Learning in Action

Transcript

Many students find they learn best by doing, and Illinois Wesleyan gives students the real world settings and tools to apply their knowledge with real world payoffs. You’re about to meet Clay, a varsity athlete and member of the Theta Chi fraternity, who recently completed a class within his Finance major that paid major dividends both as a class project and in his own professional development. Clay, the market is now open for business. Take it away.

– Thanks, Alex, and hey, everyone. When looking at what university I wanted to attend, I wanted to go somewhere that would allow for me to get a great education, continue playing the sport I love at a collegiate level, and still have time just to take part in other activities and clubs. Illinois Wesleyan University, had everything I was looking for. IWU has an extraordinary network of successful alums in almost any field you can imagine. We have alumni who are CEOs, doctors, lawyers and leaders in their discipline, and they’re incredibly willing to engage with and support us current students. One of them even donated to create the Bloomberg Finance Lab, which is where my coolest class ever, the portfolio management class, gets access to real-time financial market data and electronic trading capabilities with the same tools used by top professionals in the finance industry. In this class, we get to invest real money, and over the last 10 years, the students have taken the portfolio from $250,000 to over $4 million, and the best part about this is we get to receive our Bloomberg certificate, which will look great on our resumes. Another distinctive thing about the business programs IWU is that my classmates who are accounting majors, can complete the coursework needed to sit for the CPA within four years. Most colleges, it takes five, and they can still do internships, many of them with one of the big four accounting firms. In fact, as a finance major, this summer I’m interning in Chicago at JPMorgan Chase, a position I initially heard about through an alumnus I’ve been able to get close with. When I first started college, I never imagined the opportunities and growth I’d be able to experience. All thanks to IWU and it’s awesome alums. Now, that’s a little bit about me, and back to you, Alex.

– Wow, talk about hands-on learning, a stock portfolio that you and other IWU students have grown to over four and a half million dollars. Clay, we are so impressed, and how amazing for a small school to have gold standard resources, like those Bloomberg terminals at your fingertips. Those stellar alumni connections, paid internship opportunities, and classroom support have clearly taken you far. Best of luck, Clay.