More than 20 College of Business Administration students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln traveled with students in other learning communities to Chicago October 1-3, to learn more about career opportunities in business. In all, 80 students made the trip, filling three charter buses.
 
UNL learning communities are comprised of groups of first-year students with shared academic interests who live together in the same residence hall. Two business learning communities (BLC) are oriented specifically to first-year business students. They are Business Leaders – Start Your Future which helps students build skills and knowledge needed to become future business and community leaders, and Business Around the World – Global Perspectives, which is designed for students interested in becoming business professionals with clients, contacts and interests around the globe.
 
Freshman Samantha Nair, a business administration major from Chicago, said, “The UNL Learning Communities provide a strong support system and the Business Leaders Learning Community helped me get involved on campus. I decided to go on this trip as I wanted to learn more about business opportunities and get to learn with friends.”
 
The business side of the trip kicked off with a career exploration activity where business students had the opportunity to visit Deloitte, one of the acclaimed Big Four accounting firms in downtown Chicago. Students met with a panel of employees, including alumni Lindsay Wietfeld ’04 and ’05, a tax senior manager, and Sarah Sirotkin ’13 and ’14, an audit senior assistant.
 
Megan Friesen, academic advisor and coordinator of the CBA Learning Communities, said, “For many of the students, it was their first time in a formal business setting. The panelists helped students learn more about Deloitte’s business model, career opportunities and how to be professionally prepared.”
 
The next stop on the tour was Wells Fargo, also in downtown Chicago, where students met with many employees, including CBA alumnus Nick Kepler ’04, director and senior relationship manager of Wells Fargo corporate banking.
 
“Students learned more about the banking industry, career opportunities and how to be most prepared for obtaining a career related to banking. We also had a personal tour, including seeing the original Wells Fargo stage coach,” Friesen said.
 
The final stop was Matter Chicago, an entrepreneur’s private work space, where students were introduced to the medical technology industry through the work of start-up companies. They also attended a show at The Second City, and visited Navy Pier and the Museum of Science and Industry.
  Published: October 23, 2015