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Aggielife
The Battalion
Page 3A * Thursday, September 25, 2003
Mission: Possible
Freshman Business Initiative helps students form bonds with fellow Aggies
By Julie Ahmad
6 ring the battalion
led from pagelA B g onsu a sen j or accounting major, fell sick with
i made for each type, pneumonia his freshman year, he had to spend a week in the hospi-
students will be
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|al. Because Bonsu was new to Texas A&M, he was not expecting
}. candidate at A&.\l “My Freshman Business Initiative mentors showed up with all
n good standing with kinds of gifts and it really made my week,” Bonsu said. “The best
Students earning amt part of being in the FBI is the mentors.”
For the past three years, the Freshman Business Initiative has
gible to submit theird 'provided Mays Business School freshmen the opportunity to partic-
e they qualify forgni ipate in a learning community that fosters successful transition into
the University and the business school. The student-developed and
student-run organization is also a registered class with a curriculum
and grades. FBI was established in Fall 2(XX) by 20 honors-pro-
gram freshmen who wanted to address the issues faced by other
freshmen at the University.
Sally Mullins, a junior marketing major and program participant,
said one of the main purposes of FBI is to help incoming freshmen
cope with the difficulties of college life.
“You come in as a freshman, and you’re overwhelmed,” Mullins
said. “FBI helped us get a better perception of A&M and the busi
ness school.”
Student body president and founding member Matt Josefy said
FBI had a humble beginning.
“The FBI started on sticky notes,” said Josefy, a senior account
ing major. “We wrote all the problems that freshmen faced on sticky
notes, put them on the chalkboard, and asked each other what we
could do to solve some of them.”
Dr. Martha Loudder, an accounting professor and FBI’s faculty
adviser, said the students collaborated to develop a business plan, a
funding proposal, a curriculum and a class. After a semester of
preparation, FBI was launched with one clear purpose.
"Our objective is to ease the transition from high school to col-
;e and increase the retention rate,” Loudder said. “We look at
everything and ask the question, ‘does this give a small school feel
to a large university?’ Finding the solutions to this question is our
mission.”
The FBI curriculum, which can be taken for two credit hours as
a business elective, includes weekly presentations, workshops and
small group discussions on business education, such as resume writ
ing and business ethics; general education, such as time manage
ment and good study skills; and social adjustment, such as interper
sonal relations and business etiquette. The FBI combines substan
tive education with interactive social training.
"We try to include fun things that involve learning,” Loudder
said. “For example, we have an etiquette dinner at Pebble Creek
Country Club and we have a professional trainer to show students
proper dining etiquette.”
Loudder said that for every 10 freshmen participants, the FBI
program provides two student mentors and a faculty adviser.
“The more contact with upperclassmen and faculty, the more
likely it is that a student will succeed,” Josfey said. “The organiza
tion is about personal connection and how to develop relationships
Joshua Hobson • THE BATTALION
Senior accounting majors Katie Bailey (left), director of mentor development and Sarah McMaster, developer of curriculum, work on a comment box before
the weekly FBI meeting in Wehner 136 Monday evening.-
with peers and faculty.”
Joe Medina, a senior accounting major and one of the FBI
founders, said FBI helped him develop into the person he is today.
“When I came to A&M I was so shy,” Medina said. “ I had a real
ly hard time, but you wouldn’t know that now. In FBI, bonds are
definitely formed.”
Medina said steps are taken to make sure that mentors fulfill their
duties as desired.
“We offer the mentors two options. They can use the experience
as three credit business elective hours or they can chose to take a
$500 stipend for their efforts,” Medina said. “The rationale behind
this is to have a form of regulation. If they don’t meet the required
expectations,we can lower their grade or reduce their stipend.
Fortunately we have never had to use this option.”
Letters about FBI are sent to incoming freshmen after they are
admitted to the business school encouraging them to register for the
program. Since there are only a limited number of spaces, students
are randomly selected from the pool of registered students. The ran
dom selection process was established to provide all students an
equal opportunity to participate.
“We didn’t want FBI to be exclusive toward honors students, we
wanted to reach as many freshmen as possible,” Josefy said.
The FBI program started with 100 student spots in 2000.
“Within four minutes, all the spots were taken and 250 people
were on the waiting list,” Josefy said.
The popularity of the program has led to a rapid expansion, dou
bling the number of participants to 200. Loudder anticipates further
expansion.
“We hope to expand to meet the demand of all the students who
want to be in FBI,” Loudder said. “It all depends on how much fund
ing we have, if there are enough students to b6 mentors, enough >;
classrooms and enough faculty advisers.”
Falling short of mentors, however, is ah unlikely problem for^
FBI. Katie Bailey, a senior management major and FBI board mem
ber, said that more than 25 percent of freshman participants apply to
be mentors the following year.
“All the people who put FBI together shared a passion for help
ing other people,” Josefy said. “The greatest evidence of the success
of the program is the number of students who want to come back
and be a mentor.”
ief
during trie fall and spring semes-
>ity riolidays and exam periods) si
40. POSTMASTER: Send aidless
1X 77843-1111.
niveisity in trie Division ofStnieit
id McDonald Building. Newsmom
http://www.triebattalion.nei
ementbyThe Battalion. Foi®
tising, call 845-0569. Adveitisiif
ay through Friday. Fax: 845-26/1
udenttopick up a single^if
0 per school year, $30 foitte fall
ly Visa, MasterCard, Discovei,«
Law Enforcement Career Fair
Over thirty Federal, State, and Local Agencies
will be participating,
Tuesday, September 30th
10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER
Hosted by: The Future Aggie Law Enforcement Officers
For more information visit http://faleo.tamu.edu
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