I've learned that a BIG love in my life is education. Working with students to help them build businesses of all sizes and in all industries, unearthing their talent fundamentals and work culture requirements keeps me creative and learning. If I am able to help businesses grow, add some value, find promising talent and also help them learn through their corporate and individual mentorship? Gold! In essence, I’m ‘the connector’ and with good matches comes great prosperity for everyone. I’m lucky to be able to do the work I get to do every day.
On Friday September 6th, our generous partners at SAS Institute Canada and their Academic wing were kind enough to host 48 students, 46 partners and a few staff from Ivey. The students played an analytics simulation game (CORTEX) which was developed by SAS and our friends at HEC Montreal. The students enjoyed the game. Some even got really competitive, coming back to the game throughout the day. Learn more about CORTEX here!
The main purpose of the event was to showcase the Ivey MSc Business Analytics cohort and all their accomplishments, challenges and realizations over the course of the summer. Each student presented a poster about their internship, outlining what they learned technically, how they grew as individuals and what they were able to contribute to their host company. The results were fantastic and there was such great feedback from partners about how the students impacted the host team, or how it sparked empathy for learning from supervisors.
In the area of analytics, if you are not a life-long learner, you are likely not going to be very successful, so it’s surprising (in a very good way) to see how my love of learning translates so seamlessly into this field of study. It also helps me connect authentically with potential supervisors who will treat students well, give them meaty tasks to chew on and mentor them without coddling OR taking advantage of them. It’s a very fine line, but one that is deeply important to me when cultivating new partners.
I’m grateful to our partner companies for mentoring our students for summer 2019 and look forward to new opportunities for the future with those who took time out of their busy schedule to attend. Without your support, mentorship and commitment to education, the students would not be able to flourish in the same way. Experiential and Work-Integrated Learning is an important tenant of growth that I believe in deeply. I know how impactful internships have been for our students this year, allowing them to pinpoint their strengths while reflecting on what sort of work culture, balance and life they’d like to build for themselves in the future. Can't wait to see what is next! If you think you or someone you know might be interested in becoming a partner, check out this link.
Special thanks to Lindsay Hart, Mark Morreale, Christina Ma and the whole team from SAS (technical, marketing, catering, events/organization), Sarah Goldie, Eric Simard, Taylor Cook, Gabe Ramos, Larysa Gamula, Greg Zaric from Ivey, the folks from Coach Canada, Robinson Show Services and Mercury Blueprinting who contributed to the events of the day.