It’s not just business—it’s home

Description of the video:

Taurean Douglas, Assistant Director, Jellison Living Learning Center:
The Jellison Living Learning Center is a first-year residential community, of 500 students from all over the world, who are all interested in building and bridging community with other first-year students.

Michael Maa, BS’23, Finance, Statistics, and Business Analytics; Hometown: Princeton, NJ:
From day one, you meet people who are going to be part of your network. They live in the JLLC, you're taking the same classes with them.

Lauraine Davidson, BS’22, Public Policy Analysis and Law, Ethics, and Decision-Making (LEAD); Hometown: South Bend, Indiana:
It kind of gives you a partner that you can lean on to say like, hey, I'm doing K201 or I'm doing Calculus or Finite. We should do our homework together.

Taurean:
It's not uncommon for students on our floors to have their residence hall door open. Somebody like literally yells out of their room, I need help! Accounting, business presentations whatever the case may be, and somebody is there for them.

Keith Weisberg, BS’12, Global Product Lead, Google; Manhattan, New York:
In the JLLC, you'll meet students that come from all different walks of life and backgrounds. Whether they're coming from the other side of the country, or the other side of the world.

Taurean:
You're going to meet students who are interested in investment banking, technology, maybe nonprofit service.

Keith:
I remember doing certain classes that people will learn like, K201 and we're all doing the final project, and we're all in this room, just kind of hacking at it together, and one person figures out a more efficient way, and then we all jump on that, and then we get to the next problem. Having that experience of collaboration, really to this day, where you're in it together to move forward, and not trying to cut down each other, I think is a big thing that I learned being out there.

Lauraine:
We have a space called BASE, which is our academic or social area that students can come to, and sit down and study together. They can work on group projects down there, at our Collab lab.

Taurean:
You see a student over here doing some accounting work, you see five or six students in one corner practicing a presentation. Students have 24-hour access to it. So, whether you are ready to get some work done at 10 a.m., or whether you're a night owl and you want to do it at 2 a.m.

Michael:
If you find yourself struggling to put yourself out there, I know I certainly was my first year, there's always going to be people in that space doing homework, or trying to make those friends and foster those connections.

Taurean:
Students have the opportunity to potentially connect with somebody who they may be starting their first business with. They could potentially be building with somebody who might be that crucial contact for that career opportunity, 10 years from now.

Keith:
I now work in a strategy division at Google, and sometimes when I come up with a strategy plan, I sometimes want to sanity-check it off of JLLC friends who are in consulting. I can change it around in a way that I don't breach confidentiality, but I can get their feedback, if they think it'll hit the market.

Michael:
There are a lot of professional opportunities in the JLLC. We run professional development series events. Typically with each event, we have either a recruiter from a company, or an on-campus professor come and speak to a smaller group of students.

Lauraine:
I got to network with corporate partners and recruiters as a first-year student, and I was able to get used to talking with them. And it gave me experience to know how to show up to things on time, and to dress properly.

Taurean:
The programming takes place right there in Eigenmann Hall. When the fall semester is all said and done, there's a possibility we may have put on 40 to 50 professional development series events.

Michael:
We've had recruiters from Google, P&G, Old National Bank. These are people who are on the front lines of the recruiting process at these big companies, and it's a great way to practice those networking skills that are so important in the business world.

Lauraine:
I’ve built great relationships with the JLLC staff. All of them were so friendly and so helpful. If I need anything like a letter of recommendation, none of them would hesitate to give it to me.

Michael:
I remember in one of my first interactions with JLLC staff, the very first question he asked me was, "How are you doing?" That was really meaningful to me. It showed that this is a community, but also it's a family.

Lauraine:
Yes, we are studying, but also have fun at the end of the day, once you're done with all your schoolwork.

Keith:
I made lifelong friends and business associates that I still talk to to this day, that aren't only in the US but around the world. Those are the connections that you'll really get out of being in the JLLC.

Lauraine:
If you want a community to lean and depend on, if you want to get professional development within your first year, get exposed to companies, if you want to build relationships that are everlasting with the students who are on the same track as you, I would recommend the JLLC.