Middle school students become business students for a day

Goizueta's Black MBA Association and more than a dozen current students, staff and faculty members hosted 16 middle school students one morning in October for a program titled, "Business School Student For A Day."  Paul Billingsly 09MBA and executive vice president of the organization, explains the template for the event came from "Boys Speak Out, Inc.," a non-profit corporation for building community though youth development founded with Billingsly's help by his best friend, Anthony Webb. "He had already done medical school and law school for a day," Billingsly recalls, "and when I got here I thought, that's synergy, we've got to do business."

For Black MBA Association President Shaun Caldwell 09MBA the event mirrored mentoring he experienced as a troubled middle school student in Maryland, where volunteer-organized trips to the US Naval Academy and the Norfolk Naval Station helped him see options and recognize the rewards of hard work. "I still remember how someone in the community came into my life and changed everything," Caldwell says.

"Those experiences were pivotal."

The Goizueta visitors traveled from the southeast Atlanta campus of Atlanta Youth Academies, a Christian pre-secondary school.  They toured Goizueta facilities with current students and heard about how program, career and library services contribute to the MBA experience.  In rotating panel discussion groups, the students expressed interest in how to finance a graduate education and what kinds of travel opportunities are associated with different career choices.

The middle school students took a crash course with Goizueta Associate Dean and BBA Program Director Andrea Hershatter about key academic areas of a business education, including finance. Hershatter clearly had the attention of the young audience when she asked, "Would you rather have a dollar today or a dollar tomorrow?" One student promptly responded, "Today and tomorrow."

About Emory University’s Goizueta Business School

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School is home to an Undergraduate degree program, a Two-Year Full-Time MBA, a One-Year MBA, an Evening MBA, the W. Cliff Oxford Executive MBA (Weekend and Modular formats), a Doctoral degree and a portfolio of non-degree Emory Executive Education courses.