 |
| Section A Happy Hour at the Huntley Hotel Penthouse in Santa Monica |
The classes again were a mixed bag. 8 am Strategy class was probably my least favorite of the year, but Organizational Behavior was definitely one of my favorite (entertaining professor, heavy on psychology, and a lot of in-class simulations and interactive activities). I also took my first two electives: an excel modeling class (Decision Analysis) and Global Macroeconomics.
In the Student Investment Fund, we have moved from the research side to actually having the power to invest the $2 million portfolio how we see fit. My role as one of the founding board members of the new school organization the Anderson Investment Association (AIA), which will be open for enrollment in the fall, has been pretty time intensive so far. We're trying to coordinate some big, national events (a stock pitch competition and an investment conference, are our two biggest ideas). To get it off the ground and make sure it's first year is a success a lot of planning has been necessary, and will continue into next year.
As a quick follow-up to the Ghana Trip, in a previous post I had mentioned that we would be flying to Denver to meet with possible donors to pitch our business plan. Supposedly we're still going to do this, but there has been difficulty with scheduling all the investors at once, so it's been postponed until the summer right now.
So overall the interviewing and recruiting process definitely stands out the most from the past few months, but looking back I realize that I did a decent amount during the spring quarter, and it's been a fun couple of months. For one, I felt a little more connected to a default group of classmates who have become my normal hang-out crew this quarter. I felt that was missing a little bit in my first several months in LA as my social schedule was a little more scattered. Not that one way is necessarily better or worse, but throughout my life (whether it was in NY, college, or at Cambridge) I've always been used to having the smaller, closer group of friends, rather than a larger, but less strong circle of friends. Some of the social highlights of the quarter:
- My first Dodgers game
- First golf experiences in LA (two trips to driving range, and one 8-man, 9 hole round in Huntington Beach)
- Bunch of outdoorsy stuff. Went on two hikes (Sandstone Peak, and Pacific Palisades - link to pictures below) and hung out at Griffith Observatory (we saw Saturn through their mega-telescope) with one of my friends from the Ghana trip.
- Attended my first Passover Seder, emceed brilliantly by Mr. Adam Reich
- West Hollywood BBQ/party
- Trip to Arcadia for Taiwanese food and bowling
- Meeting up with former UMD roomie, Adam Storch for mini golf
- Bunch of Anderson events (fashion show, cabaret, IFA mixer, international food festival, Section A happy hour, etc)
- Trip to casino in downtown LA
- Trip to San Diego with SIF to visit companies
- SIF Annual Alumni Banquet
- Volunteered for A-Days (admitted students weekend) at the career fair and a couple of panel discussions about the finance program at Anderson and some of the new initiatives we're trying to start up with the AIA
One final big social event is on deck for this quarter, our quarterly Section A post-finals party. It's especially significant this quarter because since we've completed all our core courses now, Section A as a group of classmates will be a thing of the past. Also, with much of our classmates scattering for internships throughout the world over the summer, and then many people studying abroad in the fall quarter, this is the last time we will all be together for a long time. Should be a fun celebration.
Sandstone Peak Hike
(I have pictures from the other hike too, but they're not posted yet)
No comments:
Post a Comment