Beyond Yourself Consumption Function

Beyond Yourself!

That was the rallying cry for a great event we recently held at Haas (and not coincidentally one of the four Haas Defining Principles). One Friday evening each month, different student clubs host a “consumption function” on campus. It’s like a big happy hour with free food and a different theme each time. On March 16, which coincided with the first Days at Haas for admitted students, we wanted to show off all the great social impact work that’s going on at Haas.

More after the jump.

Celebrating 2012 Chinese New Year At Haas

As one of important Haas traditions, on Jan 27, 2012, only five days after the official Chinese New Year, Haas students launched their own Chinese New Year celebration party at the Bank of America forum.

The Asia Business Club and students from Greater China region co-developed this fun party, bringing delicious Chinese food and fantastic performances to the Haas community. Here are some of the fun moments from the event!

Albert Wu decorates Haas with Chinese New Year “lucky graph” and “couplets”

Chinese New Year

Where do you get the opportunity to rock out with nunchucks (Bruce Lee style) in front of an audience of more than a hundred people? Only in the Chinese New Year Consumption Function at Haas.

Along with seven of my fellow classmates, I performed a kung fu demonstration at the Haas consumption function in celebration of the Chinese New Year. With 14-years of martial arts training, I volunteered to organize and choreograph the kung fu performance to showcase Chinese culture.

I am thankful for my seven brave classmates (Kenny, Moti, Jane, Daniel, Sherry, Joe, and Bundit) who signed up to perform with me despite none of them having any kung fu experience.

Over three practice sessions, I taught them basic kicks, a kung fu form, and some self-defense techniques. For the finale, I performed a nunchuck routine to roaring applause. We received extremely positive feedback. Most importantly, everyone who performed had a blast!

And what about the rest of the consumption function? That was a fun as well with a lion dance celebration (see video below) and guzheng performance (ancient Chinese musical instrument). We also had tons of FREE, delicious, Chinese food, and I even got to take home a tray. Yum!

– Chao Zhang

 

Community Events: EBC Fall Mixer & No Shave November

Just a couple of quick examples of events that have happened in the past few weeks, are already tradition here at Haas, and showcase the openness and values of our community.

The European Business Club recently held its Fall mixer in which students and partners from numerous European countries brought typical local food, drinks and trivia to share with all the other students and faculty. I think I have never seen the Wells Fargo room as full as I saw it during this event, which was a great opportunity to show the richness of Europe, in terms of cultures and flavors, to our non-European friends.

The second event I want to quickly mention is the reason why I have a beard in the picture above: No Shave November! During the whole 30 days, students agree to ignore the razor and we fundraise among friends and family to support Challenge for Charity (C4C),  a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that draws on the talents of MBAs from nine West Coast business schools to support local charities and develop business leaders with a lifelong commitment to community involvement and social responsibility.  On the final day of the month, the rights to be shaved are auctioned and the highest bidder, while donating all the money to C4C, decides how to shave the subject, who commits to stay in whatever facial situation the winner has decided for 24 hours. Yes, that includes going to class the following morning…Pictured below are the auction stage and the shaving area, which was busy until the late hours of the day. The result: 123 MBAs donated the rights to shave their beards/head/chest/legs raising in excess of $12,000!

check in to greatness, and great times!!

I’ve been in this wierd sort of place for some time now. I’m not sure if i can explain it though, but let me try, nevertheless… y’know, its that feeling that you should be doing something right about you, you start to do it, and procrastination kicks in, and then before you know it, Boom! somebody else has gone ahead and done it! That’s pretty much what’s been happening with me, and in the interest of you readers, we try not to repeat topics on this blog. Long story short, been a long break, and as Berkeley rushes into a weekend of stuffed turkey et al (basically amazing food), i figured it would probably be a good time to give you the quick run through on what’s been happening for the past few weeks.

But first, for the international prospectives reading this post, this weekend is Thanksgiving. (I’m sorry if it sounds patronising, but I actually was one of those people who didn’t know when thanksgiving was until i got here; i’m sure there are a few folks like me who appreciate the heads-up!)

So, what’s been happening here? You’ve all heard about some of the wonderful achievements for Haas these past few weeks; from football (soccer) to the Elite 8, to the stock pitch competition, (and others, i’m sure!!) and the small downer of having lost to Stanford in college football last week (although in all fairness we did win the battle of the bands hands down, so there!)… We also had an amazing consumption function to celebrate the Indian festival of Diwali. Diwali is the festival of lights, celebrated with great pomp all over India. In true Haas culture, we decided to have a bit of fun, and learn a lot along the way as well. How did we do it? Well, ladies and gentlemen, follow me!

We decided to put up a short dance/musical skit (Bollywood style), and 3-4 cultural performances. We expected to have a few people volunteer to participate. The response we got, quite simply overwhelmed us! Before we knew it, we had at least 30 amazing people, from all over the world (and I really mean it, all over the world!!) were dancing to Bollywood and Bhangra dance numbe

rs. The end result? By popular consensus, one of the best consumption functions that Haas has seen (and btw, by Haas standards, thats saying quite a lot!

There are things that all of us learnt from this experience. For those amazing people who had the courage to go beyond themselves and learn something new, kudos! For me, an amazingly humbling experience to see everyone in the community egging them on, cheering them on, as if we’re all family. But then again, maybe we are. I wish I could shout out to each one of you. But i’ll keep it for some other time. For now, go ahead and watch this video of us B school students balancing work with fun!

I guess I’ll stop this post right here.. more from me later! Cheers! and have a great Thanksgiving!

—addy

Cohort Karaoke Competition Tonight!

So every month there’s a Consumption Function held in the Haas Courtyard. All from the Haas community are welcome – students, partners, alumni, faculty, staff, babies, and dogs. Yes, even dogs. Typically there is over a hundred people who come out to socialize and enjoy the free food and drinks.

Tonight’s Consumption Function should be a fun one. Every month has a different theme and this time it’s the 1st Year Cohort Karaoke Competition. I’ve heard rumors that the 1st years are going to go all out. They’ve picked great songs and will be dressed up in colorful costumes. Can’t wait to watch the show.

—Philip Seo