Disclaimer: Anything written in this blog represents the opinions of the author, and no one else. Each blog is written lightly, and is not intended to offend any of the mentioned businesses, locations, students, or staff.

This year, I have had the privilege of being a UMass Lowell Student Alumni Ambassador. Through the Student Alumni Ambassador Program, I have had the opportunity to spend time with and network with a variety of alumni, develop my interpersonal and professional skills, and learn what it means to be a future UMass Lowell alumna.

The first goal of the Student Alumni Ambassador Program is to foster and promote the development of relationships between alumni and the entire University community. Specifically, the Program creates relationships between alumni and students, faculty and staff through University events.

The second goal of the Program is to connect current students with the Office of Alumni Relations and University Advancement. The Office of Alumni Relations works to engage, connect, and reconnect alumni and students to create a strong UMass Lowell community all around the world. University Advancement creates a culture of engagement and philanthropy for alumni, parents, friends, corporations, foundations, faculty, staff and others in support of UMass Lowell by building, cultivating and stewarding long-lasting relationships to secure private financial support to advance the mission of the University as it becomes a world-class institution.

Currently, there are about twenty Student Alumni Ambassadors. All of the Ambassadors meet at least once a month for a two-hour session of briefings and workshops. There are several University events that the Ambassadors are required to attend throughout the year. In addition to the required events, Ambassadors are invited to other exclusive events where they meet and interact with alumni.

If you are interested in becoming a Student Alumni Ambassador, applications will be available online here in January 2015 (only a couple days away!). Feel free to reach out to me with specific questions regarding the Program by commenting on this blog or emailing me at Thalia_Chodat@student.uml.edu or emailing the organizers of the Program at SAA@uml.edu.

As finals week is coming to a close, it’s hard to think another semester has come and gone so quickly. Even though many of us, myself included, are still working hard to finish out our last finals, we need to all breathe a sigh of relief because winter break is coming!!

We are very lucky at UMass Lowell because our time off for Winter Break is over a month long. That means we will have a lot of free time that we’re not used to during the school year. In order to make the best of your winter break, take a look at a few of these suggestions…

1. Make a list of everything you want to accomplish over break

At the start of break, it may seem like you have all the time in the world (it is a WHOLE month after all), but with the holidays coming up and all the time spent sleeping in, those days go by fast. Making a list allows you to see the goals you want to accomplish, so you don’t come back to school feeling overwhelmed by things you didn’t do over break.

2. Make time for family and friends

This one may seem like a no brainer for some of us, but it can be tough with busy schedules to spend time with everyone you’d like to. Plan to get coffee with old friends or spend time doing some Christmas baking with family. Making plans at the start of break, or even before you come home, is your best bet so you can be sure to catch up with everyone on your list!

3. Sleep!!

One of the most rewarding part of break, especially after a particularly tough finals week, is being able to jump into bed and catch up on those long lost hours of sleep. After having an 8am two times a week, I am going to be thrilled to have a few extra hours of sleep every night!

Good luck on the rest of your finals, everyone!

Disclaimer: This post reflects the thoughts and ideas of the author and the author alone.

I have been preparing my move to North Carolina at the end of the semester and time has been flying by. Previously, my boyfriend and I had planned on holding a Co-Op position for the semester in NC to be closer to family. Well, our plans have changed. We decided to stop pursuing the Co-Op and instead restart our dog business, Puppy Pals Andover, that we had created while still in high school. I have been so excited about our choice because we had a fantastic time running our own business the first time around.

I have been eagerly setting up everything possible before we get down to NC. One of my biggest projects has been creating a website for our new company, Puppy Pals of Heritage. (The picture above is the heading for our website) Now, to be totally clear, I am not a computer person. That being said, designing a website has been  insanely fun. It took about two weeks, but I have finally finished and will be publishing very soon.

The reason I am sharing this is because I feel like the website will very much help our company with marketing and promoting ourselves. I think designing a website can be seen as expensive or even intimidating to create, but I have found it is much easier and cheaper than it may appear. It is definitely something to consider for anyone who owns a small business.

I think my website came out very clean and professional. It should be a great way to build business and help get word out for our company! When I publish my website, I’ll be sure to post the link to anyone who wants to check it out.

Disclaimer: This post represents the views of the author and the author alone.

The DifferenceMaker Manning School of Business and Digital Federal Credit Union Innovation Competition took place last night, December 3^rd, from 6-9pm in the Saab ETIC Atrium on North Campus.

The judges were Jim Regan, President and CEO of Digital Federal Credit Union, David Araujo, VP of Information Systems at Digital Federal Credit Union, Scott Latham, Interim Dean of the Manning School of Business, and Holly Butler, the Director of the DifferenceMaker Program. Professor Steven Tello, Associate Vice Chancellor of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development of UMass Lowell, MC’ed the event.

“The Bears”, made up of team members and business students Joseph Baglio and Meghan Foster (another MSB blogger), won the top prize of $500 each, in addition to $200 for making it the finals. The team won a total of $1,200 in prize money. They pitched an idea for a subsection budgeting banking system app for DCU. This app will help DCU clients budget their money into different categories to promote organization and assist visual learners.

Congratulations, The Bears! You both did a terrific job of representing the Manning School of Business at the DifferenceMaker Competition. Good luck pursuing your entrepreneurial venture!