Winter Wonderland Wonderland

Many Farmer School students use winter break as the ideal opportunity to study away or abroad . While the locations and courses vary, each had a profound impact that went far beyond the course material .

Amber Peskin, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship and social work traveled to San Francisco with ESP 461, Entrepreneurial Consulting .

“When someone asks about my ESP 461 San Fran experience, I think of the final moments after pitching our idea to Major League Baseball . It felt like the end of an 80s movie when the theme song plays and each person returns to real life . That shared experience was magic . I know that one of the teams quite literally played ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ while leaving the parking lot . It was a moment of joy for all of us - to excel at something extremely difficult . To know that the laughter, tears, and countless hours we put into this had meaning . And it wasn’t about winning - it was about the learning process . We proved a lot to ourselves that day and had fun doing it .”

For Bradley Yoger, a junior finance major, the “impact moment” in his South Korea program wasn’t course related .

“A core memory from my time abroad in South Korea was visiting the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), which is the contested border between North and South Korea . I remember catching a bus into the countryside and eventually began to see barbed wire along the roadside with caution signs with “Mine” written . Pretty cool to see . Upon arrival, I got to take a hike down a tunnel hundreds of feet below ground level, eventually reaching a viewing point of North Korea . This consisted of an opening in a rusted metal door surrounded by barbed wire . This tunnel and viewing point has been the entrance into South Korea for North Koreans attempting to invade in the past .

“This particular recollection of my study abroad experience stands out as the most profound, due to the surreal nature of the experience . Being as close as one can get to North Korea, at a location often on global news, and on the opposite side of Earth, I found myself saying, “Out of all the places in the world, I am here” .

The Sistine Chapel brought junior supply chain operations and management major Emily Sauer to tears . “No picture or replica could have prepared me for the beauty and art I witnessed standing in complete awe in the Sistine Chapel . I remember standing there with tears streaming down my face when my professor, Dr . Terri Barr came up and hugged me .

“Dr Barr had asked me if both the Sistine Chapel and our trip to Vatican City was everything I had hoped it would be . When I responded, “Yes . And so much more,” she told me that was the exact reason she does study abroad with students . To witness people like me having the greatest experiences .”

Beer and friendship were the memories marketing senior Cassidy Schlotterbeck cherishes most from the multilocation Brewing Industry Field Study

“Joyride Brewing is a small, 10-barrel brewhouse located about fifteen minutes outside of Denver While we were there, I had the Black Razz Blonde Beer . This beer won silver at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival . One thing to note about this beer is its fruitful taste and aroma .

“This memory is representative of the entire trip . All of the owners and tour guides at every brewery were more than willing to share their experiences, answer any questions, and help all of us further understand their company . Along with this, hanging out with everyone from the trip was always very fun . Throughout the weeks, I made a couple of lifelong friends on this trip . Overall, this trip was one of my favorite experiences as a Miami student .”

Meeting FSB alumni and pitching to a managing director at Mizuho Securities during Wall Street Week were key takeaways for Mickey Fanella, a junior double majoring in accountancy and finance .

“Pitching our stock to a managing director at Mizuho Securities in this big conference room was pretty intimidating, going back and forth with him on the data that I had, the data that he had, and debating on our stock choice . It was definitely daunting, but I think that it was the best experience that I had from the program

“The alumni reception we had, I think there were 50 or 60 alumni there . It was really cool to see the Miami presence that we have in New York and on Wall Street . Hearing some of the stories being told from the older alumni with decades of experience on the street, hearing their stories about their young days when they were first starting out . It taught me that when you’re young, you really have to stay hungry and really think outside of the box to gain trust with the people you’re working alongside .”

It’s clear that even though these courses were less than a month long, the effects and learnings were timeless.