For many, the warm and fuzzy feeling of the holiday season comes through consuming gallons of hot cocoa, soft and cozy blankets and the company of friends and family. But the best and most rewarding part of the season can be found through service.
On Dec. 2, the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business Full-Time MBA students completed their first Annual Holiday Service Project.
This continues a legacy of service given by Eccles School graduate business students. For more than 15 years, the first week of the MBA program has included a service project at Camp Kostopulos, a camp for individuals with disabilities or special medical needs in Emigration Canyon. The Kostopulos Dream Foundation honored the MBA & MSIS programs on Nov. 29 with a Community Service Award for their commitment to service.
The MBA students felt that it was important to find even more opportunities to give back. Nick Fritz, a second-year MBA student focusing on social impact, rounded up fellow team leaders in the Masters of Business Student Association (MBSA) to lead groups of 15-30 students to various sites around Salt Lake County. Students, staff and professors joined in on the effort.
Instead of their typical business professional attire, participants donned red tees and jeans to put their business skills and elbow grease to work at the Utah Food Bank, Spice Kitchen Incubator and The Road Home. With inventory updated at the Road Home, donations sorted at the Utah Food Bank, and an interior facelift at the Spice Kitchen, students were able to see the impact of their service immediately.
“We felt it was important to give back to the community that is hosting us for our education” said Mackenzie Hales, Full-Time MBA student. “It’s also a great way for us to bond and apply some of the hard business skills that we’ve been learning.”
The evening ended with a small social hosted by a refugee participant in the incubator program at the Spice Kitchen and the burden of upcoming finals seemed a little lighter that evening. The MBA students plan to continue their efforts each semester to make this a biannual event.