Class Presentation and UChicago Alumni Dinner

Today in my sustainability class, we had to give presentations on key findings from the State of Green Business Report. My topic was direct vs. supply chain impact. The whole idea behind it was that it would be more beneficial for companies to compare the environmental impacts made directly or in their supply chains to see where they could make the most change in aspects like their environmental impact and innovation. Once we heard all of the presentations, we then broke up into groups and came up with our top five key findings which we believed was the most relevant to supporting 3BL adoption and "making the cause" for change.

Once we were done with that, we logged online to listen to a supply chain webinar. It didn't really go in the direction that our teacher wanted it to go in so we stopped that and we changed gears. After this, we went back to go over what GRI's (Global Reporting Initiatives) are. They are basically ways is the most widely used sustainability reporting framework and  its core goals include mainstreaming of disclosure on environmental, social, and governance stuff. As a little treat for us, my professor assigned us in to different sectors and we were to go over their GRI guidelines and see if they were sustainable or not. I had media and my partner. We had to do the assignment quickly because I had to leave soon for the UChicago alumni dinner.

Once I finished my assignment, I want up to my dorm and changed then I grabbed Dani from her room and we both headed outside to wait for our car to take us to the restaurant. When we all arrived, we got in the cab and we were dropped off at the Omni so we could meet up with Alie and walk to the restaurant. It has been almost a week since we've seen Alie and talking on the phone isn't the same as a face to face interaction. When we saw her we all attacked her with a hug and started rambling about how our classes have been like and what we have been going through academic wise. After we got each other caught up, we walked a few blocks over to our restaurant, The Capitol Grille.

In our dinner, we had two admission officers from and four admissions interns from UChicago join us. I talked mostly with the three admissions interns, Leilani, Teddy, and Eric, because I sat closest to them. All three of them are going into their second year at UChicago and they all have in common that they moved from a place that wasn't so accustomed to snow and the cold. Teddy and Leilani are both from Southern California while Eric is from the middle of Arizona. They all shared their experiences with their first winters here in Chicago. Teddy and Eric both advised that it would be smart to invest in a good durable winter coat and that even if the price looks scary, it's worth it because you'll get a lot of use out of them. Teddy shared that on his first day of UChicago he wore flip flops to school and he hasn't seen them ever since.

Eric was able to explain what dorm life was like to me and it is done Harry Potter style where there are houses within each dorms and everyone gets sorted into a house and that is where you live for the year. The people living in the dorms are picked by random so that there is a diverse number of people living together. Every different house has activities that they do together as a way to bond together and it all ranges from going out together to eat or hosting unique parties. A tradition that is done here at UChicago that I wasn't aware of is a Scav Hunt which is a really big scavenger hunt that is played by a lot op people here on campus. The items on the list are all unusual and crazy including, miming in the middle of a metro, playing the bass for a professor all day, and building a nuclear reactor on campus. They got shutdown by the FBI just in case anyone was wondering. 

Group Picture

What I really got out of the dinner tonight was how the people at UChicago are like. I really enjoyed talking to Leilani, Teddy, and Eric. I felt like was able to connect with them easily and I didn't have to force myself to talk to them, it came naturally. I haven't really had the chance to really get to know any UChicago students like I did tonight so i don't really have a sense of what the school community is like. Our guests tonight were able to help me have a positive view on what the overall community is like here at UChicago.