The Core of the CEO Network is its Leaders:

Building Business Leaders is an experiential learning seminar tailored to engage under-represented minority students early in their academic experience. Students are advised in a holistic manner from multiple points of contact which include upper class-men, faculty and professional role models. The seminars are designed as a series of modules that map to the development of first and second year college experience. Each seminar has enough independent content that students could start the series at any point.

Students who complete the BBL series will be able to:

1. Clearly articulate who they are and what they intend to accomplish with their college education.
2. Show how their academic and co-curricular experiences help them achieve their goals.
3. Identify the opportunities needed in order to help students accomplish their short and long term goals.

Stage I:  Who am I and What do I add?

These lessons ask students to think critically about their own personal development. Students evaluate their strengths and weaknesses reflecting on how their characteristics play out in the academic, personal and social arenas of their lives. The goal of the lessons is to give each student a framework for mapping their core values and interests onto what they would want to do with their lives.

 

Stage II:  What do I study to get to where I want to go?

These lessons ask students to explore the business disciplines and what they would be able to do with any one particular degree. Students start with writing goal statements for career interests. Then by exploring  job descriptions that interest them, they build four year academic plans to match the skills, knowledge and experiences they would need to pursue their interests. The goal of the lessons is to show students how there are many academic paths to pursue in order to reach their goals.

Stage III:  Transition from Student to Young Professional

These lessons guide students through a process to build their “sticky stories” into a one page “profile.” Students go to “practice” networking events to begin to develop confidence in engaging with professional role models.  Activities include rehearsing basic introductions (elevator pitches), and going to informational interviews with professional role models.

Stage IV:  Application of Education

These lessons guide students through a structured process of specific internship and job exploration. Students refine resumes, online profiles and business cards. Activities include informational interviews, job shadowing, practice interviewing, participating in professional organization networking events and informational lunch interviews for real internship/ full time career opportunities.

The Building Business Leaders Seminar is lead by Tayah Butler, the founder of the program and full-time adviser and leader to its students. Three to four “teaching assistants” join her in the seminars as role models and peer mentors to the participants. Junior and senior students also volunteer to mentor BBL participants. Mentors play a critical role in transitioning first and second year students to College of Business culture. Many “graduates” of BBL have continued on to fill executive leadership roles in LCB clubs that they were introduced to by their first year mentor.

To express interest in taking a Building Business Leaders Seminar email the Oregon Building Business Leaders Chair at oregonbbl@gmail.com- leave your name, home town and contact information!

Continue reading about opportunities for BBL students… or meet the students who have completed the series.