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Freshmen visit Société Générale

Coursework , Event Recaps Stories | Nov 02, 2011 |

Freshmen in Janet di Lorenzo’s section of The Ground Floor visited the Manhattan offices of French banking giant Société Générale in October. Below, students Krishma Kapoor (GSB ’15) and Daniel Chapple (GSB ’15) offer their account. The Ground Floor, the introductory business core course that all freshmen take, introduces students to all business disciplines and gives them an inside look at the New York City business world.

 

Dr. di Lorenzo's class in the Société Générale boardroom.

On Wednesday, October 19, 2011, our Ground Floor class took a trip to Société Générale. The trip provided us with a tour of some of the trading floors as well as the chance to ask questions of and interact with young professionals who were in our shoes only a couple of years ago.

Walking into the building, the first thing we read was the company’s motto: “Building Team Spirit Together.” That alone symbolized the energy there, but by the time we walked into the boardroom, we knew we were in for a unique opportunity. For us, as well as for many others in the class, entering that boardroom was a defining moment. It was then that we truly realized we had left high school behind and that life had started. With this realization came gratitude for attending Fordham — an institution that provides outstanding opportunities that make the city our campus. To have the privilege of being in such a motivating environment and to experience such a life at this young age is spectacular.

There are many times when people look back and say, “I wish I knew then what I know now.” It became obvious that being at Société Générale would stop that cycle. Right there, we were learning exactly what we need to know now to make great decisions for our futures. By showing us the possibilities that lay ahead, the trip sparked within many of us a hunger to seek and achieve great things. The visit gave us knowledge that could only be obtained hands-on; no speaker or textbook could teach us what we learned here.

We discovered there was much more to the application of business than first meets the eye. Observing the world of finance outside of the classroom energized us. It felt like a portal into the business world was opening — one step, to be sure, on our four-year educational journey.

— Krishma Kapoor and Daniel Chapple 

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