HARVARD
Ricardo Muņoz
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HARVARD Ricardo Muņoz |
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When I found out I got accepted, I decided to dedicate a page to the good news! I have been accepted to the 1999 Summer Venture in Management Program at Harvard University!!!!
Harvard University uses this program to recruit students for their Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program. Harvard selects about 70 students from across the country every summer to attend this program.
I am very proud to have been selected for this program, and looking forward to meeting the other students selected from all over the United States. When I get back from the program, I will give the details!! Check back after the summer!
Ricardo Muņoz
Hello, all, and thank you for checking back for the exciting conclusion of my journey of studying (and a whole lot more, as you will see) at the Ivy League's most prized university, Harvard.
Before I really start, though, I want to make a disclaimer. I just want to apologize in advance for the bad development quality in some (or all) of these pictures. It wasn't me!!! I was using a disposable camera, and I guess sometimes you get what you pay for. Well, anyway ... let's continue, shall we.
My journey begins with a $29.50 cab ride to the Harvard Business School from Logan Airport. But, me being the optimistic person I am, do not let such a thing bother me too much. As I am rolling my suitcase through the campus, passing Kresge Hall, Aldrich, the HBS Baker Library, and Morgan Hall, I feel like I am in a movie, and this is not real. Everything looked just like I had always imagined, but just better lawn care! (just kidding :) I kept saying to myself, "self, you are actually here. You are actually here."
I finally make it to Hamilton Hall (as in Alexander Hamilton), where I would be staying. The weekend before the studying began, I spent my time sight seeing around the entire campus while I took in a few nice runs along the St. Charles River.
Now is the first day of classes, and I am ecstatic. I will begin learning from these Harvard professors, expanding my mind, all that smart stuff...little did I know how much I would actually gain from it all!
The "front row crew" is where I found my seat. We all had a sign for our names, and we got to keep it! Yeah :)
The large Harvard Insignia is something surprisingly hard to find on campus. I would think they would be everywhere, reminding you that, "yeah, you're at Harvard! You're the man (or woman)!
Now, here I am after class in front of the HBS Baker Library. I think it speaks for itself, and that's me, the little guy in front of the door. Compliments to Tiffany-Monique for taking the picture. The inside is just like an old, traditional, library with a lot of dark wood tables and chairs, but no air conditioning! It was such a rush just studying in there. It felt like the spirits of HBS greats were studying with me. I know that sounds cheezy, but that's how I felt! I just FEEL smarter when studying here! As you can guess, I like this library.
A really cool thing was talking to all the students from other schools after our classes were done for the day. I am a member of SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers), Kettering University chapter, and I met quite a few people that were also in SHPE like Anaiza, the one in the picture with me, who is the new president of her chapter at Cornell University. We talked for hours about our chapters and what we could improve on and what things we did well and stuff like that. She was really cool to talk to, and I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but she is pretty tall! I'm over 6 feet tall, and she's right up there.
During my time there, I was able to see famous Harvard Square. There are a lot of street performers, music, cafe's, and plenty of speed chess. The building in the background is typical of the beautiful architecture of Harvard's campus. Behind that building lies most of Harvard's undergrad campus.
But, in between the time we spent racking our brains on challenging case studies, we were able to take it all with a smile. These pictures are of some of us at the program. Most of us became pretty close in the short time we were on campus, and I have a feeling I will be seeing a lot of these guys and gals again as classmates at the HBS in the near future (keeping my fingers crossed!)
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To learn a little about the area around Harvard, our fearless leader, Tim P.!!, who took this picture of all of us on the trolley, arranged this trolley-tour of Boston. The tour was definitely cool, and Boston definitely has a "theme". Boston seems to be the oldest EVERYTHING in the United States!!!! Everything the tour guide said was about Boston being the oldest this and that. This is my guess why so much construction was going on in Boston during my stay. Everything is old!! It needed to be repaired!! (Just kidding).
My absolute favorite part of the whole tour was the brief moment we went down Boylston Street and we saw.....(drum roll) the finish line for the Mecca of all road running races, The Boston Marathon. As a runner, this was very significant moment. Ah, may I have a moment of silence for the Boston Marathon Gods ........ Also, now that I think about it, I'm sure the Boston Marathon is the OLDEST MARATHON IN THE USA!!!
Along with a city being practically the oldest everything, it's bound to have some interesting history stuff. I really get into history, and I was truly breath taken when I saw the monument for the Massachusetts 54th Military Brigade, the first African-American military group to officially fight in the Civil War who courageously stormed Fort Wagner (yes, I remember all that stuff, like I said, I'm a history buff). If you haven't seen the movie "Glory" (1988 was when it came out I think) with Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick, I highly recommend it. The monument might have a deeper meaning for you after seeing the film. This monument was another one of my favorite parts of the Boston tour.
Moving right along...right when our week of Harvard MBA schooling was about to come to a close, we decided these moments needed to be captured. Getting all of the group pictures were a priority, and below are some of the many group photos from the program.
Here are the Black and Gold Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. holding on for dear life it seems!
And here are all of the lovely ladies of the program.
Even some of us guys took a time out from eating for this picture at the picnic table.
Last, but not least, was the moment when we all "graduated". Aaahh...Graduation!
Well, that about wraps up my experience at Harvard University. The Harvard Business School Summer Program, SVMP, was an experience never to be forgotten. Man, I still get emails from people I that were in the program with me. We are planning a reunion for June or July of 2000. Hopefully I can make it, and then maybe I'll put some more pictures from the reunion for you all to see.
I have to say thanks to Leslie for mailing me some of the pictures to put on my site. I know it took me quite a while to put them on the site, but hope the wait wasn't too bad. Take care have fun!
