As a third year Beedie School of Business student, Grace Yang has decorated her resume with several different experiences. However, the lines most recently added to her LinkedIn profile depict nine months where she made the most practical use of her classroom knowledge to date.
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It was January of this year when Yang received the call to head the organizing committee of Western Regional Conference (WRC) as its president. Held on October 5th to 8th in Richmond, BC, she was to lead a team of four in planning the event, which would host 160 delegates from across Western Canada. An annual weekend conference, Western Regional Conference is one of the marquee events for AIESEC, the world’s largest student-run organization which facilitates internships abroad. With an AIESEC chapter in almost every major university across Canada, WRC is an opportunity for members from different schools to interact with and learn from each other.
Yang’s involvement in SFU’s chapter of the student organization stems back to 2010. As a Beedie student, this most recent project was a chance to develop new skills and apply pertinent knowledge from the classroom with actual stakeholders involved and affected by her decisions. “WRC was a real-life setting where I could practice what I was learning in business courses. I also picked up different skills from learning how to budget, to negotiating hotel contracts, sticking to a strict timeline, and effectively asking for sponsorship. Ultimately, the greatest benefit was learning how to lead a team to work towards one uniform goal.”
Leading the team also meant working with four other SFU students: Natalie Lau, Stephen Yeh, Margarita Sanchez, and Vuitton Chan, who would handle WRC’s communications, finance, logistics, and sponsorship, respectively. “We were all accountable to one another, and I had to learn how to manage the team effectively so that we all worked cohesively and met our deadlines. Everyone brought something different to the table and it was a fun opportunity to learn from one another. As a result, I found myself doing things I had never been exposed to before.”
Yang credits this opportunity for allowing her to test the skills she plans to hone in the business world after graduation. “Take the leap and apply for that position you’ve been thinking about, even if it seems intimidating. These past nine months were the most stressful of my life but I also learned more than I ever did in the twenty years I’ve been alive.”
To learn more about AIESEC and opportunities to get involved, visit AISEC SFU.