This past week, the Booth student body held elections for the next Graduate Business Council (GBC) Executive Board. The 6-person team works with the elected president and representative from each of our 10 cohorts to provide services, plan events, and represent the student body to the administration. The election was bittersweet for me as it meant my time as VP of Student Affairs on this year’s GBC Exec Board was coming to an end.
Exactly one year ago, I was in the same shoes running for a position on the exec board for GBC. Having been a software developer in my pre-Booth career, I did not have much leadership or management experience. Therefore, I figured that the opportunity to serve on the board for the entire student body would give me some invaluable experience. Not only do we plan some of the major events that everyone in the school gets involved with (such as Fall Frolics, Winter Formal, and Spring Fling), we also manage a $250,000 budget and allocate funding to the individual student groups. Additionally, we have regular programming throughout the year, such as LPFs, BoothStories, Booth Insights, and Ignite Booth, which help connect students with each other as well as with our award winning faculty. I was excited at the opportunity to take on so much responsibility.
Outside of GBC, there are many other leadership positions you can take on during your time at Booth. We have a plethora of business and professional groups; cultural, regional, religious, and personal affiliation groups; as well as sports and social groups. The great thing about Booth is that student groups are truly student led. It is up to each group to find corporate sponsors, plan events, and engage the student body. And every year, each student group looks for fresh-faced first years to lead the group to further success in the upcoming year.
All in all, I’ve been incredibly lucky for the amazing opportunity that Booth has given to me. While GBC exec board was a lot of work, I feel like I was really able to hone my leadership skills. For example, in public speaking when I led some of our weekly meetings; or project management when we organized large-scale events for the entire student body. I can easily see all of the skills coming in handy at my first job out of business school. Lastly, I want to wish congratulations to the winning slate of “Act for Booth” and the other two slates “ABC | GBC” and “Simplify” for participating in the election. It was exciting to see how many people want to be involved in student government and improving the Booth experience. I can’t wait to see what y’all do next year!
To read more coverage about our elections, click here.
