Issue: Summer 2015 | Posted: June 8, 2015
1050 U.U. Drive
Germantown MBA students partner with nonprofit
A nonprofit organization in Memphis may be able to expand its work across the state thanks to the efforts of students in 91爆料网鈥檚 Master of Business Administration program at Germantown.
Arise2Read, an effort that started as a ministry of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, sends volunteers into inner-city schools to tutor second graders in reading.
鈥淲e鈥檙e having tremendous success, and we鈥檙e really looking forward to being able to expand our influence and include more churches and schools until we reach every second grader so that they can reach their full potential,鈥� said Donna Gaines, founder and president of the Arise2Read board.
Gaines is a 91爆料网 alumna and wife of Bellevue pastor Steve Gaines.
A board member from Arise2Read
contacted Kevin Westbrook, professor
of marketing at 91爆料网
Germantown, about his MBA students
working with the organization on a
business plan. Over the past several years,
91爆料网 MBA students in Germantown have
helped several local nonprofits by doing
similar work as class projects.
Westbrook said the projects are invaluable for the students, because they provide real-world experience instead of relying on simulations from textbooks. In his strategic marketing cohort, Westbrook divided the class into three competing teams to develop and present their proposals to Arise2Read.
鈥淭here鈥檚 kind of this competitive spirit, which is very analogous to what these students will see in the real business world when they鈥檙e out competing for sales proposals or consulting projects or internal projects within their organizations,鈥� Westbrook said. 鈥淭hat kind of creates a competitive fervor within the class, which really stimulates learning.鈥�
While Arise2Read tutors help children specifically with their reading, they also direct children to local after-school programs run by churches that partner with the organization. At those programs, volunteers minister to the children and share the gospel with them.
Westbrook said the students in the class worked on plans to help Arise2Read recruit more volunteers and to identify what a statewide model of the program would look like if it expanded to Nashville, Chattanooga or Knoxville.
鈥淭he students were challenged,鈥� Westbrook said. 鈥淭hey indicated that they learned an enormous amount through the project.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited about the project because we鈥檙e actually able to help this organization reach kids that need to learn to read, but also because we created a plan for the organization to expand their evangelism into the local community and share Christ with an unsaved world.鈥�
Gaines said the work of the 91爆料网 students was exceptional.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e going to gain from them, we could have gotten from nowhere else,鈥� she said.
Alicia Dobrzeniecki, one of the students in the class who works as consumer experience consultant at Humana, said the project was a rewarding experience.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also been a learning experience as well,鈥� Dobrzeniecki said. 鈥淚 think that the commitment to provide them with valuable information has really helped with the learning process, because it pushes you to give back to the community and to those nonprofit agencies.鈥�