Wharton Stories

Finding Camaraderie by Finding City Hall

Image: Students explore Center City with the Philly Connection (Courtesy of the Wharton Undergraduate Division)
Wharton first-years helped pilot a new activity that familiarized them with Philadelphia and connected them to each other in a meaningful way.

Before classes began in August, nearly 100 Wharton students were already in Philadelphia, racing each other throughout Center City. They held envelopes with cryptic pictures, asking each other questions about their identities, histories, and things they were excited about in the upcoming school year.

They took the trolley, bus, and subway all around the city, ranging from iconic City Hall to one of the 4,300 murals across the City of Brotherly Love. All were either Joseph Wharton Scholar (JWS) or Successful Transition and Empowerment Program (STEP) students, and the majority were first-years.

They were participating in Philly Connections, an activity developed by Dr. Utsav Schurmans, Director of Research & Scholars Programs, and a team of Undergraduate Division staff members. It was piloted during New Student Orientation and focused on introducing new students to the city through an interactive scavenger hunt.

Ayaan Jeraj, a first-year from Vancouver, participated on his third day in Philly. He says it allowed him to strengthen his relationship with his STEP mentors.

“It’s a similar premise to the Amazing Race,” he explained and said the mentors “let us figure things out, and if we needed help, nudged us in the right direction.”

‘I wish I took advantage of the city more.’

Schurmans mentioned the program was created in response to interactions with older students.

“I’ve often done an exercise where I’m talking to seniors, and the thing that I’ve often heard is, ‘I wish I took advantage of the city more,’” he said.

Inspired by a Boston University program, Schurmans says the activity familiarizes students with how to use public transit and city landmarks but he also hopes the students continue to be curious about the city and enjoy collaboration as a method for meeting and connecting with others.

While Center City is only 20 minutes from Penn, and public transit is easily accessible, first-years often opt to stay on campus.

However, STEP and program mentor Jayla Hanson, a second-year from Alabama, explains how Philly Connections did precisely what it promised: “I know it’s easy to go meet up at a dining hall, but I was surprised by how much I actually got to know somebody through doing activities, like when we were taking the train.”

Ayaan reported that one of his favorite parts was when his mentors shared stories and advice based on their experiences with the locations. As they walked, his mentors explained how they liked to spend their time in the past few years enjoying the city.

Both Jayla and Ayaan mentioned their appreciation for mentorship through STEP, and Philly Connections allowed them to bond further with their STEP mentors and mentees through Philadelphia as a tool for connection. One of the first questions starts to build this relationship: “Describe the origin story of your name.”

“I was surprised by how much I actually got to know somebody through doing activities, like when we were taking the train,” —Jayla Hanson, W’27, C’27

Each team was a small group of 4-5 with an upper-level student mentor leading them. Within each envelope, a card contained information on their next stop, and together the group deciphered the clue.

The first stop for all was somewhere on campus, for example, the Penn Women’s Center. At this stop, the group answered questions to learn about each other’s backgrounds and interests. One of the first questions was: “What’s a celebration that’s meaningful to your culture?”

After finding a destination, groups took a photo before moving on to the next, riding one of the many public-transit options to downtown Philly on SEPTA, the region’s mass-transit system. Some took historic trolleys only steps from first-year dorms while others caught a bus at an on-campus stop. A goal of Philly Connections was to demystify and allow students to use efficient and cost-effective ways to travel to Center City.

After discovering two more locations downtown, the groups returned to campus to eat lunch together. Each team shared their distinct experience, and a slideshow displayed the group photos throughout the meal.

After the students began the school year, they reported applying this experience to their Penn one.

“I went shopping with one of my friends,” Jayla shared. “He was like, ‘Do you know how to use the bus system or subway? Because I don’t know.’ Like, yeah, actually, I do know how to use it.”

Philly Connections will continue at next year’s pre-orientation with JWS and STEP. Schurmans also plans to present it at a Penn conference this summer, offering the model and its infrastructure for campus partners to replicate.

As the weather has gotten colder, first-years may be more preoccupied with hanging out with friends on campus given the newness of everything, but Ayaan, the first-year from Vancouver, now recommends that they go to Reading Terminal Market, the Liberty Bell, and other Philadelphia landmarks when they have time. He mentions that Philly Connections was the first to show him one of the most important landmarks of his East Coast and Penn experience: “I saw my first Wawa!”

—Alex Zhou, W’25, C’25

Posted: February 4, 2025

Undergraduate Program

A group of students poses under a tree on Penn’s campus, surrounded by red brick pathways and historic brick buildings. They are smiling, casually dressed, and wearing name tags. The area is lush with greenery, and a pedestrian is walking in the distance.
Groups get to know each other during their first on-campus destinations. (Courtesy of the Wharton Undergraduate Division)
Six students sit inside a SEPTA trolley, smiling at the camera. The trolley has blue and beige seats, and red flooring
A group takes a SEPTA trolley to Center City. (Courtesy of the Wharton Undergraduate Division)
A group of eight students stands together for a photo in front of Philadelphia’s City Hall. The historic architecture, featuring intricate details and a clock tower topped by a statue of William Penn, serves as a grand backdrop.
After arriving in Center City, this group’s stop is near City Hall. (Courtesy of the Wharton Undergraduate Division)
Seven students pose in front of the Chinatown Friendship Gate in Philadelphia. The ornate, colorful archway with Chinese characters contrasts with the bustling street, filled with restaurants, shops, and signs in Chinese.
This group found themselves at the iconic Chinatown Friendship Gate.  (Courtesy of the Wharton Undergraduate Division)
A group of ten students stand in front of a vibrant mural in Philadelphia. The mural features intricate, colorful depictions of historical and scientific themes. The urban setting includes tall buildings, parked cars, and signage, capturing the city’s reputation as the “Mural Capital of the World.”
Philadelphia is known as the “Mural Capital of the World”—so it feels right that some groups went to find murals! (Courtesy of the Wharton Undergraduate Division)
Students pose in front of the red LOVE sculpture in Philadelphia’s Love Park. The bright red letters contrast with the background of tall buildings, greenery, and public seating areas..
A group poses for a photo in LOVE Park in Center City. (Courtesy of the Wharton Undergraduate Division)

Wharton Stories

Finding the Rhythm Behind Business Fundamentals

Image: Grace playing music on the Quad. Photo courtesy of Grace Gramins.
Grace Gramins, W’26, finds harmony between music production and business.

It seems these days that every college student wants to be a DJ and that we’ve lost a long-held appreciation of pure singing. However, on Penn’s campus, you can hear quiet humming while studying in Huntsman Hall and a raw voice belting for large crowds in the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. All you have to do is look for Grace Gramins.

It actually runs in the family for Grace. Her mother moved to New York City to audition for Broadway, and while doing so, she worked on Wall Street. It makes sense that Grace has been raised with that intersection in mind. In New York, she started her educational career at the Special Music School, where she first learned violin and then began to compose music.

As she continued songwriting, she developed an interest in business in tandem. Throughout high school, her volunteer work was focused on helping with organizations’ marketing, which had natural intersections with her interest in producing music.

While she identified this intersection between business and production as an interest when applying to Wharton, she was able to see it through with her undergraduate experience in marketing courses.

“Writing music and editing it to cater to my consumers was something I was inherently doing,” Grace said. “But then I was able to attach it to a real concept and principle in my marketing class.”

The same goes for her Management 1010 course: “I learned about horizontal and vertical diversification, and I moved from writing to producing music which was vertical diversification in a way, but I had no words for it until I took that class and was able to understand exactly what I was doing.”

Business gave her the vocabulary behind some of the more pragmatic decisions she was making in her creation of music. It also gave her the ability to understand recent movements and trends in the music business.

When she began to write music in high school, she viewed it very entrepreneurially, akin to creating a business or product, which was where marketing came in. When she refers to music business, she means applying principles of management and finance to it.

When it comes to finance, Grace says that as a music creator, she has enjoyed learning about different deals within the business: “The intersection of all that has been really exciting for me to apply my passion for music to the different concepts I’m learning in my business classes here in Wharton.”

In February, Grace produced and released a single, “Falling.” While her business education taught her to tie in some of the more pragmatic, less emotional aspects of the art form, she also utilized the music department at Penn. While making the song in her second year, Grace took Professor Anna Weesner’s songwriting course as part of her Popular Music and Jazz Studies minor.

“It was a great forum to connect with other students who were passionate about songwriting,” she said. “Adding music classes throughout my four years has been a great way to learn about music in a more formal setting.”

A person singing into a microphone while playing an electric guitar on stage. A banner with musical themes is in the background.
Grace performs at a concert hosted by the TEP fraternity in the fall of 2022. (Photo credit: Penn Records)

While her education played a large role in her production process, she also found connectivity and inspiration from the people around her. She played the song and received live feedback from Penn Counterparts, her acapella group. Counterparts is Penn’s oldest all-gender pop and jazz acapella group, and John Legend was a part of Counterparts during his time at Penn. As the music director this year, Grace is responsible for musical arranging the music and conducting their shows.

“I had watched Counterparts YouTube videos before coming to Penn, and I had written about them in my [application] essays,” she reminisces. “That’s opened such an awesome door for me to have a community on campus of people studying and being interested in different things outside the group.”

Even beyond the classroom and her social circles, access to Wharton’s faculty has helped her navigate the business of music creation. When she got a contract in the fall of her first year, her Legal Studies 1010 professor looked over it with her.

While all these experiences at Penn continue to overlap, Grace still finds time for personal endeavors.

“I’m going to continue immersing myself with Wharton and business,” she said. “I’m currently working on producing another song, so hopefully that comes out soon.”

—Alex Zhou, W’25, C’25

Posted: January 15, 2025

Undergraduate Program

Grace Gramins, W’26

(Photo credit: Ariana Arabadjiev, C’27)

Hometown: Bronxville, NY / New York City

Concentrations: Finance and Management

Minor: Popular Music and Jazz

Activities: Penn Counterparts, Wharton Ambassadors, Penn International Impact Consulting, Mask and Wig Band, Music Business at Penn, and Negotiations TA (OIDD 2910)

Grace singing at a Penn Counterparts show, Penn’s oldest all-gender pop and jazz acapella group. (Photo credit: Bill Tsai)

Wharton Stories

Trimming the Jib and Other Ways to Think About Business 

Image: Undergrads learn to sail an obstacle course in formation on the Chesapeake Bay. (Photo credit: Will Keyworth Photography)
An immersive look inside Team Sailing, a Wharton Leadership Venture designed to foster team cohesion in a high-pressure environment.

The mast began to pitch towards the water at a harsh 45-degree angle. The wind blew rain horizontally against the sailors, and for the first time, they had to balance pulling the boat’s cables with wiping their faces off. The sailboat had never moved this fast, and everybody suddenly was familiar with the physics behind how wind turns into speed.

Dillon Hale, the instructor, laughed a bit to himself and reminded students that “as much as it feels like it, the boat won’t tip over. You’ll only fall into the water if you try to.”

However, these were not sailing athletes or physics students; they were four business students far outside their comfort zones. They got on the Wired about an hour earlier, and only one had sailing experience.

As quickly as the storm started, it ended. The wind slowed in the opposite direction, and the rain turned into a light mist, but they weren’t allowed to cheer quite yet. The sail at the front of the boat began to flap wildly, and the boat slowed.

Malek DeBrabander, W’25, yelled, “I’m ready to switch directions!”

Rachel Doman, W’26, and Abu Mcunu, W’25, with the confidence of experienced sailors, yelled in response, “Ready to tack!”

Abu, on the left side, let go of the taut cable. Rachel, on the right side, began pulling furiously until the cable tightened and locked it into place. The boat satisfyingly tilted and picked up speed, and for a second, it felt like the boat was flying.

The waves grew larger, and everybody on the boat groaned. They weren’t ready for another storm, but Dillon said the opposite was occurring.

“Waves are just a history of the wind.”

A team and their instructor ride choppy waves through the wind and rain. (Photo credit: Will Keyworth Photography)

The Road to Adventure

On a Friday at 6 am, seeing a coach bus waiting outside Huntsman Hall on Penn’s campus is not surprising.  The usual guess is that students are going to New York or DC with their clubs for career treks.

Wharton Leadership Ventures (WLV) often uses them to take students to unusual locations, such as rural Pennsylvania or upstate New York for daylong “intensives” like high-ropes courses or mountain biking. WLV also flies students to locales like Cotopaxi in Ecuador or Patagonia for week-long hiking and backpacking Expeditions over winter and spring breaks.

“We’re doing things in a completely new environment,” said Erica Montemayor, Senior Associate Director of WLV. “What students take most from this experience is just getting out of their comfort zone.”

Venture experiences are coordinated and overseen by Wharton undergrads known as Venture Fellows. A fellow was on every boat during this intensive, helping facilitate acclimation and reflection during and after the sailing experience.

Kai Mai, a fellow on his fourth sailing venture, explains: “You learn how to lead a wide range of students and see their leadership styles, and by the end, you walk away with an expanded skill set.”

Learning to lead as a venture fellow features standards like speaker events and communication training but also has unorthodox aspects.

“We do hands-on outdoor learning during fall and spring training, and then we divvy ourselves up and lead these intensives and expeditions,” Kai said. “We actually have mountain guides do some of our trainings.”

The Practice Run

The role of the venture fellow becomes clearer when watching Malek lead different groups during the intensive. At the start of the day, he takes attendance and ensures everybody gets their food. Once the bus arrives in Annapolis and everybody wakes up from their morning naps, he leads the group through an icebreaker.

Once the ice was broken, the groups were ready to sail. The first part of the day would consist of learning how to sail, and the second part would culminate in an obstacle course similar to regular sailing competitions, where each group would have to organize themselves into a pre-set formation and go around the course five times in a time trial.

The rain picked up as everybody boarded their boats for the practice run. On the Wired, instructor Dillon taught the group the vocabulary of a sailboat. To turn, the front sail had to match the direction of the wind, or in sailing terms, people on port and starboard needed to “tack” or “trim the jib” to match the movement of the wind.

The practice run featured leadership struggles, uncoordinated tacks, and Dillon’s intervention to keep the boat moving. As the rain picked up and slowed down, everybody settled into their roles after being forced to adapt to hard conditions.

After lunch, the instructors explained the next step of the intensive. They flipped over the whiteboard to showcase a colorful illustration of boats moving between cones. At the start of each time trial, the finish line order would be listed, and they would time the speed it took the boats to cross the finish line. They gave each boat a walkie-talkie, and the instructors took a step back – it was time for the students to lead each other.

As the rain picked up and each boat moved to the start of the course, each team began practicing using the walkie-talkies.

“Can somebody tell a joke right now?”

Another team chimed in: “We’re not going to do well at this.”

The time trial’s structure meant that each team was working to compete against their previous performance. As each round continued, the boats got more efficient at moving into the proper formation at the finish line and presented faster times. By the final round, the last boat crossed the finish line in ten minutes. Everybody cheered as the time was announced through the walkie-talkies.

Wharton students pose in their lifejackets before team sailing gets underway. (Photo credit: Will Keyworth Photography)

Reflecting on the Race

The way WLV teaches leadership is separate and entirely connected to the in-class business education.

Malek, the fellow on the Wired, explains that venture fellows “go to expert talks of organizational psychologists and learn what the best techniques are for leadership,” which is reminiscent of the leadership techniques taught in courses like Management 3010.

WLV heavily emphasizes the value of reflection and transference, ensuring that the experience’s lessons are brought into real-world business and leadership contexts. While organizational psychologists can help guide the theories behind leadership, a key theme of the ventures is that leadership is also built in unorthodox environments and contexts and that organizational success is not only present in the workspace.

“We’ve adopted after-action reviews from the military where we go back and reflect and recap these moments,” Kai, another fellow said.  “Whenever I do something new, and I make a mistake here or there, I’m able to adapt these AAR techniques into my life.”

Kai then quickly runs through an example of his reflection process.

“Am I communicating this thing well? Or should I try to think about this in a different way? Or what is that other guy thinking?” Kai asked. “There are so many factors at play that AAR has allowed me to pinpoint and focus on that present moment.”

y utilizing different reflection and learning processes, venture fellows have been able to think about leadership in nontraditional, nuanced ways. The best part is that they can bring these processes to the participants, as seen by the Wired boat’s after-action review (AAR).

Rachel, the third-year student on the Wired, reflected: “There was a lot of new terminology and figuring out what worked, but once we got in sync with the jib, it was very rewarding to work well as a team and watch everybody else come into their roles.”

The corollary here is readily apparent – college students are often put in unfamiliar, jargon-heavy internships or courses where they have no option but to adapt to the language and culture of their new environment. While different, sailing is another example of how teamwork can make it easier to gain these necessary skills.

The goal of the sailing intensive was to gather a group of strangers, put them into an unfamiliar context, and derive success from the entire team’s ability to adapt to new circumstances. It was even satisfying to come in last place.

“There’s something kind of metaphorical about the fact that we had to be last in order to make sure that everyone else was able to succeed,” Abu, W’25, said. “Accomplishing that goal was a great moment because we all figured it out together.”

Erica agrees. “It’s complete chaos, but it’s interesting to see what you’ve learned, apply it, and move quickly,” she said. “Because life is always going to move, and it’s either going to move you or you’re going to respond to it.”

After the AARs, everybody thanked their instructors, and the sun peeked out of the clouds and began shining brightly. The Chesapeake Bay began to shimmer, rays reflecting off the water and twinkling against the boats. The whole group groaned, and everybody started to complain about how they had to sail in the unforgiving rain just a few hours earlier.

When walking towards the bus, laughter and chatter filled the air as everyone talked freely, arms slung around the shoulders of their old crewmates and new friends. As the wind blew through the narrow streets, the conversations got louder, and the group turned into one big wave of sound.

—Alex Zhou, C’25, W’25

Posted: December 13, 2024

Undergraduate Program

The author on the Wired (Photo credit: Malek DeBrabander, W’25)

About Wharton Leadership Ventures

Part of Wharton’s McNulty Leadership Program, Leadership Ventures offer hands-on, team-based experiences “in the field” where students step out of their comfort zone and exceed personal limitations, and experience leadership firsthand. These experiences facilitate self-discovery, leadership, and character development.

There are three types of undergraduate Leadership Ventures: Expeditions, Intensives, and Venture X.

Expeditions

Patagonia Expedition (Photo courtesy of Gabbi Coetzee, W’24, C’24)

Expeditions are outdoor, experiential learning treks that provide genuine environments of uncertainty and challenge. Expeditions generally range from 6 to 8 day overnight trips and can be high in physical intensity.

Intensives

High Ropes Challenge Course (Photo credit: Dwane Holloman)

Intensives are consolidated and immersive group-based experiences ranging from one to two days. They provide genuine environments of uncertainty and challenge.

Venture X | Connection@Wharton

Wissahickon Hiking (Photo credit: Weining Ding, W’27)

Venture X takes students to outdoor locations in Philadelphia for daylong experiences that are intended to broaden and deepen connections in the Wharton community as well as facilitate communication and team cohesion.

Wharton Stories

Bridging the Cultural Divide

Personal experience and selfless family sacrifice led Tsion Bezabih, W’27, to create a nonprofit aimed at helping young people connect.

One morning in my Ethiopian home, when I was seven years old, I was awakened by the sounds of laughter and packing. I quickly got out of bed and saw our luggage piled up on the floor next to my mom. I asked, “Where are we going?” She replied that we were going on a shirshir, which meant “vacation.” My parents would always call anything a shirshir, whether it was a trip to the amusement park in Addis Ababa or a visit to Awasa, a vacation spot in Ethiopia. So I assumed we were taking a short getaway to one of the usual local destinations. When we arrived at the airport, I was confused by my aunt’s and grandmother’s tears. Little did I know I wouldn’t be back for another six years.

During my family’s first year in the United States, I frequently complained about our moving away, which I could see hurt my parents. I had vivid memories of my parents back in Africa, with my dad drawing cartoons and heading the office of a newspaper company while my mom owned an import/export business. All of that changed in the U.S.: My dad worked as a valet attendant and my mom as a custodian. At times they juggled two jobs each to support our new lives here in Philadelphia. Going from an office to jobs like those wasn’t easy for my parents, especially considering they weren’t fluent in English. The hardships they went through helped me see how fortunate I was to have parents willing to make such sacrifices. Their difficult path led me to Penn, and during move-in last fall, I saw another Habesha woman pushing a cart twice her size, and I couldn’t hold back my tears. She reminded me so much of my mother.

My parents’ sacrifice, mixed with the hardships I witnessed in Ethiopia, inspired me to help others — initially, orphans in Ethiopia. After reading my college essay on the topic, my former eighth-grade math teacher and mentor, Larry Kaplan, GED’97, reached out to discuss a similar program he was thinking of developing. We quickly set up a meeting at a Center City cafe to discuss our plans for what would later be known as the Philly Unity Project, or Philly UP.

Read the full story at Wharton Magazine.

—Tsion Bezabih, W’27 

Posted: December 11, 2024

Undergraduate Program

Tsion Bezabih, W’27

Image: Courtesy of Tsion Bezabih

Hometown: Philadelphia by way of Ethiopia
Concentrations: Finance and entrepreneurship

Philly Up logo

About Philly Unity Project

The mission of Philly UP is to nurture and inspire teens to break down racial, cultural and religious barriers by building up understanding, empathy and human dignity.

Wharton Stories

Making a Tangible Impact through Snider Consulting

Image: A Snider Consulting team meets with an instructor in Tangen Hall (Photo credit: James Graves)
Through the four-year consulting program at Penn, undergrads get real-time experience with startups almost from the minute they step on campus.

At the end of October, as Locust Walk’s trees hit their peak bloom of red and orange, students were submitting their midterm essays and Esha Pathi, W’25, was getting ready for her team’s midpoint presentation.

“We’ve conducted a ton of interviews with other students and are hoping to share our findings in a clean, synced way to the client,” she explained. “It’s a chance to recalibrate the scope – midpoint is a great sanity check, touching base to see if the client wants you to dive deeper or completely pivot for the final presentation.”

She spoke with the fluency and professionalism of a seasoned consultant while describing how Snider Consulting manages relationships with their clients. To be fair, she is a seasoned consultant. This is her fourth year in Snider, and she currently serves as her team’s engagement manager (EM). As an EM, she oversees her consulting group to ensure they are on track to accomplish their weekly and semester goals.

Snider Consulting is a four-year program in Penn’s Venture Lab that hires Penn student consultants to provide “tailored research, analysis, and execution support to meet clients’ needs.” As a part of Penn’s expanding entrepreneurship opportunities for students, Snider Consulting not only utilizes students’ unique experiences and knowledge but also hires them directly as paid student workers.

The way it works is teams of students work with companies to solve strategic problems for them. The students meet weekly within their teams, with Snider Consulting as a whole, and with their clients to deliver those results.

Jon Potter, Snider’s growth program director, explains how the program has changed over the years: “It’s evolved to the point where the undergrad program is pretty much exclusively focused on Penn startups, from students or faculty, companies coming from the Penn ecosystem.”

They have worked with a variety of clients, ranging from global consulting firms to growth stage startups that have raised eight figures and early-stage clients that have since gone on to raise Series A and B funding from venture capital firms.

Both Esha and Shivani Desai, a fourth-year who is an engagement manager and leading the first-year training program, have felt the impact of working for high-growth Penn enterprises and the accountability of Snider Consulting being a paid, high-responsibility job.

Shivani says that “it’s put a sense of responsibility on me from an early stage, and it was nice to receive formal feedback my first year. I carried myself better at Penn.”

The four-year aspect of the program is especially compelling. The tangible impact that Snider provides to companies is incredibly valuable, and students often report that it has far-reaching implications beyond their first year.

“As much as college is really important, a lot of it is kind of low stakes because you’re only doing things for yourself,” Esha said. “Snider was the first time that I did something for the success of someone else’s company. There’s a lot of additional pressure to execute at 120 percent and that’s the attitude that I’m going to take into the future.”

As Shivani and Esha discussed their progression through the program, they continually mentioned that they gained a sense of tangible confidence that allowed them to carry themselves with more professionalism in the workplace. However, having such early access to Snider Consulting’s network has also allowed them to explore which workplaces to channel this energy towards.

Through their four-year experience in Snider Consulting, students wear a variety of hats. They start out learning by doing—training their financial analysis skills and interfacing with clients and their real-world challenges. As they progress, they begin to take on mentorship roles with the first-years and lead the processes that accomplish real impact for Penn startups.

Shivani declared her concentration in entrepreneurship because of her experiences working with these startups, and through Snider, she gained exposure to Venture Lab as a whole. The summer after her first year, she participated in Venture Lab’s Bet on Entrepreneurship program that connected her with an internship at a venture-capital firm in San Francisco.

When Esha was looking for internships, she “tapped into the Snider network, a really great community of alumni that have gone on to do such incredible things. Everyone in Snider pays it forward.”

However, this focus on “paying it forward” doesn’t stop at the alumni network.

Michael Sarboraria, W’28, C’28 (Photo credit: Weining Ding, W’27)

Michael Sarboraria, a first-year in the Life Sciences and Management program, began his time in the Snider Consulting training program in early October. In high school, he worked on a passion project that produced braces for multiple-sclerosis patients, and he came into Penn looking to gain exposure to life sciences entrepreneurship.

Of his time in the training program so far, he mentions that his biggest takeaway is the willingness of upper-level students like Esha and Shivani to serve as mentors in his professional and personal development.

“The training really starts from the ground up,” he remarked. “The fact that they’re willing to put aside time and actually invest in the younger students in the program is the most positive form of mentorship I’ve had.”

However, the mentorship extends beyond professional into personal. Shivani says that Snider “sets up coffee chats where students can grab a coffee or meal, and the upper-level students get to know them outside of the projects that they do.”

Students also learn the necessary business art of the coffee chat and get to earn that coffee money themselves. Michael has done a few coffee chats and gotten the inside scoop about course selection and life at Penn, but he’s excited to “graduate” the training period.

“I’m looking forward to completing the training program,” he said. “My next step is actually getting involved in the program and trying to make an impact for some of these startups that I’ve been really excited to see passing through.”

—Alex Zhou, C’25, W’25

Posted: December 4, 2024

Undergraduate Program

Esha Pathi, Michael Sarboraria, and Shivani Desai (Photo credit: Weining Ding, W’27)

About Snider Consulting

Snider Consulting is a four-year program where undergraduate students work on semester-long projects. Students must apply for the program as first-years during their first few weeks on campus. After that, there are no further opportunities to join. After formal training and workshops, the paid student consultants meet weekly with their team to deliver recommendations to help clients drive and sustain business growth. The teams are supported by staff with years of experience as professional consultants.

Wharton Stories

Wharton Field Challenge: Empowering Financial Futures

Image: Penn students explain to visiting West Philadelphia high-school students the difference between index funds and their returns. (Photo courtesy of MGMT 3530 TAs)
Third-year Anthony Wright describes taking an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course that teaches West Philadelphia middle- and high-school students financial literacy

This semester, I am taking an ABCS course, Management 3530: Wharton Field Challenge: Financial Literacy Community Project, a course that focuses on helping middle- and high-school students in West Philadelphia become financially responsible.

When researching Wharton as a prospective student, I fell in love with the idea that students were granted the opportunity to take ABCS classes and apply the knowledge learned inside the classroom to help West Philadelphia students. MGMT 3530 stood out to me in particular because it focuses on teaching financial literacy to students in underserved communities. As someone who grew up in a low-income community and a household with minimal financial literacy, I often turned to news articles, documentaries, and renowned business professionals to gain financial knowledge and advice. After finding this class, I knew it would be a privilege to share the financial knowledge I have learned at Wharton with these students and help them attain a life of financial freedom.

The class is structured in two main parts: lectures and in-class teaching lessons. On Mondays, Penn students meet to review the key financial literacy concepts we will cover in each week’s lesson plan. Moreover, we learn about the wealth disparities in the West Philadelphia community and how to best combat them. In these lectures, students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to hone their teaching techniques, classroom strategies, and overall basic financial literacy.

On Tuesdays through Fridays, Penn students go into West Philadelphia schools to build one-on-one relationships with middle- and high-school students and teach key financial literacy concepts covered in the lectures. The students are not only taught concepts but are also able to put this knowledge into practice. They have the opportunity to create the beginning stages of their own startups and can implement new skills in their business models. Furthermore, many students often begin investing in safe investments such as mutual funds, the S&P 500, and other high-performing, low-risk investment options, which start their journey to financial freedom and generational wealth.

One of the most surprising experiences I have had so far in this course is how interested these younger students are in learning about financial literacy. Whether it’s learning about ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and mutual funds, investing in stocks, or maintaining higher assets than your liabilities, the West Philadelphia students are so intellectually curious about what we are teaching and are constantly asking us ways they can immediately implement our advice into their lives and their financial wellbeing.

This course has been nothing short of eye-opening. Being able to witness these students’ brilliant ideas and their motivation to create generational wealth for their families has showed me how impactful this class is.

Growing up, I attended a school called Beacon Academy that helps eighth graders from underserved communities in Boston apply to independent boarding schools. This school changed the trajectory of hundreds of students’ lives, including mine. I was able to pursue my dreams of attending a New England boarding school which opened the door for me to attend a school like Wharton. After pursuing a career in finance, I want to return to Beacon Academy to continue the life-changing work they do and provide more students with the opportunity to create a better life for their families and themselves through education.

MGMT 3530 has inspired me to not wait until I am finished pursuing my career in finance to have an impact in underserved communities. Instead, it has shown me that I can have an impact on young students’ lives throughout my career.

For anyone who is on the fence about taking this class, I would highly recommend that they do. It is hard to understand the impact that you can have on students’ lives until you are in the classroom with them and directly interacting with them. For a lot of these students, they have never had the access to such helpful and useful financial advice, and are often so appreciative of the lessons we plan for them. Moreover, this class often gives students the inspiration as well as the confidence to attain a life of financial freedom, generational wealth, and potentially even pursue careers in business or finance.

—Anthony Wright, W’26

Posted: November 25, 2024

Undergraduate Program

Anthony Wright, W’26

Image: Weining Ding, W’27

Hometown: Boston

Concentrations: Finance and Legal Studies

Activities: Wharton Undergraduate Finance & Technology Group (WUFT), Black Wharton Consulting, Black Pre-Law Association, Wharton Ambassadors

About ABCS Courses

The Penn Netter Center for Community Partnerships offers approximately 80 ABCS courses a year, where students and faculty work with West Philadelphia organizations to help solve community problems, including environmental, health, arts, and education issues.

Wharton Stories

Crayon Politics: Simplifying Complex Policy for Young Voters

Third-year Chuby Madu, along with fellow Wharton students, launched Crayon Politics, a student-run platform dedicated to providing Gen Z with easy-to-understand data to be more informed voters.

What specific experience motivated you to start Crayon Politics?

I started competing in congressional debates in middle school. While competing, one thing I often noticed from researching current events was that social welfare cases that were highly desired by the public were often still shot down in Congress. So, in a way, I have always been aware of a disconnect between politicians’ policy and what constituents want.

Where did the name come from?

The name Crayon Politics stemmed from our site’s goal of portraying political information in a simple, digestible way. When thinking about simplicity, my mind went to elementary school. From there, I started thinking about the different elements of elementary school until I started thinking about crayons. Crayons worked perfectly because they symbolized simplicity while also being multicolored. Politics isn’t just red and blue.

Why did you decide to initially focus on the Israel-Hamas war, climate change, and reproductive rights?

In politics, there are millions of issues. Since the goal of the site is to make politics more digestible, we aimed to unpack three key issues that voters care about. We went about this by interviewing over 200 Penn students on what key issues they thought mattered the most this election and showcased the results on our site.

We plan to expand the scope by continuously changing the topics showcased on the site based on data from our users on what they believe are the biggest issues in our current political climate. We also have a newsletter that will unpack current events and topics across all topics.

How do you avoid oversimplifying complex topics and misinformation?

The goal of our site isn’t to be the final destination for acquiring political information but rather the first step in the right direction. To engage most people in taking that first step, our information has to be simple and digestible. Our goal is to teach people to become data- and fact-driven voters rather than defaulting to their voting biases (for example, race, gender, political affiliation). To assist voters to be more research-driven, we link out debates and governmental resources towards the bottom of our website that users can explore.

We limit bias and misinformation by focusing on candidates’ past actions and current stances through direct quotes. Data that is shown on our site is confirmed information of what a candidate has either said and/or voted on for a particular issue.

How has your time at Penn contributed to your ability to create a product like this?

My time at Penn has opened my eyes to the power I have as an individual. I’ve taken a couple of entrepreneurship courses like Social Entrepreneurship that emphasizes creating with social benefit. That culture and drive to innovate while assisting people is what I brought to this. By going to Penn and taking entrepreneurship courses, exploring Venture Lab, and meeting entrepreneurially minded people, I’ve learned that startups/businesses have the power to make a difference in critical issues.

What are your long-term goals for Crayon Politics?

Our long-term goal is to push people to become more informed voters. By having more informed voters that leads to more informed voting decisions which ultimately puts better people in positions of power, creating better policy. We think young people especially have the power to lead this change, so we are focusing on Gen Z voters.

As we expand, we want to include more Penn writers and students interested in politics. We are considering expanding it as a club where students can volunteer. We’re hoping to onboard writers from other schools by recruiting them from their school newspapers.

—Alex Zhou, W’25, C’25

Posted: October 31, 2024

Undergraduate Program

Chuby Madu, W’26

Image courtesy of Chuby Madu

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Concentrations: Finance and Entrepreneurship

Activities: Joseph Wharton Scholars, Black Wharton, Wharton Undergraduate Private Equity and Venture Capital Club, Successful Transition & Empowerment Program

About Crayon Politics

Mission: To close the gap between political knowledge and civic engagement among Gen Z by making political education accessible, engaging, and relevant to the issues that matter most to our generation.

Website: crayonpolitics.org

Wharton Stories

Making Moves

Image: Courtesy of Sami Goel
Sami Goel, W’25, balances her love for dance with her interest in business.

Wharton students may wear a lot of hats, but for Samica Goel, “musician” was never one of those.

“My mom put me in piano when I was four years old but I hated it. I was a really energetic kid and I wanted to move around. I was really hyper,” said the Old Bridge, New Jersey native.

However, when watching “Shake It Up” on the Disney Channel, four-year-old Sami found a way to channel her energy into dance. She started with ballet and “hated it so much” that she quit for two years, until she met a street dancer from California who introduced her to hip-hop at his dance studio.

She ended up enjoying the energy of hip-hop and joined a dance company in high school, training for hours in all dance styles. After years of dancing at the competitive studio, her agent had an urgent request for any available dancers. Joe Jonas was performing with DNCE at the Red Bull Arena, and eight dancers were sick.

She and three of her friends performed on stage with Joe Jonas and DNCE in her junior year of high school. She had to be flexible: “I auditioned and learned all the dances on Friday and then performed Saturday.”

Changing Focus

Image: Courtesy of Sami Goel

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sami choreographed eight- and nine-year-olds’ dance recitals since teachers were unable to come to the studio, but her own dance career was interrupted at a crucial time since dance tryouts were paused. This sparked introspection over the role she wanted dance to play in her future, and Sami refocused on her passion for  academics.

“I knew I wanted to dance in college, but I didn’t want to major in dance,” she said.

During the pandemic, she worked with a local congressman’s campaign-finance team and interacted with businesses of all sizes. As a choreographer, she found a natural link between business and the arts. “I think the one thing that stuck between dance and business was that I like building things from the ground up.”

Between both fields, Sami found herself drawn to the self-reliant nature of entrepreneurship: that everything “was a result of her own actions” and she could see tangible results from her dedication.

In her first days at Penn, Sami met the captain of Penn Masti, a South Asian co-ed Bollywood fusion dance team, who also happened to be her Wharton 1010 teaching assistant. She immediately felt the desire to follow in her footsteps and was happy that Penn had a vibrant performing arts scene.

After going to one of Penn Masti’s recruitment events, Sami says she fell in love with the team and its representation.

“I grew up in a community that wasn’t really diverse, and when I went to the event, it felt really nice,” the fourth-year said. “They were all talking about Bollywood movies and speaking in Hindi, and I was like: ‘Wow, I actually never grew up with people like this.’”

Not only was the club an opportunity to get closer to her cultural heritage, but it was also a chance for her to gain exposure to a wide network of friends and mentors.

“I loved the people I auditioned with, and they actually helped me get involved with a lot of the other organizations  on campus.”

Image: Courtesy of Sami Goel

Sami became the club’s assistant choreographer. The team went to Nationals, and she was elected as the artistic captain, which means developing the choreography, music, and set design for the team. She credits her unique background and willingness to step outside her comfort zone as a choreographic asset: coming from a hip-hop background, she had ideas that wouldn’t have been traditionally explored from a Bollywood/Indian dance background.

Making a Tangible Impact

Last summer, Sami interned at a private alternative investment firm and loved that the company was smaller and woman-run – a creative and representative vision that she wanted to be a part of. She’ll return to the New York-based company after graduation, and she sees herself eventually pursuing a law degree or MBA and working with startups. As a choreographer, she drives the vision for a dance, and as a businessperson, she sees herself driving the vision of a company.

Like her time at Penn, Sami sees her future as an intersection between the arts and business. Last summer, she was still able to choreograph and teach at her old dance studio during her internship. When she graduates, Sami hopes to join a dance company that provides performance opportunities for people working full-time.

For now, she’ll do her final year with Penn Masti and third one as their artistic captain—choreographing the annual South Asian Society show, preparing and rehearsing for campus performances, and traveling around the country for competitions—all while balancing being a Wharton student.

—Alex Zhou, W’25, C’25

Posted: September 19, 2024

Undergraduate Program

Samica Goel, W’25

Sami Goel
Image: Weining Ding, W’27

Hometown: Old Bridge, NJ

Concentrations: Finance and Business Analytics

Activities: Penn Masti,  Venture Initiation Program, Engineering Consultants @ Penn, Penn Venture Group, Wharton Global Youth Program TA

What do you enjoy most about business school?

A lot of the classes at Wharton use real-world examples to explain and teach different concepts, allowing students to think about class material in a practical way.

For example, in my Urban Fiscal Policy Class (BEPP 2300), we used the real fiscal budget of Philadelphia as a case study to discuss different problems the city may face and recommendations we think could work.  We had the mayor of Philadelphia come and talk to us about his different policies and how they related to the same concepts we learned in class, which was super cool.

Something you would tell your first-year self:

I would tell my first-year self to prioritize exploring rather than sticking to a plan. I remember being a first-year and having specific clubs that I wanted to join and the concentrations and career that I wanted. However, you come to college, especially Wharton, to be able to explore everything that’s out there.

I ended up actually spending most of my time in organizations at Penn that I never thought I would join, so I think remembering to keep an open mind is the best way to get the most out of your Penn experience.

Wharton Stories

Studying Finance in Dubai

Fatima Figueroa discusses her experiences on the winter break Global Modular Course: Finance in the UAE.

What motivated you to take this course?

During my time at Penn, my interests in emerging markets, capital structures, and ESG have grown significantly. This curiosity expanded during my semester abroad in Singapore, where I was exposed to the dynamic business environment of Southeast Asia. Seeking to deepen my understanding further, especially in my final year, I was drawn to the Finance in the UAE GMC as it provided an excellent opportunity to explore a rapidly growing region. I was particularly interested in understanding the pivotal role the UAE plays in both the regional and global economy, its efforts to diversify beyond oil, and its new-age strategies being implemented in the region.

Image: Fatima Figueroa

How did the course enhance your learning?

Instead of learning concepts theoretically, we had the chance to apply them in real-world scenarios under specific cases. For instance, discussions about the implications of free zones in Dubai felt more tangible when we were actually sitting in one. Working on finance projects in the UAE provided hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of financial markets in the region. Being taught by Professor Kevin Kaiser, whose expertise is unmatched, provided valuable insights that went beyond textbook knowledge. This immersive experience not only deepened my understanding but also challenged me to question and formulate my own educated opinion about what we were hearing and seeing.

Could you share a memorable experience?

One memorable experience was speaking to alumni at the Abu Dhabi Louvre. Whenever anyone reflects on their time at Wharton, they often say that the best experience is the people they meet and I definitely agree. We have such a great alumni pool, and while on the GMC, we connected with local alumni in the area, many of whom are prominent figures in their industries. Hearing about their experiences and career trajectories was incredibly inspiring. It was fascinating to learn about how they navigate the complexities of less mature financial markets or how they decided to innovate and become entrepreneurs. This experience not only broadened my professional network but also gave me insights into alternative paths available.

What was surprising or unusual about the experience?

One of the most unusual aspects of the experience was the opportunity to connect with MBA students during the course. As an undergraduate student, I don’t typically have these interactions, but they turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Simply spending time with them on the bus between sight visits or over lunch allowed me to learn from their experiences, and they even helped me decide between two job offers.

Did this experience influence your perspective on global business practices?

Through visits to local businesses and interactions with industry leaders, I gained a deeper understanding of how cultural factors might influence business practices in the region. For example, the emphasis on hospitality and relationship-building in UAE business culture was evident in our every interaction. Additionally, discussions on social issues such as gender equality and immigration caused by different conflicts in the region shed light on the challenges and opportunities they are facing. Yet, witnessing the efforts being made to address these issues also highlighted the interconnectedness of business and social responsibility.

How might you use the knowledge gained from this course?

In the age of globalization, it’s crucial to understand the interconnectedness of our world. This course deeply enhanced my understanding in both technical and soft terms. I learned about emerging economies like the UAE and how they seize opportunities, attract talent, and differentiate themselves while also maintaining partnerships. Learning how they used their culture and history to implement solutions, which can be applied as case studies in other emerging markets, such as Latin America, was invaluable. These insights will be invaluable as I pursue my academic and professional goals, bridging my background in BEPP with the world of finance.

What advice would you give to students interested in GMCs?

These courses offer a unique chance to gain practical experience and build invaluable connections. Reach out to students who have taken the course for advice and definitely plan to stay a day or two before or after the course to explore the region further, as it offers a deeper cultural understanding and networking opportunities.

—Sara Hoover

Posted: September 3, 2024

Undergraduate Program

Fatima Figueroa, W’24


Hometown:  Edinburg, TX

Concentration:  Business Economics & Public Policy (BEPP)

Activities:  Joseph Wharton Scholar

Wharton Global Modular Courses

Wharton GMCs are led on location by world-class Wharton faculty, linking innovative ideas to new business phenomena, contextualized both in emerging markets and in developed economies. GMCs expose students to a unique combination of local immersion, course concepts and cutting-edge business and social issues.

The topics and locations give students first-hand exposure to business challenges and opportunities in regions undergoing rapid change by providing on-site company visits, meetings with prominent leaders working in the region, and interacting with students from host institutions as well as Wharton alumni.  Students work across degree programs within Wharton (undergraduates, full-time and executive MBA students).

Wharton Stories

Penn Masala’s Olympic Performance

Image: The Penn Masala a capella group sang in two performances in the India House location at the Olympic Games in Paris. (Courtesy of Penn Masala)
“It was just unreal. You put all your time into making a mix, and then you put it on Spotify, and you go to Paris.” – Ajay Kilambi, W’25

Penn was represented at the Olympic Games in Paris by singers as well as athletes.

The South Asian a capella student group Penn Masala performed two shows at the India House in the Olympic Village. The 13 group members flew in from all over the world, some arriving with suitcases in hand just in time to perform and leaving right after appearing on stage to get back to their internships and jobs.

Hundreds of poeple attended the Penn Masala performances, including several Penn alumni. (Image: Courtesy of Penn Masala)

“We have a fusion of both Hindi Indian music and very popular American English songs; they’re mashed up together,” says fourth-year Ajay Kilambi, who is president of Penn Masala. “It was just unreal. You put all your time into making a mix, and then you put it on Spotify, and you go to Paris. Then people know your mix, and they’re singing along to it, standing up and dancing. The energy was crazy. It was a very, very lively event.”

Kilambi, who is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a finance major in the Wharton School and is pursuing an accelerated master’s degree in bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. “It is just an incredible experience, and you’re doing it with your best friends,” he says.

One of several countries that had locations in the Olympic Village, the India House featured a variety of performers and traditional Indian food during the Games.

Read more at Penn Today.

Posted: August 26, 2024

The Wharton School

About Penn Masala

Penn Masala was invited by the India House to perform at the Olympics on Aug. 3 and Aug. 4. (Image: Courtesy of Penn Masala)
  • Founded in 1996, Penn Masala is known for original compositions and harmonies that capture experience with both Eastern and Western cultures.
  • Often wearing bright-colored traditional Indian clothing known as kurtas, the all-male group sings together as an ensemble, with members stepping forward as featured soloists during the songs.
  • The group has had successful albums and has toured in the U.S. and India.
  • Penn Masala has performed at several high-profile events, including twice at the White House; last year the group was invited for President Joe Biden’s state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
  • In 2009, Penn Masala was invited by President Barack Obama to celebrate the signing of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
  • Penn Masala became internationally recognized with its performance in “Pitch Perfect 2,” a 2015 film directed and produced by Penn alum Elizabeth Banks.

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