As winter inches closer in Philadelphia, our Undergraduate Leadership team is taking time to reflect on last summer’s successful business institute – Leadership in the Business World (LBW). LBW, now on the Wharton campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco, welcomed 110 highly talented high school seniors who hailed from Arizona to Oklahoma and from Colombia to Uzbekistan. Overall, 17 countries and 21 states were represented. LBW is another example of the way in which we look at leadership development as a lifelong practice, and strive to reach students at all stages of their careers.
LBW provides students with an unforgettable experience. Through seminars with Wharton and WEMBA faculty, LBW participants are exposed to a world-class business education. In their core entrepreneurship course, students worked in teams to create and develop a business plan. Students learned about a variety of career paths and business industries through visits to groundbreaking companies such as Google, Tesla, Citigroup, and American Express. At the culmination of LBW, students presented original business plans to a panel of Wharton faculty and venture capitalists at The Wharton School.
Based on student feedback, LBW 2010 was transformational for participants. One student’s assessment: “LBW has really helped me grow and change the way that I think. I have grown so much emotionally by working with the team and learning from all of the professors, RTAs and students around me. They helped me bring out the best of my personality and learn more about myself. I have also definitely expanded my knowledge and learned more about business and college than I could’ve ever imagined. LBW has definitely been of the greatest experiences of my life.”
We look forward to welcoming next year’s LBW class in summer 2011 and encourage interested rising high school seniors to apply. Click here to learn more about Wharton’s Summer Business Institutes. Questions? Contact Aviva Legatt at aviva@wharton.upenn.edu.
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