In October 2008, several of us prepared for a road trip to upstate New York and things just got silly, but that’s a story for another time. Our first destination was Ithaca, NY to meet the MBA students of the Johnson School at Cornell University. We attended a fundraiser that the Cornell Net Impact Chapter was hosting and had the opportunity to meet and interact with many MBA students from Cornell. It was a great opportunity to discuss the VP debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden televised that night, the depressing state of the economy, and the awesome Los Angeles Dodgers with our colleagues at Cornell. I was also able to see a friend who I interned with over the summer, so it was great!
The next day we caravanned with some of the Cornell MBA’s to NuCor Steel in Auburn, NY. I was excited to visit NuCor Steel to tour their steel mill. After a brief introduction with Ted Jeske, NuCor Auburn’s Sales & Shipping Manager, we received a tour of the steel manufacturing plant and it definitely did not disappoint. We were able to witness the process of recycling metal scraps from automobiles into steel products. The process in which they melted the metal scraps into steel was definitely a sight to see, although not quite like the steel mill in Terminator 2! We then proceeded to have a great lunch with the department managers and the general manager of NuCor Auburn, who were very receptive to the questions we had for them. After lunch, we discussed NuCor’s culture of environmental stewardship and their innovative approach to employee-management. It was educational and reassuring to learn about NuCor’s responsible practices to promote sustainable cultural and business practices. I had a great time on this trip and I hope to be able to participate in future events organized by the exemplary officers of Net Impact.
– Hyung Kil, hxk253@psu.edu
MBA Class of 2009
Hyung received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine in Economics. Prior to attending the Smeal College of Business at Penn State, Hyung ran a small business and was an operations supervisor at a 3PL. Hyung is concentrating in Supply Chain Management and Marketing.