Holi -- Fuqua Style!

During the MMS program, I’ve been exposed to different cultures, since many of my classmates are international. Recently, some of my friends from India included me in one of their traditional celebrations. Being teammates with Siddharth Singh, and living right next to fellow blogger Anu Kumar and Pallavi Somani, I could not believe that I had not yet been to one of their interesting and exotic Hindu events. It was long overdue. So my first Hindu experience was Holi — the Festival of Colors, but Fuqua Style! As far as I know, Holi is one of the major Hindu holidays, celebrated on the Full Moon Day in the month of Phalgun, which is March. It might be celebrated in different fashions across the country, but the spirit is similar — to celebrate spring, harvests, and happiness.

Our Holi event was organized by Fuqua MBA students and promoted on Facebook. Sid warned me that by the end of Holi I would be a giant, colorful mess, so I was mentally prepared. But still, I was a little concerned when I saw Maryam Mazhar and Nur Karatoprak covering themselves with oil, and Tim Smith and Ty Multhaup filling up water balloons.

After the celebration of happiness.

After a little tasting of Indian food, the Holi event started with festive music at Levine Science Research Center (LSRC) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. In a surprisingly short time everyone was covered in colorful powder — violets, greens, magentas, blues, and more. Everyone was having fun dyeing each other from head to toe, shooting water guns and throwing water balloons. If anyone, even people you don’t know, threw colored powder at you, you were just supposed to say “thank you” — it’s a celebration! Embrace it!

MMS Super Bowl party, with plenty of TVs.

My classmate Zach gave me a high-five when I walked into the Satisfaction restaurant, saying “I am proud of you!” He was actually referring to the fact that I’d be watching the Super Bowl for the first time.

I was so glad that the MMS Sports Club organized the Super Bowl party for us. It was a great opportunity for me to have the chance to experience the enthusiasm for American football with my friends and classmates.

I enjoyed learning about American football from my classmates.

The game started and my friends kept explaining the rules to me. “Eventually it boils down to catching the ball and running to the M zone.” Okay, it wasn’t that bad. And everyone shouting and gasping actually helped me catch the rhythm of the game.

After Beyonce’s amazing performance came the blackout. So the night did not turn out exactly as I had expected, and the San Francisco 49ers didn’t make a miracle comeback after the blackout as their fans hoped. However, I had a great time hanging out with friends in a nice cozy restaurant. The free time was a precious 3 hours between school assignments and job applications. And I believe this Super Bowl is the first of many to come for me.

Since the first day of the MMS program, I have been meeting with Kitty regularly to improve my English language skills. Kitty has been very nice and helpful, and she helps me not only with my English, but also networking with alumni and MBA students. Kitty is an incredible person and a valuable asset to all international Fuqua students. To gain a better understanding of her responsibilities and daily work, I conducted an interview with her:

Kitty Dalton, ESL Specialist with the Management Communication Center

Tell me a little about yourself.

My position at Fuqua is ESL Specialist. To the best of my knowledge, this kind of language support is rarely seen in top tier business schools in the United States. I believe this shows how supportive the school is and it speaks to how multinational we are. Fuqua truly cares about everyone.

I work with international students one-on-one to support their English language communication skills. I am also available to talk to students about any problems they are experiencing, in confidence, and can make a referral. Examples of my services include practicing mock interviews in person and over the phone, reviewing business communications (e.g. thank you notes, cover letters and resumes), and working on pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary. Part of my job is also to make students comfortable making conversation or “small talk,” which is an important skill for American-style networking. For all these services, I provide students with lots of feedback — there’s really no better way to improve than by finding out the mistakes you are making. Students invariably say, “I said that!?”

Sounds really helpful! So what is the biggest challenge that you encounter as the ESL Specialist at Fuqua?

The MMS program is an intense 10 months — students always say how fast the time goes by. So even though I would like to be able to spend even more time with the MMSers, we can still accomplish a lot. I offer one-on-one meetings one or more times per week, usually for 30 minutes. Even though our time is short, I truly enjoy working with students from all over the world and helping them succeed.

So what is your general advice to students to improve their English language skills?

Meeting with me is a great place to start because most English language learners don’t necessarily know what areas they need to improve. I can make a quick assessment and develop a plan for future improvement. Students also need to practice as much as possible, which sometimes means getting outside their “comfort zone.” But there are other techniques that are fairly simple: speaking aloud in English softly at home or in your car (this is called covert rehearsal), reading aloud to improve fluency, watching movies in English (with or without captions) or listening to broadcasts that you truly enjoy — research shows that if you do this at bedtime, you will actually “learn” while you sleep! Research also shows that you must be exposed to a new word 7 times before you remember it. So to extend your vocabulary, the more reading you can do in English, the better.

What is the most common service you provide to international MMS students?

Probably mock interview practice is the most common, and is something that students can quickly improve through practice. We can practice typical questions like, “Walk me through your resume” and “Why should we hire you?” and more complicated behavioral questions such as, “Tell me about a project you managed from beginning to end,” or “Tell me about a time that you persuaded others to your point of view.” And as always, I give students lots of feedback afterwards.

How can international MMS students access your services?

I send out a signup email at the beginning of each term for students who would like a “fixed” meeting at the same time each week. I also provide a list of available appointments for the upcoming week for students who want to meet on an occasional basis. I also have office hours and students can drop by my office. Finally, I’m available in the Fox Center for walk-up meetings once a week. If these times are still not convenient, students can contact me and I’ll try to accommodate their schedule.

In the MMS program, I worked with one team of classmates during the first 2 terms, and then was assigned to a new team for the rest of the year. During the Team Changeover Day, after meeting my new teammates, we all participated in a basketball themed team building experience. We went to the nearby Emily K. Center where the gym floor is THE floor from the 2001 NCAA men’s basketball championship, and we were literally coached by former Duke basketball players! The coaches ran us through various physical exercises that are important in the game, but also connect to bigger team skills. There was a lesson involved with every activity. First, we shared the glory of the Blue Devil basketball team by listening to their amazing stories about how the team made their way to the 2001 championship, and how teamwork was an important factor. Then, the best part of the day was when we stepped onto the basketball court and were divided into five sections.

Waiting for my turn to shoot.

We took turns practicing different basketball techniques. More importantly, we learned to build a team as a “fist.” The five fingers in the fist, as identified by Coach K, are communication, care, collective responsibility, trust and pride. During the day, each activity we went through related to the fist:

Communication – Passing the ball is a two-person job

“Arian!” ”Teck!” ”Cathy!” I was calling out my teammates names while I passed the ball to them. Passing the ball and catching it was not difficult at all, but even the most simple communications at the same time surprisingly helped us to connect. Everyday, Fuqua encourages students to talk more frequently, and MMS even has two Business Communication courses in just 10 months. Here at Fuqua, I learn how to exchange ideas and thoughts effectively in every possible way.

There was the occasional fumble, but it was ok!

Care – Take good care of the ball

Our task is to take care of the ball in our hands. As an inexperienced basketball player, I admit that I struggled to carry the basketball in various ways. But that was okay. Few students were very good at it, but every one of us tried our very best. Only when everyone carried the ball carefully can a team of five players control the ball but not lose any opportunity. Likewise, to successfully build a high performance team, everyone has to commit to the team and the assignments we have.

Collective responsibility – “I love defense!”

Honestly, we sounded a bit nuts as we yelled, “I love defense!” louder and louder. Defense was not the most fancy part of basketball, but it is significantly important. In any team, there are shooters as well as good defense players; in any winning team, shooters and defense players collaborate well together. In many occasions Fuqua advocates that a well-collaborated team of average individuals always outperforms a team of uncooperative experts. That’s why teamwork is a huge part of Fuqua culture, which I found extremely valuable and beneficial.

Trust – Trust my teammate will rebound and score

Rebound, a set of techniques designed to break heavy defense, was my favorite skill. Though there was actually no one near me, I did rebound like I was facing defensive players. However, the point is not to rebound and score by myself, but to pass the ball to my teammates and have faith that they will also do a very good job. The coach explained to us that believing in our teammates is as important as self-confidence, because trust is actually the foundation of an outstanding functional team.

Pride – Shooting is what matters

I wrapped up my Duke basketball experience that morning by shooting. Yes, after all, scoring is what matters in a game. I had a great time practicing and scored a few times. As a team member, when I have the chance to “shoot,” I should not have doubt, should not hesitate, but take the responsibility and do my best.

The Team Changeover Day was a good start of the second Fall Term. And now I have a Duke basketball jersey hanging in my closet, reminding me to be part of a “fist” with communication, care, collective responsibility, trust and pride. I love Fuqua, and I love Team Fuqua even more!

See more photos on the MMS Facebook page.

But I was not entirely sure about running for this position at the very beginning. It was 11:40 pm, 20 minutes before the sign up deadline. I sat in front of my laptop and began figuring out the pros and cons of being a vice president of the Marketing Club. On one hand, I was driven to take a leadership role and make a difference. On the other hand, I was concerned with my overwhelming schedule. Time was ticking, but I still could not make up my mind and send out the sign up email. However, at the last minute, I remembered the most important thing — my passion for marketing, writing and communications. My passion gave me confidence and cleared my doubts. And at exactly midnight I pressed the “send” button and everything turned out great.

From my perspective, the most impressive aspect of being a vice president is that I get to decide what the marketing club can do for the members. For example, we choose the contents and format of the weekly marketing newsletter that’s sent out to all club members. We have tried our best to make it informative, interesting, as well as reader-friendly. In our newsletters, we review one or two major news items, present the upcoming marketing events and announce on-campus application deadlines in an organized way. In addition, in the “News Feed” section we share with the readers something remarkable in the marketing industry.

We are also responsible for holding marketing events such as corporate lunches. By far, our most successfully arranged lunches were with the Link Group (read more about it) and the Agile Marketing Group. These events helped us understand more about the companies and various functions in the industry.

Before all these club events, I actively participated in many marketing events at Fuqua. I considered these events wonderful networking and learning opportunities. The most inspiring one was the Marketing Intensive Day. In this daylong session, I listened to Fuqua MBA alumni sharing their personal and professional experiences in the marketing industry. Since the speakers are currently working in this industry, their cases and elaborations were most updated and insightful. The event provided me with comprehensive knowledge as well as a deeper understanding of marketing.

Fuqua keeps pushing every one of us to find our passion, and I believe I have found mine in marketing. And I am so glad that I nailed the chance to knit my passion into my daily life at Fuqua, and have the opportunity to strengthen my marketing and leadership skills.

I spent 5 full days in the Language Institute, honing my English skills. Classes and tutorial sessions were held from 8:00 a.m. until noon and then again from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

It was far more than an English program, though. It was a taste of real life at Fuqua.

The institute provided me with the chance to warm up for the summer term and everything else that would come with the MMS program. We had individual assignments, team meetings, presentations, and networking events. It was intensive as well as practical. For example, I formed a good habit of meeting regularly with Kitty Dalton, the ESL teacher at Fuqua. We worked on my spoken English, written English, resume, cover letter, and even how to write emails properly in the U.S. These one-on-one meetings with Kitty are extremely helpful and effective.

The institute was also a great place to network with MBA students from all over the world. I am amazed that the friendships I built during those 5 days are so strong, and I think they will last for a long time. It was great to meet some of my new MMS classmates and MBA colleagues in such a small-group setting.

It did not take long for me to realize that the work load during the institute was like hors d’oeuvres compared with what has come since then. Although it takes much more than a week’s efforts to improve my language skills, the institute was definitely a help and an interesting kick-off to the school year.