This August, the College of Business Colleagues is celebrating its first graduate.

Melissa Bukovinsky started in CBC as a freshman, and this fall she will graduate with a degree in finance after only three years.

“It was a pilot program where students would live together and take the same classes,” Bukovinsky said. “So, I thought it would be a good way to meet new people and transition to college life.”

The learning community is geared toward freshman majoring in accounting, business management, computer information systems, economics, finance or operations management, CBC program coordinator Jen Noble said. Even students who are pre-business majors are welcomed into the program.

Students in the program live together in a residence hall and participate in meetings, special programming, academic advising and career counseling, Noble said.

“The program gave me many friends, study partners, plus lots and lots of memories,” Bukovinsky said. “Since our group took classes together and lived in Metcalf Hall together, we got to be a very close group. I don’t think I would have got the same freshman experience without the CBC.”

The learning community offers students more personal advising, said Liz Sinclair-Colando, assistant dean of the College of Business.

“I remember telling Claudia Phipps, our academic adviser, that I was aiming to graduate early at the end of my freshman year,” Bukovinsky said. “With her help, I was able to schedule the classes needed to achieve that goal.”

Special events for the program take place during university orientation and twice per month.

One special event for the program allows students take tours to outside businesses; past outings have included trips to the Akron Beacon Journal and a Ford plant. Other events include motivational speakers, resume and cover letter workshops, financial analyzing, money management and mock interviews.

“We give students the opportunity to interview with companies that they may or may not want to work with, but because the business is in their field, it still gives them practice in the real world,” Sinclair-Colando said.

“It’s definitely worth your time to sign up for the program because you’ll get so much out of it,” Bukovinsky said. “Out of all the student organizations I had joined on Kent State’s campus, none had been as helpful as the CBC advisers and members.”

Contact College of Business reporter Joanne Bello at [email protected].