Harbus

Issue date: 2/12/07 Section: Service Immersion New Orleans

Media Credit: Courtesy of HBS Service Immersion Trek Leslie Feinzaig poses with Dillard University students after a career coaching session.

In the Fall of 2006, Kirsten Hassert (OC), Leslie Feinzaig (OF) and Helen Trapp (NB) decided to team up with silo leaders Jean-Philippe Odunlami (OA) and Jeff Shaddix (NH) to work with Dillard University. This marks the second year that HBS students have partnered with Dillard University, one of the oldest institutions in the network of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The entire campus was flooded after Katrina for three long weeks, wiping out the entire IT and electrical infrastructure, making every single building unusable and resulting in damages worth several times the school's small $40m endowment. In spite of this major challenge, Dillard had been able to survive, hosting the 900 returning students (out of 2,500) in a downtown hotel and conducting classes there for a year. So when the HBS team arrived, although the students were back on campus, the university was still recovering from Katrina. Very few of the buildings were back in shape, many of the professors were teaching five or six classes per day due to staff cuts and a general feeling of uncertainty lingered over the campus.

Armed with plenty of work experience to share, some strategic ideas and lots of enthusiasm, the HBS team conducted an intense weeklong session focused on career development. Given that few companies were coming back to recruit-and that the Career Services office was down to a single person-Jeff, Helen, Leslie, Kirsten and JP felt that focusing on career development would have the most impact, for their 10 days in New Orleans and beyond. Furthermore, the HBS students had the precious help of NC Partner and HBS Career Services professional Elizabeth Benson, who wanted to share her CS experience and resources with Dillard. Additionally, the silo teamed up with Dillard alumna and JPMorgan banker Tiffany Singleton, who saw the work of the HBS team as an opportunity to prepare and select students for much-needed summer internships. In short, it would be a win-win situation for everyone.

Once on campus, the HBS students quickly realized that their neatly designed plan would need to be adjusted to the realities of the local environment, which ranged from communication issues (limited internet access) to scheduling constraints (final exams the following week). Undeterred, the team made 25+ classroom presentations in a day and a half, plastered the campus with flyers and met individually with professors and administrators. Their hard work was quickly matched by the enthusiasm and warmth of everyone at the University, from staff to students. One professor's comment describes the general reaction well: "This is a great program! The students really need it and have asked for something like this, we just didn't have the resources".

Continued...

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