Tyler Konkal: From Lucas Hall to City Hall
A significant portion of my day at the San Jose Office of Economic Development involves tasks given to me by my supervisor. He is diligent about making sure I have work to do and that my time is occupied with content that will support my experiences and interests in commercial real estate development. With any downtime, given my Leavey School of Business education, I take advantage of that time to utilize the resources at City Hall to make my time productive.
I find this situation similar to my in-class experiences throughout my undergraduate education. From BUSN 70 freshman year to MGMT 162 now, I am consistently presented with material in class that professors encourage or require work outside class to supplement my learning. I have learned to take full advantage of the resources I have at hand.
This is precisely what my business education has taught me: proactivity. Most of my professors at SCU truly want me to understand the material beyond the midterm and final. In other words, they treat the material as knowledge about the real world. This has instilled in me the desire to extract information from my internship that will help me in my professional pursuits after graduation. The free time I may have during my work hours is now filled with discussions with my coworkers, boss, and clients, because I’ve been taught by SCU to take full advantage of my time.
Additionally, group projects throughout my coursework has taught me the nuances of business communication. For example, BUSN 179 exposed me to differing communication styles and taught me how to handle situations quickly. This not only applies to more high-pressure situations like a presentation, but also to general correspondence with my coworkers.