Tag Archives: Occidental College

Fullbridge Program Day 3: Personal Finance

Posted on by
Reply

Day three of Fullbridge focused much less on group activities and required more attention to individual tasks. The workload was quite dense, and none of us wasted time chatting. On-task and quiet, we immersed ourselves in a world of tutorials, videos, PDF files, and Excel. Most of us listened to music while we worked. I frequently stood up to stretch and give my back a break from sitting too long.

Personal finance stood at the forefront of the day’s work, complete with facts and figures full of jargon. We explored a range of financial settings. These included learning the difference between variable, fixed, and discretionary expenses, as well as the value in renting v. buying a house. While I did not find this information immediately applicable for myself, I knew it would help to know the information later down the road— perhaps after I graduated from Scripps. Even now, some students choose to live in a house with others instead of opting for on-campus housing.

Another topic fell under the category of how to choose a bank based on a three-pronged guide: fees, convenience, and interest paid. Although many of us may already own savings or checking accounts, CDs or mutual funds, we can always benefit from securing additional knowledge. After all, the economy literally changes overnight and new policies appear more often than we might think. Personally, I would have appreciated information about traditional banking v. online banking, given the recent shift to the latter.

By the end of the day, my mind had accumulated a wealth (puns!) of information about personal finance– enough to make me rethink my spending and saving habits. I reflected on the way I had spent my paychecks last fall, and resolved to act more thoughtfully this semester. I set a new budget for myself, and have followed through with it this spring. As of now, I’m happy to say my piggy bank’s been nothing but smiles.

On a tangential note…

My personal accomplishment of the day was working out at the gym for the first time since my arrival at Oxy! Given how difficult it is to find any extra time outside of work, I felt extremely accomplished. I imagined what it would be like to find similar pockets of time for fun or recreation in the future, and am thinking about it still.

When one works an 8 A.M.-5 P.M. work week, one either has to work out early in the morning, or late at night. Eat. Get dressed. Drive to the gym. Work out. Shower. Get dressed again. Sit in traffic. Work. Eat again. Sleep? Throw in a family and kids (which I’d like in my future), and no wonder people in the “real world” can seem so stressed out! The eight-hour workdays at Fullbridge have led me to think more concretely about the kind of lifestyle I hope to adopt in the future.

What priorities do you currently stress in your life? How often do you take the time to sit down and re-evaluate these priorities? Does a budget make its way into the picture? I hope your piggy bank finds a reason to smile. 🙂

Fullbridge Program Day 2: Group Dynamics

Posted on by
Reply

In case you haven’t been here since the start of my journey, I am narrating my business trip adventures as a participant in the Fullbridge business Program. I was located in East Rock, Los Angeles for two weeks over winter break. My goal in writing these blog posts is to give Scripps students an in-depth look at what the Fullbridge Program is really all about, especially for those interested in applying for a spot in the future.

Check out my first post here.

—

Day two of The Fullbridge Program focused on group work. Within our individual teams, we worked on an exercise called “Marooned.” This activity took a twist on the traditional game, “Survivor,” and was actually designed for business programs such as Fullbridge. We got off the island just fine, and not only that, we learned about each others’ strengths and weaknesses. It was a less-than-serious way to break the ice and bond as a team. After all, we had only known each other for a day at most, by this time.

Here’s a photo of our team hard at work:

1522890_10202959747775132_1927906999_o

Moving on to more serious tasks, each team was also responsible for creating a PowerPoint presentation based on the Coca-Cola company. While this may sound easy, the job actually included multiple components. First, we had to work as a team. This means we had to maintain a tone of inclusiveness, and make certain compromises. Anyone (aka everyone) who’s ever worked on a group project knows how tough group projects can be. Second, we had to avoid the standard bullet points slide, which went against what most of us have been taught. Third, we had to sift through 30-40 pages of research before we could start. We had one hour.

To our surprise, we were the only team that finished by the 5 o’ clock deadline. This also meant we were first up to deliver our presentation. We did well overall, and received feedback from our coaches, as well as everyone else. Areas for improvement included more eye contact, less repetition, and the use of statistical information. Our strengths included effective graphics, clear speaking voices, and organized teamwork. Personally, this activity opened my eyes to the importance of creating a narrative—to tie all the slides together rather than regard each slide as separate from the rest.

In the scope of the big picture, day two was tiring in part because of all the computer work. And it’s different than doing work for school at Scripps because we only have those eight hours at work to finish the day’s tasks. There’s no time to procrastinate or defer the work to the next day. Later on, some of us did end up completing unfinished work back in our residence halls, but this was neither recommended nor practiced very often. This is because we were too tired by the end of the day, and knew falling behind would only make the next day harder on ourselves.

On a lighter note, my favorite part of the day was working effectively as a team. This may sound obvious, but working with other people is much more complicated than working alone. The fact that we pulled it off and also enjoyed ourselves was quite fulfilling. Back at the residence halls, we all got together to play Cards of Humanity– a silly way to end a tiring, but productive day.

Now that you’ve heard a little bit more about the Fullbridge Program, what do you think so far? Does it sound like something that would pique your interest? What would you like to hear more about? Ask away.

Fullbridge Program Day 1: The Marshmallow Challenge

Posted on by
Reply

On the first day of Fullbridge, two other students and I met up at Scripps to carpool with Vicki Klopsch, Executive Director of Scripps’ CP&R. After arriving at Occidental, we settled into one of the on-campus residence halls, where we took turns lugging our suitcases up three flights of stairs (there was no elevator). I was really glad I hadn’t packed too much!

After a quick tour of Oxy’s campus, we convened at the school’s main dining hall for lunch. I enjoyed the food, and got the chance to try out a different kind of dining hall experience. Unlike Scripps, Oxy charges per item or dish. I only spent about $10 a day, on average. It was fun living on another campus for a short while, to notice the differences and similarities over the next two weeks.

After lunch, we moved to the work room and found out who our teammates would be for the remainder of the course. There were about 20 students total, six from Scripps. We were divided up into four teams of five in order to ensure diversity– that is, co-ed, multi-ethnic/racial students of varying grade levels and majors. My group, Team Podemos, included Arikai, Jon, Tsering, Bianca, and myself. Here’s a pic of us below:

We worked on various activities that day, both individually and within our groups. The most memorable was a group activity called the Marshmallow Challenge. Our goal was to build the tallest standing structure, using 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of masking tape, one marshmallow, and one yard of string. The catch? The marshmallow has to be balanced on top of the entire structure. Of the five of us, only Arikai had prior experience with this challenge. It’s funny to think about how much time we spent planning, given that Arikai told us the point was to take action right away and experiment with test trials. This was shown to yield the most success. In other words, try, try, and try again. We ended up coming in at third place, at somewhere around 11-15 inches tall. It was a pretty fun game, even if we didn’t win. And if anything– I realize now how heavy one marshmallow weighs! Looks can be deceiving:

The first day’s introduction affirmed my expectations for the program’s goals, in terms of structure and learning material. I was glad to be working with other people my age, because I think it’s pretty likely I’ll have to do so in whatever field I choose. Yet Fullbridge offers the unique opportunity to receive feedback from experienced business professionals, without the pressure that would accompany a real job.

That being said, the first day was not without its surprises. After eight hours of work, I found myself surprised at how glad I was to change into casual clothes. I actually quite enjoy dressing up, and had not realized until then how stiff and uncomfortable business attire can be. And this is coming from someone who wore flats, not heels. This experience, over the course of the program, made me realize the importance of considering the attire when it comes to different career paths. It’s unexpected occurrences like these that make one pause and think about the future.

So, what kind of job are you pursuing, and how important is attire to you? Are you someone who enjoys formal business wear or are you more on the casual side? Comment away. I’d love to hear your questions, so I can answer them in my next post.