Learning to Communicate and Cooperate.

In my first semester of college I had the opportunity to take my first business course, Freshman Business Initiative with Dr. Musoma. Through out the semester we were challenged to complete many different tasks; from attending my first college career fair to creating my first official resume. But the one project that impacted me the most was our group research presentation over the "Energy in Nigeria". I learned many important business skills in the process of completing this project a few of them being teamwork and communication skills.

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Teamwork: While attending Mays Business School this year I have learned that there are certain business skills that we are expected to uphold and learn over our time in college. The project I mentioned above was the first time in college that I had to work in a team to complete a task. I quickly discovered that the only way that I would be able to achieve success was if I worked together with my team, and utilized each of our strengths. My group and I set the bar high for what we desired to accomplish, I was always on time, I helped complete the research, and I tried to be prepared to get through anything with my team. Although teamwork is a skill that I have been developing for years, I found that through this experience I was able to understand how teamwork can be useful in the business world.

Communication Skills: One skill that I have always struggled with is public speaking, and communicating with people that I have never met before. I can tell you that in this research project I had the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and present our presentation to other students and professors in the business school. Although I was really nervous I know that the experience was great practice for the types of situations that I will go through in my future career as a business woman. I know that I will never be perfect, but through out my time at Texas A&M I plan to grow and develop my communication skills to the best of my ability.

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In conclusion, I'd like to express the importance of all of the core competencies that the Mays Business School stands for. They aren't suggestions, they are required skills that each of us need to learn if we plan to be successful out in the business world someday. These skills are our preparation for the things that we are to come in contact with in our future careers. So although I am only nearing the end of my freshman year as a business major, I feel that I am gaining experience and knowledge everyday that will help me to be sucessful in my future.