It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.
– Tom Brokaw
A career in business can be remunerative and fun. I also argue that it is a wonderful avenue for making a difference in the world. Business people produce goods and services that lift human welfare. The companies they operate provide employment and pay taxes that support communities. Our alumni are also directly active in their communities, giving generously to social causes, and often serving on boards of civic and charitable activities. Some work full-time for not-for-profit organizations, again, often in leadership roles. This spirit of giving back to the community is learned, often well before the student arrives at Darden. Yet Darden helps to foster this spirit. This begins at the top, so to speak: the founder of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, gave virtually all he had to the well-being of his community, state, and country. Darden offers courses on ethics, corporate social responsibility, and the management of not-for-profit enterprises.
Some of the most powerful learning about making a difference takes place outside the classroom at Darden. Through student clubs such as Darden Outreach, hundreds of students donate thousands of hours each year to support communities in the U.S. and internationally. Here are some examples:
**Charity Auction to Benefit the Shelter for Help in Emergency. For the past 16 years, the Shelter for Help in Emergency (SHE) has helped women in the Charlottesville area break the cycle of abuse by providing emergency shelter, counseling, and support services. Over the course of these years, Darden’s student body has raised over $250,000 in support of this cause.
**Building Goodness in April (BGiA). Last year, BGiA organized over 200 skilled and unskilled volunteers from the Darden and Charlottesville communities to rehabilitate 11 houses in Albemarle and county. Combined with over $35,000 in funds spent this year alone, we were able to help families repair their homes that they were otherwise not able to do.
**Other Local Outreach Activities included supporting the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen, the Venable Elementary School Tutoring effort, and Lego League (FTC Competition).
**Students Helping Honduras (SHH) was founded in 2005 with the goal of engaging students to help provide educational and economic opportunities to communities in Honduras. In the past three years, this group raised over $500,000, and successfully built an elementary school, a dorm, and an education center in Honduras. This year, three Darden students spent a week in Honduras with SHH, with the goal of increasing the number of students for next year.
**High Touch Abroad — Lesotho is a joint venture with the UVA School of Nursing’s Global Health Partnership. This summer, a Darden student will travel to Lesotho along with students from the School of Nursing, School of Medicine, and College of Engineering to provide consulting advice for medical clinics in the country of Lesotho.
I commend the students, staff, and faculty who have supported such projects. These activities enrich the needy and they enrich the Darden Community by their example and lessons. This is a powerful foundation for a life of business leadership.
Posted by Robert Bruner at 07/05/2008 11:44:25 PM