Grand Central Bowling and my weekend home

Keri S.

February 21, 2010 - 11:30 PM

In addition to attending the Women in Business Gala event this week, I also had the opportunity to attend a networking event in Portland with my business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi. Every year, my brothers and I go to Grand Central Bowling to mingle and network with past and present brothers. This event was once again a huge success, and such a fun evening.

 

For those of you who are not familiar with Grand Central Bowling it is an upscale bowling alley that doubles as a restaurant and lounge in downtown Portland. Although we did not go bowling, it was a great atmosphere to mingle and talk with alumni. Some of the alumni were recent graduates from last spring, and some of them had graduated 3 or 4 years ago. It was great to hear from all of them about what they do now, and how Alpha Kappa Psi has helped them with their careers. Some of the alumni landed their current jobs because they knew someone in the company through Alpha Kappa Psi. It was also great to see that most of them are still in contact with each other and good friends. One of the great benefits of Alpha Kappa Psi is the brotherhood aspect, and something that I think is unmatched by any other club here on campus.

 

After this event, I went back home to Salem for a weekend with my family. Although it is a time to do free laundry and eat a great meal or two, my favorite part of my weekends home is seeing the parents and sisters. Even though this weekend was mostly full of homework and studying, I took my eyes off the books for a few hours to go shopping at the outlets in Woodburn with my mom! It was such a fun mother/daughter date, and something I miss while going to school in Eugene. Luckily, I am only an hour car ride away if I ever need one of those days with my mom.

 

I headed back to Eugene early this morning for group meetings and an Alpha Kappa Psi dodge ball game. At least once a term, my business fraternity challenges the rival accounting fraternity, Beta Alpha Psi, to a friendly sports competition. The winner gets possession of the trophy and bragging rights until we meet again. After being defeated back to back in kickball and soccer, Alpha Kappa Psi finally won back the trophy today! We will definitely be bragging about this one for a while!

 

This week coming up will be very busy with group meetings and projects. Within 8 days, I have three projects due for three different classes, all of which are a minimum of 15 pages EACH! Associated with these projects is also a 10-15 minute presentation to the professor and to the class, which means lots of work will be done on editing and finalizing the projects as well as creating Power Points and note cards for presentations.

 

 

 

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Women in Business Gala

Keri S.

February 18, 2010 - 4:30 PM

This week, I had the privilege of attending the Women in Business Gala event. This event, held once a year, is put on by the amazing ladies in the Women in Business Club right here in the business school. This is the first time I have attended the event, and I had such an amazing time!

 

For this event, each student is paired one-on-one with a female professional from the Eugene community. I was paired with Meagan, and accountant from Moss Adams. It was great to hear the story of how she got to where she is now, and to hear great advice as I prepare to enter my last term here at the University of Oregon.

 

The event started with a welcoming speech from Dennis Howard, the dean of the Lundquist College of Business. He provided a history of the business school, and specifically talked about the role that women have played in making the business school what it is today. It was great to hear that the women are so influential and such a part of the Lundquist College of Business. Everyone in attendance was also happy to hear that, on average, women have higher GPAs entering the business school than their male peers.

 

Next to speak was Wendy Mitchell, the current Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs. Wendy talked about a few recent graduates and what they are doing now. It was so encouraging to hear about students who were in my shoes three years ago who are now working for great companies around the world! I realized how valuable my time here at the Lundquist College of Business has been and everything that I have learned. I also learned that in order to get a job after graduation, I need to start taking advantage of all the great resources available to me here in the business school, including the Career Center. Although I am stressed and sometimes panicked about what I will do after graduation, it is nice to hear that people who were in my shoes have gone on to do great things in a short amount of time. It definitely made me feel a little more at ease and confident in my accomplishments so far.

 

After a brief break to enjoy a fabulous dinner, we got to hear from a Keynote speaker, Susie Pape who currently is the Chairman of the Board for the Pape group. It was great to hear her personal story, because she was a successful woman who balanced her professional career with her family life. As a mother of three, she was able to be involved with her husband's work in the Pape group as well as take care of her children. As a woman, it is great to hear stories of others who were able to balance both areas of their lives like this, because it is a huge stereotype that women have to choose between a successful career and a family life. I hope that I can balance both activities without sacrifice once I enter the workforce.

 

Overall, I was very impressed by the Gala this year, and am regretful that I haven't attended before this time. I left feeling empowered and ready to graduate tomorrow! Only a few weeks left of this term before I move on to my last term here at the University of Oregon.

 

Congratulations to all the executive members and all my friends who made the Women in Business Gala such a successful event! This is by far one of my favorite events so far here at the Lundquist College of Business, and you guys did a great job putting it all together.

 

 

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"WERE YOU PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE TODAY?"

Keri S.

February 13, 2010 - 3:00 PM

This week, I joined 15 of my fellow Alpha Kappa Psi brothers to attend the second annual Blazer Internship and Career Fair. Since I am interested in a career in sports once I graduate, I saw this as a great opportunity to network and begin to see some post-graduation career opportunities.

 

Before the career fair, there was a key note speaker from Howard White, a Nike employee who played a huge role in signing Michael Jordan to Nike and starting Brand Jordan. With a long history with Nike, he had a lot of great insight on how to be successful in the sports industry.

 

One of my favorite parts of his speech was where he polled the audience with one simple question: "How many of you made your bed today?" In a room full of college aged students, maybe 20% of us raised our hands (to be honest, I was not one of those people). He then went on to say that all successful people make their beds every morning. Even though nobody may see it, this simple act is something that shows habit and hard work. It was a very valid point, and one that I have heard many, many times before from my dad. While Howard called it "habit," my dad called it "personal responsibility," but it was the same basic concept. Every morning, my dad would ask my sister and I, "Keri. Katie. Were you personally responsible today?" My dad usually got one of three responses:

 

1. "Yes Dad, of course! I do it every morning" (with only a hint of sarcasm).

 

2. "No, but I will be in five minutes". My dad normally got this response when we knew making our bed wasn't an option. I think my sister and I have both been grounded once or twice for talking back on this issue, so sometimes we just gave in and made our beds.

 

3. The classic Sime sister eye roll and "Dad, you are such a dork!" to which my dad says: "Well...that makes you the daughter of a dork!"

 

I guess my point is this: sometimes you can hear a message over and over again without absorbing it, but once you hear it a different way or from a different person it changes the message. I finally got what my dad was saying all of these years. My argument was always "Dad, nobody besides me knows if I made my bed or not". This is true. But most hard work goes unnoticed by most. How many people know I have studied 5 hours for my management midterm on Monday? Not many, but that is not why I did it. I studied to better myself as a student and to be a responsible student. The same can be said for simply making your bed every morning.

 

All in all, it was a great speaker, a mediocre and crowded career fair, and a loss for the Blazers against Oklahoma City. But the entire experience was shared with great company, and was a good mid-week vacation from Eugene up to the Rose City. Needless to say, when I woke up Wednesday morning, I made sure I made my bed!

 

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Will you be my Valentine?

Keri S.

February 13, 2010 - 2:00 PM

This was a busy week for my business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi. As an organization, we try to balance Professional Activities, Philanthropy, and Brotherhood-and this week we did all three! Last Sunday, we got together to volunteer at the Truffle Shuffle, a short run to benefit Eugene youth. On Tuesday, we attended the Blazer Internship and Career Fair, Blazer game in Portland . And on Thursday, we gathered to make Valentine's Day cards to give to residents at a retirement home.

 

20 brothers gathered on 17th Street to make 80 Valentine's Day cards over 2 hours. (The amount of construction paper and glitter is too plentiful to measure). Although I had already completed my required amount of philanthropy hours, I decided I wanted to participate in this activity. Although it is hard to say what my favorite part of Alpha Kappa Psi is, I really enjoy the philanthropy events. It is one of the main things that separates Alpha Kappa Psi from other business organizations. All other organizations have a focus on professional activities, and most have a great brotherhood aspect. But Alpha Kappa Psi is the only business school organization that requires philanthropy each term from every brother. Although my terms are always busy, it is nice to be able to take some time and volunteer. This activity especially was fun for me because I like being crafty and wanted to use those skills to put a smile on someone's face.

 

This is really the only way I celebrated the Valentine's holiday (unless, of course, you count my hot date with the library where I spent most of my day today studying for midterms and working on group projects). Overall, it has and will be a weekend full of homework and friends. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend (a three day weekend if you get President's Day off!)

 

 

Thank you Lenny for hosting the Valentine's Day event at your house, and thanks to Pichette Photo for the picture. 

 

 

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SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!

Keri S.

February 7, 2010 - 11:30 PM

Today was my favorite American holiday-Super Bowl Sunday. As an avid football fan and a marketing student obsessed with advertising, it is two of my favorite things combined into one. Although I normally watch the game with friends, this year I decided I should stay home and study for my Sports Business midterm tomorrow.

 

The game started, and I had all of my Sports Business material in front of me. I had the best intentions to study during the game, but never found the time. During the game, I said "I will study during the commercials", but during the commercials, I said "I will study during the game". It was a vicious cycle, and long story short no studying ever took place. Looks like it is going to be another long night studying...

 

Although I am sure most of you saw the game, I wanted to share with you my three favorite commercials from the game (in no particular order)

 

(1) Coke "the Simpsons": With Pepsi's decision not to advertise during the big game, Coke stepped in with a great ad. Pepsi has decided this year to donate the $20 million they normally spend on advertising for this game and donate it to communities across the nation. What a great idea in my opinion! With this said, the Coke commercial embodies the community feel as well, with a subtle "money can't buy you happiness but Coke can" message. I also like this ad because it was done by Wieden and Kennedy, an advertising firm located in Portland!

 

 

(2) Google "Paris Love": This ad is the perfect example of story telling. For those of you that haven't seen it, it tells the story of a man who studies in Paris, falls in love, gets married and has a baby, all within 60 seconds. It also does a great job of showing all the features of Google-auto fill, auto correct, Google maps, Google dictionary, and flight information. As a first time player in the Super Bowl advertising game, Google did a great job!

 

 

(3) Volkswagen "Punching Game": As a proud Jetta owner, I always love to see what Volkswagen will do next. This time, they exceeded my expectations. By taking a popular game, "Slug Bug", and expanding it to their entire line of cars, they have created "Punch-Dub"-a game for everyone to be played at any occasion. This ad featured men, women, children, police men, bus riders, EMT, women in labor, college kids, surfers, and even Tracy Morgan and Stevie Wonder. It also conveniently showed all 13 car models currently offered by Volkswagen. Brilliant commercial!

 

 

So there you have it, the three best ads of the Super Bowl according to Keri. I am glad I could share my passion for advertising with you all, and hope I can continue to take what I learn in the classroom to contribute to the content of my blog. As I now have to go study for my midterms, I leave you by saying: good night and GO SAINTS!!!

 

 

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