A Tweeting priest, and what he’s learning at Kellogg

Photo by Victor Sokolowicz

From Northwestern Magazine — By Sean Hargadon

The chants rose to the roof of the Owen L. Coon Forum: “Manny! Manny! Manny!”

The Cash Cows had just won the Kellogg School of Management’s new student Olympics, and soon Manny — who had emerged as a leader during the weeklong orientation program that pits teams of first-year MBA students against each other in collaboration-inducing competitions — was being tossed in the air.

“It was like a high school football game for me,” says Manuel Dorantes, who is also known as “Father Manny.” “It was phenomenal.

There are no stupid questions. Just ask a Nobel Prize winner.

First-year student Rohan Rajiv is blogging once a week about important lessons he is learning at Kellogg. Read more of his posts here.

In our first Microeconomics class this quarter, our professor spoke of her experiences presenting research to audiences that included Nobel Prize winners. She noticed that the Nobel Prize winners were most often the ones who raised their hands and asked questions. Some of the questions could be perceived as simple questions, as they occasionally sought to clarify some of the most basic concepts of the discussion.

When she observed this pattern repeat over and over again, she realized it was that willingness to learn and dig deep that made the Nobel Prize winners special. They might not have understood the topic when they started, but they saw to it that they didn’t stay uninformed for long. Our professor’s message to us was to make sure we asked questions about any concept we didn’t understand in class.

Our journey to winning the Deloitte National Case Competition

Matt Heintz, Andry Lesmana and Bora Sekeral represented Kellogg at the Deloitte National Case Competition in January. Here, the three reflect on how their team came to be, what the competition was like and what they learned from the experience.

Our original team was formed serendipitously and through a comedy of errors.

Matt showed up to the kick-off meeting thinking it was just an info session. He quickly realized the competition was kicking off immediately and that our team’s school-wide presentation was due in two days. Andry and Matt pulled a team together within the next 12 hours, and off we went to beat the clock.

We presented along with other Kellogg teams to a group of judges from the Deloitte Chicago office, where we were honored to take first place. Winning the school-level competition opened the door to compete with 14 other teams from top MBA programs across the nation.

Traveling to Thailand for my first business challenge

As natives of Brazil, Thiago Pinto ’15 and I want to give back to our homeland. Thanks to our time at Kellogg, we’re on our way to accomplishing that goal.

We wanted to leverage what we’re learning at Kellogg to impact Brazil’s economy, and we think we can do that by transforming the country’s underserved recycling industry. That is why we created New Hope Ecotech, a B2B startup that aims to connect packaged goods manufacturers with waste collectors via direct servicing and tradable environmental securities.

We recently pitched our company in the mai Bangkok Business Challenge in Thailand, and after finishing second in the competition, we’re ready to take what we learned and continue building a company we think will have a great social impact.

My Kellogg experience: An interactive timeline

Ben Dowell spent more than nine years in the US Army, a span that included combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. His dream, though, was to become an investment banker. So in 2013, Dowell left the Army and enrolled in Kellogg’s Full-Time Two-Year MBA Program. Since then he’s been elected President of the Kellogg Student Association (KSA), secured an internship —and ultimately a job — with Robert W. Baird & Co., traveled to Ireland and Scotland with his classmates, and much, much more. Oh yeah, and he received a Challenge Coin from President Barack Obama.

Tour Ben’s interactive timeline to see how he shaped his Kellogg experience and how you can shape yours.

Alumni Spotlight: Frank Muscarello ’03

Get to know some of Kellogg’s alumni who are bringing bold entrepreneurial visions to life. 

What happens when you start a business at age 22, grow it into a $20 million company and then lose it all in a day?

If you’re Frank Muscarello ’03 (EMP-55), you start another company. And this time, you build a better one.

Dining and learning with female business leaders

It’s been a busy few weeks for members of Kellogg’s Women’s Business Association. One of the key parts of programming in our mission to connect, support, and develop Kellogg women involves hosting business leaders for small group dinners. Students recently took advantage of two of these dinners, where they were able to learn from and network with three successful and inspirational women.