Allison Van Houten

NJ-->CO-->SD-->WI-->Iceland-->Spain-->Ann Arbor

Every year in September, I ask the same question: "Where did the summer go?!" I just landed back in Ann Arbor yesterday and couldn't be more excited to be back at Ross as an "MBA2" (strange to say that...)  Interning full-time during the summer made me really appreciate how awesome Ross is and how much I've missed everyone here.

That said, I had a great 12-week brand management internship at SC Johnson in Racine, WI this summer, working on the Glade Plug-Ins brand.  I worked on three challenging projects (strategic, analytical and creative - all current business challenges at the company) and also had the opportunity to attend weekly training sessions and mentoring meetings with senior management.  I learned a ton at SCJ and felt as though the combination of my first-year knowledge from Ross plus my brand management training enabled me to create final projects that exceeded my personal expectations.  Feel free to email me at alvh@umich.edu if you are interested in learning more about brand management internships or my experience at SCJ.

In addition to my internship, I had the opportunity to travel and catch up with friends and family after the MBA1 whirlwind year.  I started by spending time with my family and friends in NJ and NYC in May, followed by a quick trip to the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave and the Badlands in Colorado and South Dakota with my sister.  Post-internship in August, I led an MTrek to Iceland with three of my friends from Ross, where we hiked 50K from Landmannalaugar to Porsmork and bonded in Reykjavic with 11 incoming MBA1s (who I can now call my friends - it's an awesome experience, and I highly recommend attending and/or leading an MTrek when you come here).  After Iceland, we met up with other friends from Ross to travel throughout Spain - Barcelona, Valencia (for the Tomatina festival...ask me first before you decide to go...), and Madrid.  After spending a few more days back in NJ with my family, I'm now back in Ann Arbor with a seemingly endless to-do list for clubs and classes that I'm more than excited to get started on.

Sunset over the Badlands in South Dakota

Lindsay and I at Rocky Mountain National Park

"Ice Ice Baby" MTrek 2010

Trekking through Icelandic rivers

Barcelona

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

It's nice to now be able to customize my class schedule outside of the core curriculum.  In the Fall, I'm taking New Venture Creation, Valuation, Advanced Competitive Analysis and The World Economy to build on my other interests outside of Marketing.  I'm also involved in several leadership positions in clubs, including VP of Case Competitions for the Marketing Club and Career Couseling through the Office of Career Development (OCD).  These committments, combined with attending conferences and events through other clubs (i.e. Net Impact, Zell Lurie Institute, Triathalon Club, Michigan Business Women, Wine Club, etc.) will help accomplish my second-year goals of learning material "outside of my comfort zone," continuing to meet classmates with eclectic interests, and helping MBA1s navigate their first year experience at Ross.

So, what's on the agenda for this week?  Picking up course packets for the first day of class on Tuesday, getting a much needed haircut, making calls to organize the Marketing Club case competition, volunteering at the Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI) for first-year students, attending Career Counselor training, going to the Eminem/Jay-Z concert on Friday, and heading to the Big House on Saturday for the first home game agains UCONN.  All in a week's work of a "typical" Ross MBA.

 

 

 

Greetings from Rwanda!

Greetings from Rwanda!

As I mentioned in my last post, I was lucky enough to be able to spend five weeks in Kigali, Rwanda for my MAP project.  Over the past four weeks, my team of four (Regan Fox, Eric Kobe, Greg Thorne and myself) has been working with a Kigali-based company that sells solar-powered lanterns, which also function as cell phone chargers.

The team (myself, Eric, Regan and Greg) at the Hotel des Milles Collines (a.k.a. Hotel Rwanda) 

Our main goal is to develop a rural growth strategy that provides distribution and consumer financing recommendations to make the lantern more accessible and affordable to consumers in rural Rwanda without electricity.  In order to do so, we have conducted three consumer focus groups in rural Rwanda to assess electricity and cell phone usage, as well as willingness-to-pay and additional sentiments about the lantern.  We have also brainstormed and met with numerous microfinance institutions, NGOs, and other organizations to determine optimal financing and payment plans that will allow Rwanda’s poorest consumers to light their homes with an alternative to kerosene lamps.   Our team also interviewed employees of the company to conduct a cost analysis to determine the optimal price and breakeven volumes for various distribution and financing models.  Our final presentation in Kigali was two days ago, soon to be followed by another presentation in Ann Arbor in two weeks.  We’ll also finish up the project with a formal paper describing our findings.

The solar-powered lantern in use at Akagera National Park. 

MAP has been a fantastic experience for me on several levels: collaborating on a project that impacts the triple bottom line (social, environmental, economic), living and working in a country I’ve never explored before, and applying the knowledge that I’ve learned as an MBA1 to challenges that I didn’t encounter during my past work experience.

I can’t ignore the fact that working in Rwanda has also provided an awesome opportunity to travel around the country during our weekends here.  Since arriving, we’ve:

• Been surrounded by 20 gorillas from the Susa group in the Virunga Mountains at Volcanoes National Park

Silverback and other mountain gorillas in the Susa group at Volcanoes National Park. 

More gorillas in the Susa group. 

• Tracked chimpanzees and colobus monkeys while hiking past four waterfalls in the rainforest at Nyungwe National Park

Chimpanzees in Nyungwe Rainforest.

Vervet monkey on the roof of our guest house in Nyungwe. 

Hiking down a waterfall.

• Went on safari and camped in Akagera National Park, where we saw giraffes, hippos, zebras, buffalo, vervet monkeys, warthogs, impala, and olive baboons

Giraffes and I at Akagera National Park 

Hippo!

Impala  

Zebras 

• Relaxed on the beach at Lake Kivu before feasting on whole charcoal-grilled tilapia for dinner while watching Intore dancers

 The Team at Lake Kivu

Sunset on Lake Kivu

  Awesome breakfast at Paradis Malahide, our hotel

• Reflected in the remembrance gardens and museum at the Kigali Genocide Memorial

View of Kigali from the Memorial 

• Interviewed members of the Sorwathe tea factory cooperative and residents of the Kayonza district in the Eastern Province

Gorgeous view of rural Rwanda on the way to Sorwathe tea factory 

The Team at Sorwathe tea factory

Focus group participants in Kayonza  

We return to Ann Arbor this upcoming Friday, where I’ll finish up my last two weeks as an MBA1.  It’s almost unreal how fast this year flew by!  As always, feel free to contact me with any questions at alvh@umich.edu.

 P.S. For the incoming MBAs that I missed at GBR this past weekend – looking forward to seeing you in September!  Also, don’t forget to sign up for the “Ice Ice Baby” M-Trek :)

We Won!

On February 20, I had the opportunity to represent Ross at the UNC Marketing Case Challenge, where 48 participants from 19 business schools competed to create a social media and mobile strategy for Darden Restaurants (who owns Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Capital Grille and Seasons 52).  In only six hours, my team of Jasmine Fontaine from UNC (Kenan-Flagler), Marimer Moldonado from Indiana (Kelley), and Jamaica Wood from Virginia (Darden), read a case, brainstormed solutions, and created a presentation that we proposed to the Darden marketing team and UNC professors.  After two rounds of presentations, our strategy won 1st place!  It was an incredible experience working with teammates from different schools.  As the newly elected VP of Case Competitions for the Ross Marketing Club (with Courtney Tomljanovic, also an MBA1), I hope to bring more case competitions to Ross next year as well.

My team - "Bahamaritas" - and our big check.

Participants in the judging room.

On an unrelated (and extremely belated) note, here's a photo of my team from the Leadership Crisis Challenge in January at Ross. Frank Lan, Julie Chang Creekmore, Kyle Smith and I were one of three teams that represented Section 1 to respond to a crisis situation (involving ethical and environmental issues) over the course of two days.

 Team Rainmaker at the Leadership Crisis Challenge in January.

Here's a video about the Leadership Crisis Challenge from last year (current MBA2s).

On an even more unrelated note, we're finishing up spring break right now.  I'm currently visiting my family in New Jersey for a few days after a trip to Grand Cayman.  One week from today, I will be leaving for Kigali, Rwanda, where I will be spending five weeks working with three other Ross students on our MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Project) for the Koinonia Foundation.  MAP kickoff begins on Monday, so more to come soon!  Feel free to contact me at alvh@umich.edu with any questions in the meantime.

Eric and I on Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman. 

Really blue water near Stingray City. 

The Three “Rs” of Ross Winter A: Recruiting, Recruiting, and….RWANDA!

14 interviews. 2 weeks.  That’s one of the reasons why “Recruiting” deserves two of the three “Rs” in my cheesy post title.  While it may sound a bit overwhelming, it’s nice to have had the opportunity to interview for so many brand management internships at top consumer packaged goods companies, thanks to the Office of Career Services’ (OCD) relationships with these organizations.  I won’t bore you with all of the details of the January internship recruiting process right now, but feel free to shoot me an email (alvh@umich.edu) if you’re interested in learning more.  I’m fortunate to have netted out of the process with a few offers and will be deciding my summer plans within a few days. 

Interview waiting room in Kresge Library (Photo Credit: Asaf Hochman)

The third “R” involves my destination for MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Project) during Winter B – 5 weeks in RWANDA!  I will be working with a team of three other Ross MBA1s on a business plan for solar-powered generators with a non-profit organization based in Michigan and a Rwandan telecommunications company.  Our client has already reached out to us a few times, and we’ll most likely be leaving for Rwanda in mid-March.  More details to follow, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to post some of my own photos of Silverback Gorillas in a month or so.

Kigali, Rwanda

Silverback Gorilla (Photo Credit: National Geographic)

In addition to recruiting and Rwanda, I also went to the Ross Winter Formal at the Hyatt in Dearborn two weeks ago, which most MBAs formally refer to as “Prom.”  

Courtney, Steven and I at my house before Prom.

Laura, Rohini, Anita, and Eshanthi at Prom (Photo Credit: Rotem Yossef)

I also had the opportunity to act in Follies, Ross’s annual sketch comedy show (and one of the biggest events of the year) that features both video and live performances from students, faculty, and staff.  This year’s theme was “The End of the Rossession,” and over 500 people came out for the performance during our second night.  I had an amazing time and would definitely recommend participating  - it’s a well-deserved break from recruiting, plus you meet some great new people.

 
Follies opening number (Photo Credit: Eyal Itskovich)

Me, Eshanthi, and Jake at Follies (We're also leading an MTrek to Iceland together!) Photo Credit: Eyal Itskovich

On the academic front, there are two more weeks of classes left.  Our core classes this term are Operations and Managerial Accounting, and I’m also taking a spreadsheet modeling class (proven to be extremely helpful thus far, especially since I haven’t “lived” in Excel like many of my classmates had in the workforce!)  

 

Countdown to Spring Break (Grand Cayman, followed by New Jersey): 16 days.

Stingray City, Grand Cayman (Photo Credit: dolphinworld.org)

Wow - that went fast.

I can't believe that my second quarter as a Ross MBA1 is almost over.  I just looked at the date of my last post, which oddly seems as though it was yesterday despite the fact that the date reads "September."  My sincere apologies for the lag - my New Year's resolution is to update this more regularly and keep you all posted on my amazing experiences here at Ross.  As I finish up the term with finals (my core Finance exam is tomorrow, then Marketing on Friday!), I wanted to reflect on some of the opportunities and experiences that Ross has offered me during the past quarter:

1) A Wealth of Consumer Packaged Goods Marketing Recruiting Opportunities
A significant amount of my time has been spent recruiting for my future career as a CPG brand manager.  Ross has a number of amazing companies that recruit on campus, many of which I had the opportunity to experience in-person during on-site visits with the Marketing Club.  I attended several "Day-In-The-Life" visits and weekend trips where I experienced the unique cultures of Clorox (at the West Coast Forum over Fall break), P&G, S.C. Johnson, Kraft, Sara Lee, Wrigley, MillerCoors, and Pepsi. Internship interviews begin in January - wish me luck!  If you are interested in exploring additional career information, check out the Office of Career Development (OCD) website.

On the plane to S.C. Johnson in Racine, WI.

2) Case Competitions: A New Challenge
I had the opportunity to compete in the 2009 Abbott Marketing Case Competition, which was an awesome educational experience outside of the classroom.  My team (friends from my section - Kyle, Dane, Frank and Jon) developed a marketing strategy for one of Abbott's products, which was selected as one of the finalists!  We had the opportunity to present our solution in front of Abbott and Ross professors, which was a great opportunity to practice "selling through" our solution in a real-world environment. In addition, I was recently selected to represent Ross at the UNC Marketing Case Challenge in February, where students from different business schools team up to tackle a marketing challenge for one of the sponsors, which include Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Target, and more.  In addition, I will also be competing in the Ross Leadership Initiative's "Leadership Crisis Challenge," where my team will represent our section by presenting a solution to a weekend-long crisis case situation in January.  Looking forward to it!

 Jake outside of Ross - he will also be competing in the Leadership Crisis Challenge.

3) The Core Curriculum Continues, Plus One Elective
My core classes of Finance, Marketing, and Management & Organizations challenged me to think critically about cash flows, "The Big Picture" (a renowned marketing framework developed by Professor Christie Nordhielm), and successful leadership models. In addition, I had the opportunity to take an elective called "Strategic Brand Management" with Rajeev Batra, an accomplished expert on brand strategy.  I'm excited for our core Operations and Managerial Accounting core classes next term, as well as my World Economy and Decision Support with Spreadsheets electives.

4) It's not ALL work...
During the past month, I played "Whirlyball" (a combination of bumper cars, basketball, and lacrosse) for the first time and sang karaoke with one of my favorite statistics professors, Professor Ahn.  These events, combined with eating out in downtown Ann Arbor, going out with friends, and attending a "cookie decorating break" sponsored by the Michigan Business Women, provide a welcome break from studying for finals.

Chris singing karaoke with Prof. Ahn

Please feel free to contact me at alvh@umich.edu with any questions.  Have a fantastic holiday, and Happy New Year!  Best, Allison

My First Weeks at Ross: The Great Balancing Act Begins

I’ve been told that the key to success in business school is time management.  After my first two weeks of class here at Ross, I’m still in the process of “getting in the groove.”  My apologies for the delay since my last post!

My MBA1 classmates and I hit the ground running ever since I returned from my MTrek to the Philippines.  The past few weeks have been non-stop, full of bonding with my section during the Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI) and MBA Games, beginning the core academic curriculum, attending club meetings (there are over 60!), and finding time to squeeze in some football at the Big House and social events sponsored by the Ross Student Association.

Here’s a snapshot of my life over the past three weeks – more to follow in the near future!

The Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI) Foundation Session (8/27 – 9/3)
The RLI Foundation Session succeeded in accomplishing its goals “to help create community among the class, to stimulate discussion of important leadership issues of the day, and to enhance leadership skills in the areas of teamwork, communication, and innovation.” Over the course of six days, our six sections bonded together with teambuilding games, a creativity challenge with actors from the Chicago comedy troupe, Second City, and interactive sessions surrounding leading with integrity, leveraging diversity, and assessing our personal leadership styles.  We concluded the Foundation Session with a day of community service at six different locations around Detroit, where my section created a community garden, demolished a garage, and painted rooms at the Matrix Human Services community center.

Creating a community garden at Matrix Human Services on 9/3. (Photo courtesy of Divya Parambi)
 

Shout Off! And MBA Games (9/10 and 9/11)
Section pride came out in full force at the Shout Off! cheer competition, where each section competed against each other to create the most creative original cheer.  This set the tone for MBA Games the next day, where we competed in volleyball, soccer, basketball, Connect Four, bocce, obstacle course, flag football, softball, tug-of-war, relay races, and more for the title of MBA Games champions.

 

Section 1 cheering at the Shout Off! on 9/10 (Photo courtesy of Rotem Yossef)

Ultimate frisbee at the MBA Games on 9/11. (Photo courtesy of Rotem Yossef)

The Academic Experience
 During my first two weeks of Accounting, Statistics, Microeconomics and Corporate Strategy, I was immediately impressed with the caliber of my professors, the rigor of the curriculum, and the insight that my fellow classmates contributed to the classroom learning environment and our small group discussions.  The professors do an incredible job of teaching core business concepts with real-world business examples and cases that we actively discuss in class.  I’m looking forward to learning more in the weeks to come – more to follow shortly.

Clubs
 In addition to academics, I’m in the process of narrowing down my club participation list (with about 64 to choose from, it’s a tough task!)  Since my goal is to grow both professionally and personally through my club involvement, I’m pursuing a mix of both professional and “fun” clubs including Marketing Club, Net Impact, Michigan Business Women, Triathlon Club, the CEOhs a capella group (still have to audition!), Clubs are yet one more way to become involved in the Ross community, assume a leadership role, and pursue passions outside of the classroom.  More to come once I become more involved with these organizations.

Football
The spirit behind Michigan football transcends any other sporting event I’ve ever experienced.  The past two Saturdays have been home games (against Western Michigan and Notre Dame – both wins!) full of tailgating and camaraderie in Section 32 (the MBA student section.) More to come on the games – GO BLUE!

The Big House after the Notre Dame victory on 9/12.

Bahala Na - The Way of the Philippines

“Bahala Na,” a phrase in the Filipino dialect of Tagalog, roughly translates to “whatever happens will happen.”  That’s the laidback attitude 17 fellow Ross MBA students and I adopted during our 10-day expedition to Manila and Palawan on our M-Trek to the Philippines (8/15 – 8/25).  It was one of the most amazing trips of my life – this blog entry will hardly do justice to the vibrancy of the Filipino culture, the camaraderie of our M-Trek group (some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met), and the incredible effort that our four MBA2 trek leaders put in to organizing the culture-rich itinerary and ensuring a seamless, stress-free experience for all of us.  I couldn’t have kicked off my Ross MBA experience a better way!

I’ll briefly cover some of our adventures below and with some photos; however, this will barely scratch the surface of what I’d like to share with you.  I hope you have the opportunity to experience M-Trek first-hand – it’s a program unique to Ross, offering an unforgettable bonding experience that will stick with you during your time at business school and beyond.  Feel free to email me with any questions at alvh@umich.edu - I’d love to tell you more!

Where We Went: We started and ended in the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and then spent the majority of our time exploring the islands of Palawan between Busuanga and El Nido.

What We Did:  The 18 trekkers lived, ate, and slept on the Aurora and Milan Grace boats - our homes during our Palawan adventure.  Led by our rugged and fearless leaders from Tao Expeditions - ZaZa and Ollie - we experienced the local cultures and sites of Coron, Banana Island, Cagdanao, Ditaytayan, Kulaylayan, Coral Beach, Daracoton, Miniloc Island, Cadlao Island, El Nido, Puerto Princesa (and more) while interacting with local villagers, sleeping on the beach, and engaging in some unforgettable activities.

Activities: My first SCUBA dive (to a boat sunk after WW2); Snorkeling (saw a school of squid!); Dancing with the village children of Daracoton; Trekking through hidden caves and the jungle; Eating sea urchin fresh from the sea; Swimming through gorgeous lagoons; Admiring limestone rock formations; Waking up to the sunrise every morning; Bioluminescence in the night waters; Philippine sunsets; Bonfires; Buying fish and squid from local villages and then eating it for lunch; Tinikling (traditional Filipino dance with two bamboo sticks); City tour of Manila; Unbelievable "last night" dinner at our trek leader Aileen's home; much more.

Food: We ate phenomenally. Anne, the cook on our boat, prepared many traditional Filipino dishes including pancit (noodle dish with fish or meat), biko (brown sugar sticky rice), halo halo (traditional frozen dessert with fruit and beans), traditional Filipino brakfast (garlic rice, eggs, dried fish, and vinegar), fish and seafood including jackfish, grouper, calamari, shoefish, octopus adobo and more, banana blossom salad, bananas, mangos, bingka (white fluffy bread), soups, ceviche, etc.

Other Highlights: Kindness of the Filipino people; Having the opportunity to experience multiple facets of the Philippine culture; Spending time with 17 amazing classmates.

Trekkers on Tuk-Tuks outside of Coron

Coconut welcome on the island of Daracoton

Villagers harvesting kelp to use as raw material for plastic

  One of our many sunset hikes

 My favorite sunrise

Rock formations on the way to El Nido

Waiting for breakfast on the beach

Week 1 in Ann Arbor!

Thanks for following my blog, and welcome to the Ross community!  I'm excited to share my experience as a first-year MBA student with you and am happy to answer any questions during your application and decision process.  Feel free to comment on my posts or email me at alvh@umich.edu anytime!

I just arrived in Ann Arbor one week ago on August 4th, so here goes my first blog entry.  

A Hodgepodge "To-Do" List
The first week has been a mix of settling into my new "digs" after the 11-hour drive out from New Jersey, buying a laptop (thankfully, at steep student discounts through the U-M Computer Showcase), getting my MCard (our student ID), and meeting incoming MBA1s (all really awesome people from around the U.S. and all over the world) during the day at Ross and at happy hours around Ann Arbor.  

My fellow classmates and I found out our academic Sections for the Core Curriculum yesterday - there are 6 sections (I'm in Section 1) of about 70-80 students each that take all of their foundational core coursework together during the first year.  I forget the feeling of having 8 a.m. Monday classes - looks like I'll remember soon enough when I start Accounting in a few weeks!  I'm also taking Business Statistics, Corporate Strategy, and Microeconomics at the same time.  While we don't start classes until September 8, I'm looking forward to beginning the Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI) on August 27 - more to come on that later.

Our house in Ann Arbor - I live with four other amazing housemates whom I met at the Ross accepted students events in New York.

Dad and I outside Ross after the drive from NJ.

Exploring the Outdoors
A few of the other MBA1s and I have also been trying to savor the beautiful summer weather here in Ann Arbor.  I've been running some trails in Nichols Arboretum, which offers some really great paths along the Huron River.  I'm also hoping to explore other outdoor spots in Michigan before school begins.  To start, some friends and I also took a trip to the lake at Kensington Park (about 30 miles outside of Ann Arbor) a few days ago.

On my run in Nichols Arboretum.

Off to the Philippines
On a related note, I'll soon explore the outdoors outside of Ann Arbor on an MTrek to the Philippines with 15 other MBA1s and 4 MBA2 trip leaders!  We'll be living on a boat and in villages for 10 days, exploring beautiful limestone beaches, hiking through pristine islands, snorkeling, and interacting with the local community.  Here's an overview of my agenda if you're interested - I'll definitely post about the experience once I get back.

Thanks for sticking with me thus far!  I'll be back with more in late August after my MTrek.  Please feel free to send me any questions in the meantime.