NANYANG FELLOWS MBA

Fellows MBA – Orientation

Article written by Venkatsubrmaniam Wuppuluru, Class of 2017

11^th July 2016 – First day of Nanyang Fellows MBA program. Personally, for someone who is going back to school after 9 long years, there were mixed emotions. There were some, in our cohort, who were coming back to school after 25 long years. A lot depended on the orientation week, which I believed would ultimately set the tone for the rest of the year.

Day 1 of orientation: The first half dedicated towards completing joining formalities. Post which, we were treated to an enticing lunch, followed by the welcome & introduction session, presided over by the Associate Dean and senior leadership of the Nanyang Fellows MBA program. We were also given briefings on the programs

A team building activity was scheduled for the second half of the day. The venue for this event was Cookyn Inc. The required the entire cohort to be split into multiple teams, roll up our sleeved and test our culinary skills. Thankfully, we had experienced chefs, who were guiding us in our humble efforts to make dishes, which eventually had to consumed by the ones who made it. The thought of having to eat the food prepared by ourselves meant, the cohort gave it their best shot. In the retrospect, I strongly believe the effort, put in by the cohort to study the finance module, would be a fraction of the efforts they put in to make those yummy dishes.

This event was the perfect start to get the ball rolling and paved the way for the students to get to know each other.

Day 2, the first of the day was slotted to give the fellows cohort, a feel for the case studies (which would eventually command most our time at NBS). Professor Vijay Sethi (named Business Professor of the year, 2013, by the Economist Intelligence Unit – EIU for being the world’s best educator) presided over the session and needless to say, it was one of the most enthralling sessions.

Post lunch, “Getting to know our campus” event was planned for the latter half of the day. Again, the fellows class was split into multiple smaller groups and the event was based along the lines Amazing race, where we were given maps and tasks to perform. The purpose of this event, was to give a first-hand understanding of the campus & facilities to the students, in the shortest possible time and in a most engaging manner.

Day 3, again was dedicated to check the logistics aspect of the program. However, the highlight event of the day was the Photoshoot, where our future LinkedIn pictures (format pictures) were clicked. The entire experience was fun and yes, we did try out best to distract the students while clicking pictures and did out bit to try and make the life of the photographer, a little miserable. All in good humor and we are glad, the photographer saw the lighter side of our mischiefs.
Detailed sessions were also conducted by the library staffs, to give us complete information on the facilities available at the library and the journal subscriptions that we were entitled for.

Day 4, little did we know that the “Getting to know our campus” event was indeed a pre-prep event to ready us for the actual Singapore Amazing Race event – a full day event. The team were split to ensuring optimum mix of local Singapore & International students in each team. The purpose of this task was to give the International students a feel for the culture of Singapore, give the international students a feel for the public transport system, cuisines and covering some of the important landmarks of Singapore. The entire event was planned well and its objective was to FastTrack the international students understanding of the new country and make them feel at home.

Day 5, if the previous orientation activities were fun, this day was ADVENTURE. The agenda for the day was team building activity at Focus Adventure @Sentosa. The day began with our instructor – Albert King, pushing us out of our comfort zone, making us dance (first time ever in my life, where I had no choice but to dance), team tasks, reflect and eventually set the tone for the rest of the year.

It was followed by a raft building session. The class was split into two teams, we were few plastic rods, inflated tubes and ropes, to build rafts. The goal was to each the other side of the water body on the raft first. Although there was a twist, in the task, the entire event was fun. We got to swim in the beaches of Singapore and the task was a memorable one.

Post this task, we took a break for lunch. Delicious food under a shed with rains pouring down, typical of Singapore weather. Once the rain receded, we were again split into group and this task was the mother of all tasks, we had come across during the orientation week.

We were given safe equipment and the task for us, was to climb up a 24m tall majestic tower, in groups of 4’s, lead, motivate and guide our team members to complete the walk on the top of the tower, overcoming our fears. If one person falls, the entire team not only fails, but also falls (we would be hanging by the safety equipment). The challenge was to push the team mates to overcome their fear and complete the task.

Overall, a BIG thank you to NBS team and Albert King for coming up with an amazing plan for the orientation week and making our journey back to school, an enjoyable one.