Juniors and seniors in the Elon Business Fellows program saw firsthand the turbulence of America’s financial system when they visited the floor of the New York Stock Exchange last week as part of a school trip to New York City.
The Business Fellows program is for students with strong academic records and interest in a career in business, nonprofit organizations or government who plan to major in business administration, economics or accounting. Twenty-five applicants are accepted into the program each year.
In their senior year, teams of Business Fellows choose to manage a portfolio for the Elon Endowment or manage projects for local and regional organizations. The portfolio management team determines portfolio objectives (asset allocation, industry balance, and investment style) and selects stocks to meet those goals, consistently outperforming the S&P 500 Index.
The project management team undergoes formal training in project management and works on a variety of projects, with clients ranging from Elon University to local and regional businesses. This year’s group will be qualified to sit for the Certified Associate Project Management certification exam before graduation.
Elon senior Kyle McGrath said he noticed a bittersweet mood running through the crowd on the floor of the stock exchange. “They were so resilient standing in the shadow of the fallen Lehman Brothers Tower,” he said.
The students were advised to wait out the storm if they were already invested in the market; if not, to stay out of the market. Business Fellows also visited Madison Avenue to learn about advertising from professionals at Young & Rubicam, one of the nation’s top advertising firms.
“It was an interesting look at a different side of business,” said senior business fellow Stephen Stone. “With the Dow down 400 points I thought ‘here’s a great career option.’”
Students visited a variety of other firms including Bloomberg, Chelsea Piers, Credit Suisse, the membership office of the MET Museum and Pathfire. They enjoyed an alumni event sponsored by Thomson Reuters that was attended by several Elon alumni working in the city.
“We have studied everything about business at Elon, that’s what separates us from other business school graduates,” McGrath said.
Like other programs at Elon, the Business Fellows program provides students the kind of educational experiences that distinguish Elon as a model of student engagement.
– Article by Michaela Walker, program assistant in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business