The Smith Undergraduate Student Organization hosted Smith Business Week the week of Sept. 12 to introduce students to the offices the Smith school has to offer as well as provide students resources for their future career paths. The many events throughout the week included notable speakers, socials, and networking events.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Chairman and Senior Partner Robert Moritz spoke at the Smith School on September 14. Undergraduate and graduate students had the opportunity to listen to and engage in conversation with Moritz and other employees of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“I had a very exciting and helpful night… He gave us a very exciting speech about the economy and the international globalization and leadership,” said Huijie Zhang, a graduate student majoring in science and accounting.
Zhang, an international student, expressed interest in working with PwC or a similar company. “We had a networking dinner with recruiters and PwC employees, and we had very good discussions. They gave me a lot of help and helped me with my resume and taught me some skills of our leaders. It gave me a lot of confidence and resources that could help me to broaden my horizons,” Zhang said.
Lingzi Huang, another international student and graduate student of accounting, also responded positively to the event.
“I was very impressed by [the speech],” Huang said. “He told us things about IQ, EQ and CQ that we could really benefit from. After that, the networking was very helpful for us new students here. He let us know how to prepare for the next step.”
Huang and Zhang both agreed Business Week events motivated them in their career goals.
“It’s very helpful for older students…they [can] get some efficient information right after they graduate,” Huang said. “Having these events let us know something more, instead of just staying at home.”
Other Business Week events included visits from Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals, and Motley Fool, a financial services company.