn.

Hats off to a G.A.L.A. Well Done!

This year’s G.A.L.A. (Galvanizing Adolescents Towards a Legacy of Achievement) was another incredibly successful event for BWUA. Hosted on the eighth floor of Huntsman Hall, and Community Service Director Ernest Owens deserves accolades for securing such a chic venue. The members followed suit, as everyone looked quite elegant. After taking a slew of pictures we moved into the buffet. Once again, Ernest Owens deserves credit as the buffet had substantial variety, accommodating big vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Following dinner came a brief speech by Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter, a Wharton graduate himself. The mayor congratulated the members of BWUA for having for the success they have already had in coming to Penn and encouraged them only to keep on striving higher. Following his brief address, there was a brief intermission before the keynote speaker in which there was a touching acapella performance of Eyes on a Sparrow by Samantha Thomas and Nina Dominique. Afterwards Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Williams took the stage to deliver the riveting keynote address. Senator Williams began with comedy, reminiscing of his college days when as a Franklin and Marshall student he was always on Penn’s campus visiting his girlfriend. He commented on how he saw himself reflected in the membership. He, just like the members of BWUA, was incredibly ambitious and had aspirations of becoming a wealthy and distinguished member of society. After stumbling into business, he shot up the ranks of PepsiCo because of his strong and unique skill set. He was a master at marketing because as he says “I knew and understood both the streets and the boardroom.” His father, who was a state senator himself, began asking Senator Anthony Williams if he would consider public office. He consistently declined, but when the police nearly burned down his childhood neighborhood be left PepsiCo and began his career at public office. Senator Williams remarked that it warms his heart to see how BWUA membership cares about giving back to our community, as the lacktherof is a pandemic among African Americans according to Williams. He encouraged BWUA’s members to continue to invest in African American communities, and closed with a reminder that they are the future. Finally, Youth Action representatives Gavin Grant and Anthony Phillips closed by thanking BWUA for the event and graciously expressing how much its support has meant to them.

New Traditions, New Relationships

We were pleased to see the second GBM of the semester have almost as high of a turnout as the first! The focus was on inter-grade relationships within the organization as well as summer opportunities. The GBM began with the latter, with presentations on finding summer internship/work opportunities. The Resume Drop, a service recently launched by a Harvard Junior to connect top students to top employers was mentioned, however the focus was on the MLT program. MLT was founded John Rice, a graduate of Harvard Business School and an ex executive at The Walt Disney Corporation, and is dedicated to building up strong underrepresented minority leaders in business and business related fields. President Jarrid Tingle is an alum, and he encouraged all sophomores to apply. Dinner followed, and while everyone was eating the board announced a new tradition. From now on, we will be starting going over current events during dinner. Freshman Liaison Alex Wiggin’s hosted, covering topics from the Greek Debt Crisis in the Eurozone to NBA player Jeremy Lin’s launch to superstardom.  The focus then switched the interpersonal relationships. The upperclassmen spread out across the room, and freshman were encouraged to introduce themselves to as many new people as possible. Freshman were also encouraged to take down names and contact information and reach out to the upperclassmen accordingly. In sum, the second GBM was a smash and we hope to see everyone and more back again at our next event!

First GBM of New Board 1/28

            The first BWUA GBM of the year was a smashing success. Attendance was great, and people even came on time! The board looked dashing in their formal attire as they introduced themselves before everyone moved quickly into the food from Sangkee. Notable among the announcements was the switch to a new monthly GBM system instead of the previous bi-weekly one, which aims to give more time for committee sponsored events. The board also announced a renewed dedication to reinvention in the sense of both new initiatives as well as expanding the focus of the club past Finance. As everyone ate, the Director of Alumni Relations Lucas O’Connor and Director of Membership Taylor O’Hare began the GBM discussion. The discussion was an introspective look at BWUA, and discussed both its positive and negative aspects in addition to the future direction of the organization. Members remarked that they enjoyed the sense of community present in the club, and cited communication as an area in which the club could improve. Following the discussion, the board put on a lighthearted skit on the Do’s and Don’ts of Interviews. Historian Ashi Okonneh, Director of Professional Development Titi Oshinaya, and Director of Community service Ernest Owens all stared. This acted as a segway into an interview competition among the members, characterized by the brainteaser “How many Neflix DVDs get lost in the mail each year?”  After some funny responses, the GBM was almost over save a brief presentation from the founder of the Penn startup Lokalty. All in all, it was a thrilling GBM and a great way to start off the new semester.

First GBM

            The first BWUA GBM of the year was a smashing success. Attendance was great, and people even came on time! The board looked dashing in their formal attire as they introduced themselves before everyone moved quickly into the food from Sangkee. Notable among the announcements was the switch to a new monthly GBM system instead of the previous bi-weekly one, which aims to give more time for committee sponsored events. The board also announced a renewed dedication to reinvention in the sense of both new initiatives as well as expanding the focus of the club past Finance. As everyone ate, the Director of Alumni Relations Lucas O’Connor and Director of Membership Taylor O’Hare began the GBM discussion. The discussion was an introspective look at BWUA, and discussed both its positive and negative aspects in addition to the future direction of the organization. Members remarked that they enjoyed the sense of community present in the club, and cited communication as an area in which the club could improve. Following the discussion, the board put on a lighthearted skit on the Do’s and Don’ts of Interviews. Historian Ashi Okonneh, Director of Professional Development Titi Oshinaya, and Director of Community service Ernest Owens all stared. This acted as a segway into an interview competition among the members, characterized by the brainteaser “How many Neflix DVDs get lost in the mail each year?”  After some funny responses, the GBM was almost over save a brief presentation from the founder of the Penn startup Lokalty. All in all, it was a thrilling GBM and a great way to start off the new semester.

12/6/11 - BWUA Executive Board Elections

Tonight, 10 BWUA members ran for the organization's 5 executive board positions. The presentations and deliberations took 3 hours but when all was said and done, the club had a new core leadership group for the upcoming year.

Congratulations to the new Executive Board!
President - Jarrid Tingle
VP of Finance - Kelsey Taylor
VP of Corporate Development - Marcus Hawkins-Dungey
VP of External Affairs - Oyinda Adefioye
VP of Internal Affairs - Paul Ampofo

12/1/11-12/2/11 - The 26th Annual HEMM Conference

On the first two days of December, The Black Wharton Undergraduate Association began the internship recruiting season by hosting its largest event of the year. The Howard E. Mitchell Memorial Conference is BWUA’s annual conference wherein members are allowed to network and interact with potential employers. This year, Jarrid Tingle and Oyinda Adefoiye expertly planned the conference along with the help of members of the HEMM Committee.The event began Thursday night with the alumni desert reception, in which alumni, recruiters and students gathered on the eighth floor of Huntsman Hall for a night of informal networking and a performance from one of Penn’s student performance groups, The Inspiration. On Friday December 2nd, all sixteen corporate sponsors were present for a day which began with a career fair followed by two discussion panels and concluded by a celebratory luncheon featuring keynote speaker Marc Morial.