- April 4, 2017
- 9:54 am
- Quinlan Ramble
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Quinlan Ramble Reflection- Alejandra Jimenez
New York City, one place that now has two facets in my mind, pre-Ramble and post-Ramble. I’ve had the privilege of visiting the Big Apple on several occasions in the past. Visiting mainly for leisure, NYC always left me with the same impression, fast-paced, vibrant, but very intimidating. So when I heard this year’s Quinlan Ramble trip was to New York, I felt uneasy, because I thought “Been there, done that”, and how wrong I was.
This week in New York really catapulted me into the work-mode of New York. Early mornings, subway commutes, and sneakers-to-heels transitions are some typical things for the average New Yorker, not so much for the typical college student, but something we had to experience ourselves to embrace the New York way of life. It was so transformative that three days into the trip, I no longer felt like an outsider, something that I had never experienced in my past travels to the city.
Experiential learning is a key component of the Loyola experience, and business and professionalism are concepts that you think you understand when you’re in the classroom, but truly grasp once you’re actually doing it. That’s exactly why Loyola’s core has engrained in it so many hands-on initiatives for its students. It almost seemed as my three years of higher education, tweaking-up my resume, perfecting my handshake, and so many other things Business career services has taught me in my years in Quinlan, have been leading to this trip. Jesuit education is very transformative, and through the Quinlan Ramble I was able open my eyes to new industries, corporate structures and career journeys.
Beyond visiting companies, the Ramble made me learn more about myself, what career path I want to take, what culture is the best fit for me, and what values a company needs to draw me in. I would describe it as eye-opening, I was under the perception I had figured out what was the work environment I was looking for, and when I got there (as a visitor) I noticed that I wasn’t as certain anymore. This trip forced me to establish the criteria that are important to me when starting my career.
I closed my application to the Ramble with a daunting challenge for myself:
“Finally, I hope to truly understand how the city operates, functions, and what problems it faces in order to compare it to Chicago and get a better understanding of the challenges faced by metropolitan areas in the United States, this will start the thinking process on of how to solve these problems and give back to the cities that have helped me become who I am today.”
New York, Chicago, and any other place in the US and the rest of the world face challenges that will be up to us to solve. From income inequality to climate change, our generation has massive amounts of work to do, and I personally believe being profitable should no longer be business’ only aim. To my pleasure, it was great seeing that corporations are taking steps toward being more holistic, and their values are not far away from my personal ones. While the challenge I imposed upon myself when applying to the Ramble is complex and huge, my experiences in New York and Chicago have kick started the gears in my mind towards solving these issues, never forgetting to do well by doing good.
Alejandra Jimenez
Quinlan Class of 2018
Economics & Marketing