The Goizueta Impact Continues…
One of the reasons I applied to Goizueta Business School was for its experiential offerings through the IMPACT360 program. During the spring semester of my first year, four of my classmates and I worked on a project with a local nonprofit whose mission is to accelerate Atlanta’s competitiveness for its residents and businesses. It was rewarding to work in a concerted effort with my peers and leaders within the Atlanta business community to deliver solutions that drove value for the organization. While applying to business schools, I hadn’t imagined that I would gain that level of exposure so quickly in my business school career.
Now, a year later, I find myself in a similarly fortunate position as I work with the Associate Dean of Full-Time MBA Programs at Goizueta, Brian Mitchell, and a classmate, Vannessa Sanchez Gonzales 21MBA, on another pro bono project for a nonprofit headquartered right here in Atlanta.
Whereas my spring 2020 IMPACT project focused on identifying ways for a local college to attract students and communicate its value proposition, this project is aimed at making a case for the use of data in nonprofits, specifically how the nonprofit in question should collect and use data to assess and communicate its performance to various stakeholders.
Through working on this project, I have once again been given access to various business leaders and am gaining more teamwork, research, and strategic problem-solving experience. Though Vannessa and I have not yet completed the project, it has been a very gratifying learning experience because this particular nonprofit has just begun thinking about ways in which it could use data to advance its impact and mission. We have been given much autonomy and have the chance to really drive change at the organization.
As someone who enjoys community service, I am grateful for the opportunity to have a lasting impact on the place I’ve called home for the past two years. I owe all of that to my professors and classmates, as well as the rigor, leadership, and critical thinking skills that this Goizueta education has afforded me. I could not think of a better way to end my time here.
