Donald Schuch ’21 LABB Intern – The first week of the LABB program was interesting to say the least. While I was expecting to be sort of lost in ways due to my inexperience with business, Roland has done a fantastic job running through key business concepts to give all of us a better understanding. The readings have been engaging and applicable to our group projects. While I have already adapted to the demands of this program, the part of this program that I have already found the most helpful is the amount of communication skills developed. To begin the program, each one of us had to give a four-minute presentation on something we are passionate about. We consistently have group discussions on varying topics each and every day along with frequent uses of elevator pitches sprinkled throughout. These are very effective and has forced me to become more comfortable with speaking in front of others as well as how I am marketing myself to others, especially in interviews. Lastly, the amount of communication required to formulate a good business pitch exceeded my expectations. Over the course of last week, my group and I have met multiple times for hours in order to formulate our business pitch. It was great to see how much really goes behind trying to start a business and getting investors to fund you. However, this does take a great deal of communication as different members of the team all have to know what’s going on, but it may be in the best interest of the group to divide up the work. For example, myself and one of my partners took control of the marketing aspect of our startup while our other group members focused on the financing. In order to effectively do this, we had to constantly communicate and run ideas past each other in order to determine what will work. All of these stories have contributed to the advancement of my soft skills and knowledge of the business world.