Diversity Initiative Brings Area High School Students to Smith

The Robert H. Smith School of Business welcomed 240 high school juniors and seniors and their teachers from eight Prince George's County Public Schools' Finance Academies for a half-day business, finance, and investment workshop, coined Finance Field Day on Friday, April 16.

"The event is part of our larger Smith Talent Acquisition and Referral System (STARS) strategy to increase diversity in the Smith School's undergraduate program, by attracting, admitting, retaining, and graduating students of color to the study of business at Smith," says Patricia Cleveland, assistant dean of undergraduate studies at the Smith School.

Each year the Smith School will host two events for students in Prince George's County Finance Academies as part of the STARS initiative. The initial event, an Introduction to College Workshop, was held last fall and co-sponsored by the Black MBA Association. The workshop armed high school students with information regarding SAT preparation, college-selection criteria, financing options, and admissions criteria in order to empower high school students to make informed, well-thought-out decisions when applying to college.

Finance Field Day provided more substantive information on the type of environment students can expect at Smith through a series of intensive and informative workshops about financial markets, stock performance analysis, careers in business and finance, and real-world impact on the economy. Visiting high school students teamed with Smith undergraduate and alumni mentors in the school's Netcentric Financial Markets Laboratory to analyze stocks and assess investment potential. The students worked in small groups of four to six with a mentor to compile information that helped them formulate recommendations that they can later expand on in their Finance Academy program. Smith mentors joined the students for lunch, with entertainment provided by undergraduate students in a fashion show that demonstrated lessons in proper business attire and professionalism.

"Our undergraduate student mentors also give presentations and workshops in local high schools - targeting the freshman and sophomore classes. In March, two groups of student mentors addressed students at Flowers High School (Springdale, Md.) on personal financial management and entrepreneurship," says Cleveland of the other initiatives developed for high school students.

Smith's Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team - a non-profit student organization that focuses on promoting financial literacy, ethics, and entrepreneurship in the community - delivered the in-school presentations. Smith's SIFE team recently won the regional championship in a competition requiring them to produce an annual report of the semester's activities and give an oral presentation. The team will travel to Kansas City, Missouri, on May 23 to compete in the national championship round.

The first Finance Field Day was a huge success, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Dargeelyn Loftin, president-elect of the Smith School Alumni Chapter; Jasper Wilson, supervisor of business education for Prince George's County Public Schools; Susan White, teaching professor of finance at Smith; and Chuck LaHaie, manager of Smith's Netcentric Financial Markets Laboratories.

The Smith School thanks its high school student visitors! "We are excited about this event and will invite our visitors back to experience the full range of campus life on Maryland Day next weekend," beams Cleveland.