In my previous posts I’ve talked quite a bit about the academic and professional (aka job search) demands of the program, but not much about what there is to do within the Fuqua community outside of class. The MMS Association (MMSA) and our professional and leisure clubs provide a great opportunity for us to unwind and enjoy one another’s company. Getting involved with clubs is also a great way to network and gain leadership skills and experience.

The club creation process is fairly straight forward: put together a brief proposal, find enough interested and committed members, submit these details to the MMSA, which is our student government, and you have yourself a club.

Two clubs in which I am active are Women in Business (WIB) and The MMS Dance Club. WIB provides a supportive environment in which women in the MMS program can mentor and guide one another through the academic and professional aspects of the program, using a variety of activities including talks and collaborations with other associations and professional clubs within Fuqua and the broader Duke community. The dance club is just a fun way for me to unwind and get a great workout. One of the activities I’m looking forward to this term is a Hula lesson from a Hawaiian student in the program (who also happens to be one of my roommates 🙂 ).

Additionally, as a student of color, an important part of my undergraduate experience was my membership within the various associations that celebrated diversity on our campus (including the African Student’s Association and The Black Student Union). In addition to benefitting from the broad Princeton community, it gave me the opportunity to promote and discuss issues relevant to students of color. Considering that the MMS program is only 3 years old, this was something that it didn’t have. The other students of color and I felt it was important to truly reflect the diversity within the program hence we decided to found the MMS Black Students Association (BSA). In addition to promoting the professional and academic development of students of color we hope to encourage diversity program-wide, and we also hope it will be only the first of many such organizations created by MMSers.

I’ll keep you posted on interesting things we do throughout the year!