On Thursday, April 7^th, the Smeal WMBA held a Welcome Reception for all the female admitted students at the Atherton Hotel.  This event provided the potential ladies of the Class of 2013 to get better acquainted with current students, administration, and alumni and also to learn more about the day to day life of an MBA.  WMBA President, Sylvia Shank opened the evening with welcoming remarks and a brief overview of the benefits of becoming a member of the WMBA.  Also, the admitted students were introduced to both current and past WMBA board members.  After Sylvia’s welcome, we all had the opportunity to get to know one another better while enjoying delicious cake and beverages.

     The remainder of the evening was devoted to conversations about all aspects of the Smeal experience ranging from football tailgates to daily workload to Global Immersion experiences.  We all had a chance to learn from each other and to talk about our past experiences and future expectations.  Finally, PSU prizes were awarded to the winners of a raffle.  All in all, the WMBA Visitation Reception provided the new students with a glimpse into what life will be like during their time at Smeal.  The Class of 2012 WMBA members are very excited to welcome the new Class of 2013 and we look forward to getting to know each other better next year.

On Saturday night, April 23^rd, the Minority MBA Association hit the alleys at Northland Bowl to send off the second years, and to celebrate the new executive board.  Laughter filled the air as friends recounted fun memories from the past year.  The Class of 2012 wishes the graduating second years the best of luck in all future endeavors, and we look forward to making new memories with the incoming class!

Students from the US probably had experience of pumpkin carving, however, for most of the international students, it’s a whole new experience.

One week before Halloween, Women MBA Association hosted one pumpkin carving session at Krithiga’s home. It’s a great opportunity to find how creative people are! Originally from China, I don’t know anything about pumpkin carving, neither do I know the tools or designs for carving the pumpkin! With everyone holding a small saw in hand, we started the first step– make a creative cap. The saw was very efficient and easy to control, much better than a sharp knife. After finishing the cap, we tried to clean up the inside. It’s a messy job, haha, but look at how people do this kind of job is a lot of fun.

I knew only one kind of pumpkin design, the classic happy faces. When Marcela brought the design book, I got a big problem because I don’t know which one should be on my pumpkin and how well I could carve it. Fortunately, we all selected different designs. We had classic pumpkin face, cat, naughty face, and a lot of amazing designs. To make a better performance, we put candles inside our work. On the moment of shutting down all the lights, all the girls cheered! It was amazing.

Besides pumpkin carving, we also enjoyed some cakes, apple cider, and toasted pumpkin seeds. It’s a satisfaction both for eyes and for tongue.

-Yao Wang
Originally from China, Yao joined Smeal in 2006. Prior to MBA, She was a marketer for SNICKERS chocolate bar in China. Her concentration is marketing and corporate finance.

One of the things that initially attracted me to the Smeal MBA program was the wide array of associations that existed within the school. Before the start of school I had read a little bit online about each of the organizations and was looking forward to getting involved as early as possible. Luckily, the program held an association night early in the semester where first year students could go and learn more about all of the MBA associations. It was a great opportunity to meet with the leaders of the different organizations and see what sparked your interest.

The only negative was that I left association night interested in more organizations than my schedule can accommodate…

–Andy Duffett
Before coming back to Smeal, Andy was an analyst at Merrill Lynch, in New York City. At Smeal, he plans on concentrating on Finance and Entrepreneurship.