HU Business Students Exposed to Industry Leaders

Hampton University had the great pleasure of having students, Jordyn Hawkins-Rippie, sophomore, business management major from Baltimore, MD and Alex Garner, junior business management major participate in the University of California Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders program.

SIEML is an all-expenses-paid, career-building fellowship for first year students from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs).

The overall objective of this program is to expose students from these institutions to various MBA programs offered through the University of California System. Participants in this program, spend two weeks over two consecutive summers learning from world-class educators at the University of California's graduate business schools.

Hawkins-Rippie and Garner met one-on-one with CEOs, CFOs and other industry leaders in some of the country's most thriving hubs for enterprise and innovation. The networking further complimented the dynamic workshops that immersed them in principles of business development and entrepreneurship, while also developing analytical, technical and management expertise.

“The most memorable experience overall is building great relationships with classmates from various universities throughout the country in my cohort,” Garner said. 

Hawkins-Rippie and Garner agreed that this experience furthered their knowledge of the business industry. Keeping in mind that Hampton was built on the standard of excellence helped to encourage the two even more throughout the tenure of the program.

Aside from the in-class experience, the two had the chance to have lunch with the CEO of Kaiser Permanente, Bernard Tyson. They also visited the Wells Fargo headquarters and other banks.

I highly encourage all freshmen to apply as soon as possible to this program because the network that you form amongst your peers and the connections you make with the companies are insurmountable said Hawkins-Rippie.

Rippie-Hawkins and Garner thanked the Hampton University business department for making this invaluable opportunity happen to for the two of them.

By Daisha Roberts