Hi everyone! My name is Alison Smith and I’m a sophomore at Pitt in the College of Business Administration majoring in Marketing and Supply Chain Management with a certificate in International Business and a Spanish minor. I am very interested in how businesses operate globally in varying cultural contexts, which is why I chose this course of study. I’m so excited and grateful to be participating in this global service learning program to Bolivia this semester because of the opportunity to combine my passion for Hipanic culture and interest in the nuances of non-profit organizations.

I’m originally from Lancaster, PA and always thought I would stay in eastern PA to go to college, but here I am at Pitt! From the first time I toured campus, I knew I would find my home here, and now almost halfway done with my four years, I can truly say that I have. 

Here at Pitt, I’m very involved on campus and I love to stay busy. I currently serve as the VP of Professional Development for the university’s chapter of the American Marketing Association, which means I’m in charge of maintaining relationships with marketing professionals and planning professional events for our members. This has really helped me develop leadership skills and make some amazing friends. I also recently joined Phi Gamma Nu (PGN), a professional development organization. This semester, I’m interning part-time at the Pittsburgh Office of the National Kidney Foundation as a marketing intern and at La Escuelita Arcoiris (a local Spanish immersion preschool) as a social media marketing intern. Outside of school and work, I enjoy doing yoga, reading, and exploring Pittsburgh’s many neighborhoods. 

As a curious person with many interests, I am always looking for new challenges and experiences, which is one of the reasons I decided to take part in this course. This course and trip over spring break will be my second time going abroad with PittBusiness. After my freshman year, I went on Plus3 Costa Rica, a two week program where we focused on learning about the supply chain of coffee and bananas. During this trip, I fell in love with the vibrant culture of Latin America and had to step way outside my comfort zone by living with a host-mom who spoke no English. While I loved my time in Costa Rica, I knew that I wanted to participate in another study abroad program that would let me be more hands-on and complete a meaningful project. 

GSL Bolivia presents a unique experience for the eight of us participating this semester in that it requires a higher level of engagement and reflection due to the fact that we are engaging in service learning. Service learning is a unique approach to education that is different from community service because of its focus on a reciprocal relationship between the students and the client, as well as the emphasis on self-reflection before, during, and after the experience. Throughout the time we are in this course, we will be completing a consulting project for a non-profit called CEOLI located in Cochabamba, Bolivia. CEOLI’s mission is to provide education and life skills to children and young adults with physical and mental disabilities. They do this by providing different forms of therapy, job-training for young adults, and other supports like help with motor skills and language/communication. 

This year is the fourth year of a ten year partnership between PittBusiness and CEOLI. Our goal in this partnership is to help CEOLI create sustainable streams of income to support their organization, which can be very challenging given the social and economic context of Bolivia. Recently, Bolivia has been the subject of international news due to political and social unrest having to do with the October 2019 election. Bolivia has also long struggled economically, making it that much harder for NGO’s such as CEOLI to stay afloat. As we have been learning in class, context is key to doing a project well and ultimately creating good deliverables. 

Throughout the semester, our team has been working with Amizade (CEOLI’s partner in the US), the faculty at Pitt, and of course our main client CEOLI. So far, I’ve learned a lot about how to work in a professional team, how to manage a project effectively and ethically, how to maintain good client relationships in consulting, and much more. Although we are still towards the beginning of the course, I have already learned so much. One of my key takeaways so far is that working as an effective team requires a lot of intentional communication, commitment, and motivation from all members. I’ve also learned a lot about the importance of honesty and staying accountable to different stakeholder groups throughout a project engagement. Accountability is a very big focus for us in this project because we know that our work matters, and that we (and future GSL groups) will have to live with the consequences (whether good or bad) of our work. As a sophomore with no previous consulting experience, these are all challenging things to learn, but I hope to continue this process over the course of the semester. 

Personally, I hope this program helps me get outside my comfort zone and practice my Spanish. I am also very excited to have the privilege to travel abroad and experience Bolivia’s unique culture first-hand. Lastly, I am passionate about the work CEOLI does, and I am unbelievably excited to get to meet the people (especially the children!) of CEOLI. 

On a professional and academic  level, my goals in participating in this course are to challenge myself to further my global competency and gain practical consulting skills. In school, we’re told all the time that the business environment is constantly becoming more global, and I believe the best way to learn to adapt to this is by putting myself in an unfamiliar situation and getting to apply the theory I learn in other classes. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of this semester will bring!