mba student
Guest Blogger: Christian Ricks, MBA Association Director of Service

Being a Leader of Consequence is so much more than excelling in accounting or operations or communication. In and of themselves, those are just components or tools to be employed — they are building blocks that MBA and MMS students utilize to orchestrate activities that accomplish something meaningful.

One recent example included students from the Daytime, Cross Continent, Weekend Executive, and MMS programs coming together with faculty, staff, and family members. The MBA Association sponsored a special Fuqua Friday in which students volunteered their time to help Stop Hunger Now provide food for needy families around the globe. Our accounting, operations, and communication skills came in handy:

  • Accounting: 319 Fuquans came together to pack and seal 50,000 meals that will be available to send to impoverished families anywhere in the world that there’s a need.
  • Operations: Those 50,000 meals were packed in 65 minutes. That’s over 750 meals per minute. Fuquans organized themselves in assembly lines, shifted themselves around to address bottlenecks, and maximized throughput.
  • Communication: From social media and email to tabling and word-of-mouth, Fuquans reached out to anyone who would listen to raise over $12,500 to purchase the food involved in the event.
mba team
Fuqua’s Stop Hunger Now organizers.

First brought to the school three years ago by Professor John Graham, the Stop Hunger Now event has become an annual tradition. Each year the event has grown in popularity, starting with a little more than 200 volunteers. This year the event was scheduled to include the Cross Continent and Weekend Executive programs for the first time. By bringing together these programs, the event has grown to over 350 combined donors and volunteers.

This year’s event was masterfully organized by a committed and passionate group of Fuquans: Ayu Dewi, Elise Fullwood, and Katya Makovik from the Daytime MBA Program, and Professor John Graham. We also had a great cheerleader in Mary Beck White-Sutton from the Career Management Center. Everyone provided countless hours of preparation and organization as they recruited volunteers and carefully choreographed each part of the event, among the largest Stop Hunger Now events in the region.

“I honestly think this time was the best so far,” remarked Terrence Brown of Stop Hunger Now of Raleigh. He went on to observe how smooth and efficient the whole operation was, “Very nicely done.” The end result was nothing short of amazing.

At The Fuqua School of Business, we are as concerned about character as we are about ability. Whether it’s supporting Stop Hunger Now, building homes for Habitat for Humanity, or volunteering on local non-profit boards, Fuquans everywhere make it a part of who they are to come together and give back to our community in meaningful and consequential ways.

See more photos from the Stop Hunger Now event on Fuqua’s Facebook page. A few other highlights of the event from fellow Fuquans:

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