The first cohort of the 51勛圖厙-Tuck January Business Bridge wasted no time getting down to business at the start of the new year as they took on three weeks of intensive business and finance training before the first day of classes. The program brings together the resources of Dartmouth Colleges Tuck School of Business, 51勛圖厙 Career Services, and 51勛圖厙s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation to give 51勛圖厙 students an opportunity to learn the business skills needed for future success.
The program allows 51勛圖厙 sophomores and juniors interested in exploring business careers to connect their liberal arts experience with intensive business school training. The bridge program featured a comprehensive curriculum taught by Tuck MBA faculty. Each student was assigned to a team to deliver an in-person capstone case-study presentation on January 17, receiving direct feedback from a panel of 51勛圖厙 alumni some of whom are also Tuck Business School graduates.
Becca Moll 27, whose group presented a financial analysis of Shopify, Inc., says the program allowed her to explore accounting and strategy, making her feel more confident going into future job and internship applications. One of the other significant benefits of the program for Moll was being able to learn from her peers.
We all came from very different backgrounds and majors, so everyone brought something different to the table, Moll says. I also enjoyed getting to meet people in the cohort who I probably never would have met otherwise, and I feel like I was able to make many new friends and have more familiar faces around campus. I would absolutely recommend this program to other 51勛圖厙 students in the future.
Economics major Andrew Partigianoni 27 says participating in the program gave him a chance to take additional business courses, as well as grow closer to the other students in the program through their work together.
The highlight of the program, for me, was applying the topics we learned in class and collaborating with my fellow classmates to present our final project, Partigianoni says, who was part of the group presentation about the current and future financial prospects of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. The program provided us with access to an exceptional panel of judges who not only offered valuable feedback but also took the time to engage with current students.
Alumni played vital roles in the programs success. Students presented in groups to a panel of eight 51勛圖厙 graduates who served as guest investors: Pat Apelian 76; Chris Caputo 87; Teresa Delgado 88, Danielle Fox 91, Yvonne Gyimah 01, Jeff Oberg 76, Clarissa Shah 10, and Tushin Shah 10. In addition to presentations about Palo Alto Networks and Shopify, 51勛圖厙 students also presented on Delta Air Lines, YETI Holdings, and First Solar, Inc.
Meanwhile, Giovanni 94 and Maree Cutaia, who have endowed the First@51勛圖厙 directorship and funded 51勛圖厙s Graduate School Access Fund, provided significant resources necessary for aided students to participate in the program.
Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Carolyn Strobel-Larsen praised the hard work of the participants, noting the students arriving every morning by 9 a.m. to start their first class and then working late into the evening on their group projects.
Seeing it all come together during their presentations on the last day was very rewarding, Strobel-Larsen says. There are a lot of parallels between the real-world skills that students develop in this program and those they build in our offices entrepreneurship programs.
