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November 9, 2015

Business Students Connect over Dominican Culture at Babson College GDAE Program

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In celebration of International Education Week, Babson College Dominican students hosted five college students from the Dominican Republic on their campus as part of the Global Dominican Academic Exchange program, from November 2-8, 2015. The students bonded over cultural similarities while also being immersed in American-style business classes at Babson College.

The agenda for the week included campus tours of Babson College and Harvard University, along with tours of historic sites of downtown Boston, museum visits, and basketball games. During the day students had the opportunity to attend business classes with their hosts, selecting the courses based on their majors and personal interests.

Social activities were arranged at night time, where students attended a “SOCA” (Social Organization of Caribbean Americans) contest where groups had to answer all types of questions about many different subjects. Students were amazed with the “Rocket Pitch” event on campus, where Babson students had three minutes to present their business ideas, encourage judges to invest in their idea and, after the presentation, judges gave their input on how they could improve their ideas. The professors even allowed GDAE students to participate in the event by giving their feedback as well.

GDAE is a program that organizes a series of topic-specific events of short (maximum one week) duration in collaboration with the Dominican student organizations at a variety of United States universities throughout the year. The InteRDom staff works closely with student representatives to plan the activities, and then to recruit and bring students from Dominican universities to participate. Hosting events with different thematic concentrations ensures that diverse groups of Dominican students have the opportunity to participate.

The Global Dominican Academic Exchange program, a project of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its sister organization in the Dominican Republic, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), an extension of their internship, research, and study program, InteRDom, aims to introduce Dominican students to the American style of liberal arts education and encourage dialogue between Dominican students and their Dominican-American counterparts attending these institutions, thereby encouraging and inspiring partnership and entrepreneurship initiatives which will foster innovation and stimulate Dominican economic development and international understanding.

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