Business Strategy Game

I am currently taking my senior seminar business class which is a class where we learn about business strategy. After learning all the aspects of strategy in business during the first half of the semester, we get to compete in the Business Strategy Game for the second half of the semester. The game is an online simulation of the global footwear industry. For the game, we are all divided up into teams, and each team runs their own company where we have to make all decisions for the company including shoe price, how many pairs of shoes to produce, marketing, including if we'll have celebrity endorsements, and if we want to build more factories. Basically, we are making all the same decisions that a real shoe company would make, and we are competing to be the top competitor in the industry with the other teams in our class. We compete on the what we achieve for our stock price, credit rating, image rating, return on equity, and earnings per share. Lately it's been getting really competitive, and my team has been steadily in the middle. We are learning how to play the game successfully, but we still have some improvements to make. During each class we have to give a short debrief of what happened to our company during that year of operations and why that happened. These debriefs are giving us lots of practice giving professional presentations to the board of directors (which is really the other students in the class). Even though this game is taking up a lot of my time, especially as competition becomes more intense, I am learning a lot about running a real global company. And even though it's a simulation and not a real company, I am gaining some really valuable business experience and I'm excited to see the final results of our company at the end of the semester!

Spring Break!

We just had spring break here at MSU! This is the time of year where students usually head out to somewhere warm like Florida or Mexico, or spend the entire time at the mountain, getting in as much skiing in as they can. I however, took the time to visit as many friends as I could. I started out my break by flying to Madison, WI to visit my friends from freshmen year who I never get to see. I love going back there to hang out with my friends and to be able enjoy all the different things Madison has to offer. My couple days spent there are always really fun, but it always makes me realize that Bozeman is the right place for me, and I'm glad I made the decision to transfer home to Montana. After coming back from Madison, I spent St. Patricks day in Billings visiting all my friends there. I love St. Patty's Day! We ate corned beef and cabbage and were entirely decked out in green from head to toe. We also had the opportunity to see the Clintons in concert again. I've seen them in concert many times now, but each concert is a new and exciting experience! After Billings, I was back in Bozeman for a day where we had some really nice spring weather. Then I headed out again, this time to Missoula. My best friend goes to school there, so I went to visit her for a weekend. My spring break was a hectic week of lots of traveling, but I was able to visit all my favorite people! Now I'm back to school work again, but there is only 5 more weeks until summer!

"Almost" Spring Career Fair

Today I attended the "Almost" Spring Career Fair in the Ballrooms of the Strand Union Building (SUB). It was an event organized by MSU Career Services and Student Employment. The career fair is an event that happens twice a year, every year, on-campus in the SUB. The career fair we had last fall had over 180 companies recruiting MSU students! While the "Almost" Spring career fair is not as large of an event as the fall one, there was still over 100 companies here recruiting students from all majors. 100 companies is pretty big considering this is only the fourth year MSU has hosted a spring career fair! I feel really lucky that so many different companies continue to keep coming back to recruit MSU students, and that more and more companies are coming each year. The number of opportunities that are available for MSU students after graduation is amazing! Career Services is a great resource for students with help getting on-campus jobs while in school, searching for internships and careers for after graduation, and by hosting workshops that aid in professional development. A few services they offer are mock interviews and resume critiques. I have had lots of experience working with Career Services while a student in the College of Business. Business students work very closely with Career Services because career/professional development is an important aspect of our business education. Learning about professional development and the tools that prepare you for finding a career are not just for business students; students all over campus can go there. It is a great way to prepare yourself for finding the perfect opportunity, whether it is a job, an internship or the perfect career, during college or for after graduation!

Study Abroad!

Today I attended a study abroad information session at the Office of International Programs in Culbertson Hall. I plan to study abroad during the spring semester of 2010 which will be the last semester before I graduate. The info. session gave me all the general information about studying abroad including the different programs (semester/year long, summer, internships, and working abroad), the application process and due dates, classes and credits transferring, and how much it costs. I would be able to study abroad while still paying MSU tuition! It's an awesome deal to be able to study in a different country at the same price it costs me to stay here! This is definitely not an opportunity I would be able to take advangtage of after I graduate. I now have a much better understanding of the steps I need to take to make my dream of studying abroad happen. Now all I have to do is pick which country I want to go to. The MSU study abroad program offers 250 study abroad programs in 50 different countries. As of right now, I am deciding between going to Ireland, England, Greece, Australia, or Italy. There are just so many options, I will have to research them more, and then pick where I want to go. The Study Abroad resource center and the resources online have lots of information about the different programs and countries to help me make my decision. I feel very lucky that I have this opportunity available to me at such a low cost, and that MSU has so many options to choose from! I'm really getting excited about my upcoming travels abroad and the amazing experience that I know I will have!

Seattle Road Trip

Last weekend for President's Day Weekend, I went on a road trip to Seattle with my dad and sister. I just so happened to not have any classes on Friday, and so along with the Monday I got off for the holiday, we randomly decided to pack up and drive over to Seattle to visit my other sister. It was a quick trip with a really long drive, but it was really nice to get out of town for the long weekend. After leaving Bozeman Thursday afternoon and arriving in Seattle 12 hours later at midnight, the first stop was Dick's Drive-In. This little local-favorite greasy hamburger joint is open until 3 am and is one of my favorite places to eat in Seattle so we had to make it our first stop that night. The next day, my sister and I spent the entire day at IKEA, a Swedish home furnishings store. I bought some furniture to decorate my college apartment for cheap! The rest of the trip was spent hanging out with some friends and shopping in both downtown Seattle and smaller neighborhoods such as Fremont and Queen Anne. It was a really nice little trip and a great way to spend my four day weekend. I am happy to be back in the swing of things here in Bozeman, but I'm excited to see which destination I will decide to visit at the spur of the moment next!

I Love Moonlight Basin!

Last weekend, I finally got to go skiing for the first time this season! I went up to Moonlight Basin which is my favorite ski resort in the area. It is located just a little ways past Big Sky Resort, on a different side of the mountain. Together the trails at Big Sky and Moonlight Basin make up "The biggest skiing in America." Moonlight has only been open for 5 years, and I really like it because it never seems as busy as Big Sky Resort or Bridger Bowl. It's also a pretty good deal, it only costs $45 for a full-day lift ticket, with a student id. There are bridges and tunnels to ski over and under which is always fun! I am definitely not a very good skier, but I skied very well the other day, considering it was the first time this season for me. Now all I want to do is go skiing and get better before the season is over. I really do need to step it up for the rest of the season and get more skiing in before springtime arrives. And with the warm, sunny weather we have been having in Bozeman the last couple days, I think spring is definitely on the way!

http://www.moonlightbasin.com/site/index.html

February Already!

I can't believe how fast this semester has been flying by so far! The last couple of weeks have been such a whirlwind. On top of the homework I have had, I have been super busy with a lot of extracurricular activities that I'm involved in. For the Management club, we had our first meeting of the semester last week, and we already have so many ideas planned for this semester. Some of the ideas include a couple different community service activities and a campus-wide Pop Culture Tournament! Last week, I also updated our bulletin board for the club with pictures, a meeting schedule, and the updated officers list. I'm really looking forward to the events planned for the club this semester.

Also, last Friday, I helped with the MSU Friday event for prospective students. We were expecting over 700 high school students to visit campus that day so there was a lot of preparation involved in that. For the event I gave a tour and answered lots of questions for prospective students and their parents. The participants and parents involved in MSU Friday got the opportunity to tour campus and many different facilities (including the Museum of the Rockies!), talk to current MSU students, attend sample classes, and hear all about the different majors offered and the residence halls. Overall, the event was very successful and I was glad I got to be apart of it. The next MSU Friday is going to be held on April 3rd and I'm sure we will be expecting another big crowd!

This weekend was also busy for me. I gave another tour Saturday morning to a large group of high school students visiting Bozeman for the weekend, and I spent the afternoon in the library getting caught up on some homework. I was very happy to be able to get all my homework done before the Super Bowl on Sunday! I actually watched the game this year even though I didn't really care who won. However, I did pick the Cardinals to win just to make it fun, and I thought it ended up being a really exciting game. I was a bit disappointed in the commercials this year ... oh well, there is always next year. So after the weekend flew by, it is now a new week with a new batch of activities and homework to get done. It's been a busy semester, but I'm having tons of fun and wouldn't want it any other way!