Iliana Portugal, SIBC Vice President
Going into my senior year I was selected to attend the International Political and Economic forum in South Bend, Indiana. The topic of the forum was current urban challenges facing the City of Albuquerque, it was fitting that former SIBC President and current Mayor of Albuquerque Tim Keller was in attendance. We presented our research to Mayor Tim Keller and SIBC benefactor Frank Potenziani, who we networked with following the presentations.
For the presentation, I was paired with two other council members from University of Notre Dame and Benedictine College. Due to the nature of the forum, we were given less than a week to prepare. We worked tirelessly to research, analyze and provide solutions to the current urban challenge of the Opioid crisis, both nationally and regionally. The prompt required us to think of creative solutions for a pressing issue that has been receiving a great deal of media attention. I pushed myself to new lengths, adapting to unexpected changes and leading individuals I had not yet met.
This has been an extraordinary learning experience, I proved to myself that I have the skills to be successful upon graduation. I know the remaining year of my undergraduate at USD will be filled with invaluable experiences, allowing me to become a well rounded business professional. I am excited to see where my International Business degree will take me in the future.
Cesar Manzo, VP Finance
The IPE project is an amazing experience full of opportunities to reinforce your skills on public speaking, leadership, and team-work. The best part of this project was being working with SIBC students from Notre Dame and Benedictine. I believe that this project model should continue for future projects because it its similar to what the job-market wants. The different prompts assigned to this project was phenomenal because everybody was able to learn from each other about Albuquerque, New Mexico. I enjoyed being able to work in a cooperative environment rather than a competitive environment. Most of us were able to get to know each other and was easy to have fruitful conversations.