Happy Halloween from Jack Skellington!

NAWMBA update

After a day full of flying on Thursday, 9 of us first years arrived in Anaheim with no incidents. We piled into a taxi van and went straight to the Disneyland hotel, which has to be one of the greatest places to have a conference…Mickeys in the carpet!? Love it! It’s like the wink to where we are even when we are in conference rooms. We checked in really quick and got ready for the various receptions.

First we headed to the IU reception and it was really nice, very intimate and a great spread. We got the chance to chat with Maggy Siegel, the COO of Dylan’s Candy Bar and a Kelley alum. We also we are able to meet some really nice girls from University of Utah.

Then it was off to the kick-off reception. They had many of the planning committee members speak. It was a nice time but we were all exhausted. We talked with some students for Kansas and then headed back to our room to hit the sack, we are on EST still!

This morning we all got up super early, 4:30, and couldn’t go back to sleep. After trying to rest for about an hour and half we went down to the gym, before getting into our suits and hitting the sessions. We had a great student breakfast where the CMO from Meredith publishing spoke. Then I headed to the Campbell’s presentation before catching Maggy’s and a sample of Dylan’s newest candy which will be unvailed next week! It was delicious! Then it was lunch on the patio, a requirement when in So Cal, before I hit the career fair.

I am trying to recharge my batteries a little and get some school work done before we hit the park and the reception they are having there later.

Career fair in action! Not as many companies as we were hoping for but we were able to get some face time with a few. Lots of handhakes and card exchanging. And I met a really cool entrepreneur that started the marketeersclub.com that specializes in free online tools for marketers in brand management. Good times at NAWMBA

Getting my networking on, watch out NAWMBA here I come!

Yesterday was a marathon day, 8 full hours of class with only a 30 minute break for lunch. I am glad I got everything in so I didn’t miss any of my classes when I head to the airport today but it was a doozy! I am so glad I don’t have the Blue cohort because I don’t think I would be able to get home at 6 every day, all that productive study time after class is gone! I am so much more of a morning person anyway.

So lots of class, dinner, a run and packing like a fiend for the Women’s Conference and an informational interview, just a normal Weds in the Core!

Another day, another day full of tasks and meetings. Got through a triple session of Management/Econ tag team and scarfed down my lunch while a team mate and I worked on some polishing of our team Operations paper. Then it was downstairs for the lounge for an informational interview with a second year, before I did some Quant homework and met with the GA to work on my portion of the team assignment. Then the logistics meeting for the Women’s Conference. Then finally at 6:30 got home for the day, made dinner then sent emails, posted my resume to GCS and did a little more homework. And now that it is 11:20, I am not really getting to bed early. Where did the day go?!

So yesterday was our first experience registering for classes. It was surprisingly painless after I got over the fact that I would not get the pricing class I had been eying as it was going to be given to all the second years. Did a little emailing during class and my friend and I were able to find a replacement and I seem to have a pretty good schedule for the next semester:

• Strategic Cost Analysis and Control
• Applied Marketing Research
• Marketing Performance and Productivity Analysis
• Brand Asset Management
• Supply Chain Management & Technologies
• Introduction into Spreadsheet Modeling
• Power, Persuasion, Influence & Negotiation
• KIP Israel
• Academy Intensive Week 2

Looks pretty good so far, ask me an May and I will tell you how it goes!