“Don’t look for the next opportunity. The one you have in your hand is the opportunity. When it can’t be done, do it. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t exist.”

                -Paul Arden

The rush from mid-term week has finally subsided and was followed by the first snow fall of the year. This year, I’ve mentally prepared a map to weave through buildings en route to Goodes to combat the impending cold weather (tip for first years: take advantage of the cozy halls of Mac Corry).

Yesterday, I saw several crowds of students wandering through Goodes with this dream-like look. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh quietly to myself. So hello to all potential future Commies! I truly hope you all had a wonderful visit to Queen’s.

My first visit to Queen’s was during the QLead conference in 2009, where I fell in love with the tri-colour campus. And there was this moment during the March break open house when I was walking down University, where I could just imagine myself as part of the campus. There was something that felt right about waking up in a Queen’s sweater and on some morning, thinking “wow. I go to Queen’s-I live on this beautiful campus”. Cheesy, but you have to admit that there’s something innately charming about the campus.

And hello also to the first years- cheers to surviving your first mid-term week! I’ve received a few e-mails about the books I recommended this summer and I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed them. As autumn rolls around, I have a few other titles I’d like to recommend:

1. “A short history of progress” –Ronald Wright (a history of the world, in some few pages)
2. “Freakonomics”- Steven Levitt (economics, but more interesting)
3. “Buyology”-Martin Lindstrom (ultimate marketing guide to why we buy things)

Also, I’d just like to say how inspired I was at this year’s CCSR weekend held by the Centre for Responsible Leadership. Double cheers to everyone who made the weekend a success and also to my favourite quote of the conference “Social entrepreneurs aren’t satisfied with giving a man a fish or teaching a man to fish. Social entrepreneurs want to revolutionize the entire fishing industry”.

Happy Halloween everyone. And thank you for reading.

It is difficult to reflect on the experiences which truly impact our lives. For example, if someone asks a generic question such as “who are you?”, you might respond with your career title, your name or (most likely) with a puzzled look and a loss for words. Similarly when friends and family ask me about the trades mission in August, the conversation usually sits through an awkward pause as I try to concisely express this adventure. “Good” just doesn’t quite cut it.

Junior Team Canada has been the most challenging and rewarding experience of my life.

And perhaps that’s the best way to begin.  As I’m sure that many of you are familiar with the arduous task of sponsorship, I will try to keep this brief. For the majority of June and July, I woke up to my alarm clock, sat down on my desk with a steamy cup of tea, opened up my laptop and asked myself what on earth I was doing with my summer.

JTC operates on the principal of “earning your spot on the bus” rather than lengthy application forms and transcript screening. We were each given the task of procuring a minimum of $5,500 for the trades mission. This was tough, especially without family connections- but I truly believe that this was the most important lesson I’ve gained from JTC: leverage your (dis)advantages.

For example, some of you in first year may feel as though students entering commerce with prior business experience have an advantage (I certainly did)- but consider framing the situation differently. Due to your prior academic background in the sciences or the arts, you are likely able to add a different dimension to the classroom and problem solving. You are also provided with the incentive to work harder and challenge yourself more than ever before. And the sense of achievement you earn from succeeding in a particular course will be exponentially more rewarding. This is an advantage.  

Sponsorship eventually came together (everything’s a little blurry at the moment), but there were definitely some key takeaways from this experience;

• Media (this gives any event or cause credibility)
• Referrals (adults all have a valuable network which you can tap into, so take the initiative to meet your mayor, the economic development office, MP, MPP, Lions club, Rotary chapter)
• Networking (introduce yourself, talk about the things you are passionate about- it’s a small world)
• Branding (understand where you can offer value, what would You.Inc represent?) 

By August 2, I had secured 11 enthusiastic sponsors and accumulated a hefty list of trade mandates to complete. Mind you, there was a significant degree of failing involved in my sponsorship efforts. It was tough to be ignored/rejected again-and-again via phone, e-mail, fax, in-person… but as Confucius once said “it does not matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop”

On August 3, I met the JTC ‘10s for the first time and took off to Beijing. If you are interested in reading about the details of the trades mission to China and Malaysia, feel free to check out these links:

• www.thegiftofanidea.tumblr.com  A blog about my experiences with JTC
• www.globalvision.ca Details related to the JTC program and an archive of our mission reports
• annie.wang@business.queensu.ca I would love to chat with you over a warm beverage :)

Prior to the trades mission, I had never stayed up for 24 hours or pulled an “all-nighter”. And in those three weeks, I had spent several days/nights working. Without caffeine. There’s something quite incredible about being on a JTC team and just… not ever feeling tired. Because you were genuinely in love with what you were doing.

Basically, it was our job to complete certain tasks on behalf of our sponsors; conduct market analysis, opportunity assessment, search for potential trade opportunities (importing, exporting, investment etc.) and work to establish positive cultural exchange. We met with businesses, not-for-profits, political leaders, youth, students. There was never a daily itinerary- the experience was what you made of it and often depended on how well you can improvise. It was flustering at first- how are we supposed to navigate this country with such a big language and cultural barrier in a matter of hours? How do we arrange a meeting with the CEO of a Chinese business for tomorrow? How do we take the subway/taxi/train/etc to the meeting in an hour? Where can we do laundry?  

So I guess if you were to ask me what I learned from spending three weeks in China and Malaysia, I’d say that I learned to recognize and embrace opportunity. Because golden opportunities tend to push us out of our comfort zones. And they tend not to be accompanied by applications or permission forms.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

I didn’t think there would be such a noticeable difference between the 1^st and 2^nd years of university. It’s hard to describe, but everything just feels different. What goes through your mind when you walk around campus, the way you perceive everything that goes around in Goodes, the amusement of watching the frosh trying to figure everything out, getting to see all the people from your high school a year below you walking around campus, etc. It’s like an “I’ve been here before, but not really” kind of feeling.

Career Launch and On-Campus Recruiting
The biggest difference by far is the job search and recruiting process. Some firms and companies are actually interested in hiring second years, so info-sessions weren’t to be taken as facetiously as last year. It started with Career Launch during frosh week where about 40 companies came to do mock interviews with students and they also had a networking session. Then, throughout the rest of the month, there were multiple info-sessions each day where you met the recruiting team and past interns/Queen’s alumni from the company. After attending info-sessions, you apply for the positions and go through interviews, often with pre-interview events and sometime with multiple rounds. One thing that will never change is that all these events are a great source of meals.

QCC and ICBC
Another thing that’s happened with past month is the Queen’s Case Competition. Having come to Queen’s with no business background and completely foreign to case competitions, I was pretty interested in them last year and went to DECA U. In September, the ICBC exec team and the QSB hosted the Queen’s Case competition. Last year, first years weren’t allowed to compete, but they changed that this year with the introduction of a tier system. So, in my first year of eligibility, a ton of 2^nd year classmates and I attended the event. Teams were randomized to include members of different years and interests, so it was a great experience. After the banquet dinner, the representatives from Monitor, who happened to all be recent Commerce grads, got a bunch of people together for a casual outing =). In the midst of all the QCC madness, ICBC applications went up and even though 2^nd years almost never get to compete, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to throw in an application. I think it was a good decision because at the end of last week, I was offered a spot to compete in the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition!

So all in all, a great start to 2^nd year and I hope everyone is having a great time as well.

Part of a series of posts from Bachelor of Commerce student blogger, Danny Hertz, written during a Loran Scholarship outreach project in the Philippines.

Yesterday I said my goodbyes to the friends I have made near the hostel where I live in Metro Manila. As a send-off gift, they decided to order me some of the Filipino delicacies that they knew I wouldn’t forget. Overlooking any concerns I might have had about getting sick immediately before embarking on a month of travelling, I agreed to go along with them. They warned me that I would want to soak everything they ordered in vinegar before consuming it for two reasons: to sterilize it and to make it tastier. That probably should have raised a red flag or two… After 5 minutes of watching it all cook on a home-made BBQ, I was treated to the following: pig intestines, chicken intestines, pigs ear and betamax (which was essentially cubes of chicken blood)! After trying all four dishes, I am happy to report that I lived to tell the tale, and the only damage I’ve suffered is a very sore throat from consuming about half a liter of vinegar to choke it all down.

Thanks again to everyone for following my updates this summer. Living in the developing world and working in microfinance has been both a rewarding and, at times, challenging experience; but I’ve learned a great deal about a fascinating and important poverty alleviation tool in a different part of the planet in addition to exploring some fascinating places.