Author Archives: akhanna4

Have a QUESTastic Summer!

Posted on by

As the weather warms up and finals draw near, QUESTees are excited for the summer to start. Between internships and other cool summer activities, the students plan on keeping busy. Also – check out the QUEST-suggested summer playlist below!

Cohort 40 student Akash Marakath will be getting the most out of his break. He will spend his summer on the golf course as an instructor while participating in tournaments! Marakath also plans on traveling this summer and breaking his lifting records.

Reflecting on the semester, he really enjoyed his first QUEST class – BMGT/ENES190H. He said, “I’m grateful to my team and my mentor for making my 190H experience amazing!” He has learned a lot and is excited to apply it in his research.

Akash Marakath (second from left) with his BMGT/ENES190H team and client

He will be conducting research for Northrop Grumman. Through research, Marakath will help adapt the sensors for an autonomous boat created to identify dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay. This is a great project to improve the Bay!

Cohort 39 student Adelina Seck has an internship with Capital One as a Business Analyst at their McLean office. She, along with other QUEST students, are looking to have a great learning experience with Capital One. 

Adelina Seck (right) pictured with Karen Nyugen (Cohort 40).

From Cohort 37, Bobby Chen has awesome plans as a Software Quality Assurance Engineer Intern at Tesla. Also, he is excited to hang out with fellow QUESTees working in the Bay Area!

Bobby Chen

Here are some songs to add to the playlist for your summer QUESTs! Thank you to all the awesome QUESTees who gave recommendations to this playlist:

  1. Stoked by Weston Estate
  2. Buttercup by Hippo Campus
  3. Better by Khalid
  4. Summertime Sadness by Lana del Rey
  5. 3 Nights by Dominic Fike
  6. All Of The Girls You Loved Before by Taylor Swift
  7. Heaven by Niall Horan
  8. OMG by NewJeans
  9. California Gurls by Katy Perry
  10. Strawberry Skies by Kid Travis
  11. Message in a Bottle by Taylor Swift
  12. Titi Me Preguntó by Bad Bunny
  13. Tieduprightnow by Parcels
  14. One More Weekend by Maude Latour
  15. Soapbox by The Wrecks

To all of QUEST, have a wonderful summer vacation, and we can’t wait to see you next semester!

Following Your Passions: Alum Spotlight on Nahom Tekle

Posted on by

Nahom Tekle from Cohort 24 graduated from the Robert H. Smith School of Business in 2016 – but his impact is still here! One of his major accomplishments as an undergraduate student at Smith was participating in the Smith Business Academy (SBA), and he has come full circle, working to expand SBA to other schools today.

The Smith Business Academy is a student-run program for minority men within the business school. Based on national standards, minority men have a historically lower graduation rate, and SBA wants to overcome this. By following their founding intention – “Building men with distinction” – SBA focuses on creating a supportive community where personal and professional development is promoted.

Tekle speaking at a recent Smith Business Academy event

Continue reading →

Alumna Shares the Exciting World of Product Management with QUEST

Posted on by

The semester has started and for the second time, QUEST is offering a very exciting elective course: Product Management (BMGT438N)! This class is filled with twenty QUEST students, a lovely TA, an amazing professor, and many guest speakers that are excited to help the class learn about Product Management.

This semester, the course has a new professor, Jessica Alves De Sa, a Product Manager at Shopify and QUEST alumna from Cohort 16! She has experience in consulting and product management and is excited to share her knowledge with the class.

Continue reading →