SRBO Conference Trip to California

The UWGB Student Run Business Organization (SRBO) recently traveled to San Francisco, California for the Student Run Business Association (SRBA) annual conference at Stanford University. The SRBO student leadership team that traveled to the conference includes Chief Financial Officer Macy Dipietro, President Aubrey Pinkerton, Director of Human Resources Marissa Williams, incumbent President Sam Hudecek, Staff Advisor Kathryn Marten, and Faculty Mentor Tara Carr.

What is the SRBO? The student organization operates a business on campus, where students have the opportunity to make all the business decisions and work in a startup environment, without needing to invest their own capital or start a business on their own. Currently, the UWGB SRBO manages the Gift Shop at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts.

While at the conference, our students attended keynotes and workshops,and networked with students running businesses at universities across the country, including Stanford, Loyola, University of Dayton, and Harvard. The SRBO had the opportunity to take part in a virtual interview with Mark Cuban, one of the hosts of Shark Tank, while he discussed his investment in a student run business. The UW-Green Bay SRBO is proud to represent the only public university that has a student run business and is a national SRBA member.

Student group travel offers a wide range of cultural, educational, and personal benefits to students. The benefits for student travel include real-world experiences, patience, creativity, problem-solving, openness to trying new things, independence, self-confidence, time management, communication, and career development by networking. The SRBO leadership team was exposed to the intense West Coast technology world, which is the hub of innovation, tech companies, and startups.

It was the first time all of our students traveled to California. They made the most of our time by squeezing in as much sightseeing as possible, exploring the Golden Gate Bridge, the Muir redwood forest, Alcatraz, Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, Chinatown, and the headquarters of Apple and Google. While visiting each site’s gift shop, the students collected ideas on how to improve their own business, taking inspiration from every aspect of the trip and coming back energized to work hard and make their student run business the best it can be. It’s safe to say that this was an unforgettable opportunity for the students!

The Student Run Business Organization, like all co-curricular experiential learning opportunities in the Cofrin School of Business, is funded through our Corporate Sponsorship Program. Thank you to each and every business who makes opportunities like this possible for UWGB students!

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