A-List Summer Excursions Part 1: Google and Gardeneers

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust

Summer means sun and fun, and it also means vibrant opportunities for networking, mentoring, and volunteering when you're on the A-List!

Summer sunflowers at a Gardeneers site on the South Side of Chicago, where Kendall summer students and A-Listers and I volunteered with Chicago Public School high-schoolers, growing healthy futures!

This summer I was asked to create a course of excursions on American Business Exploration for international students visiting Kendall College in Chicago from countries including Brazil, Chile, India, Korea, Peru, and Thailand. I structured the course around the concept of networking, mentoring, and volunteering as comprising a cycle of success toward innovation in American business.

I orchestrated excursions to large and small companies where dear friends of mine are founders or managers, such as Gardeneers, Google, Hannah's Bretzel, TOMs, Kimpton Hotel Gray, and Chicago Design Museum, to illustrate those themes.

Then I invited my A-Listers -- US and international students who earned an A in any course of mine -- to join in and to add their sparkle to these exciting excursion opportunities.

We all had a blast!


First stop: Google!

Wall of Googleyness.

We took a private tour of the vibrant custom offices of Google Chicago, and learned about Google's unique culture of teamwork, internal networking and psychological safety, where employees feel free to share ideas without judgment, so that innovation can happen.

Here I am with awesome A-Listers on our excursion to Google!
Left to right: yours truly Professor Valerie Beck, Doina Railean, Goncalo Loureiro, Daniel Wigutow, Martim Castro, Benedita Pinto, Mikaela Turner, Kadisha Mukhamejanova.

Welcome to Google: yours truly Professor Valerie Beck with A-List Ladies Kadisha Mukhamejanova, Mikaela Turner.

A-Listers meet summer program students on our Google excursion!

Thinking big at Google.

Straight to the top: our tour of Google Chicago included a visit to the rooftop, where big dreams have space to fly.
Thank you to our Google friends!

Some A-List feedback:

"I really liked this field trip.... Google is one of the biggest successful companies in the world, and all the Google buildings in the world are kind of known as an incredible secret dream work place that only a few with special contacts have the possibility to go inside and visit. It was a privilege to be able to see what and how the amazing building looks like inside, and so to get to know  some of the perks of working there."  - Martim Castro

Summer program student feedback:

"Before I start to talk about our excursions I would like to thank you! You helped us a lot! And the 5 P's [Purpose, People, Product, Process, Profit] together with the networking, volunteering and mentoring is something I will take for life and to all the projects I have. ... I loved to see the employee culture of google and how that leads to innovation." - Naira Barros

"Thank you very much for those amazing excursions!" - Suhant Mehta 

Next stop: Gardeneers!

Sprouting up at Gardeneers: yours truly Professor Valerie Beck with A-Listers Benedita Pinto, Martim Castro, Michael Wulfstat, and Kadisha Mukhamejanova.

Founded by my fellow Harvard alum Adam Zmick, Gardeneers is an impressive non-profit that creates school gardens in food deserts, with the mission of empowering underprivileged kids to connect with healthy food through experiential, garden-based learning.

I brought our Kendall summer students and A-Listers to the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, to volunteer on one of Gardeneers' over 20 school garden sites, where we gardened side by side with high school students in the program, as new friendships were formed while weeding, planting, and doing some heavy garden labor too!

The culture of Gardeneers promotes personal growth as well as garden growth.

Wave if you love gardening!
Here are Adam and I with high school Gardeneers, Kendall A-Listers, and Kendall summer students. Thank you, Adam!

South Side of Chicago, in the Englewood neighborhood, just across from the Gardeneers site we visited.

Two Kadishas!

Benedita in the sun!

Strong volunteers Michael and Martim handling heavy labor duty in the garden!

Garden at the end of the tunnel!

Onward and upward, growing gardens and community through Gardeneers, and growing summer excursion magic!

Some A-List feedback:

"We had a glorious morning today, such a great time in the garden! Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. It´s great for us having these opportunities in different types of businesses." - Martim Castro

"What I enjoyed most about our summer excursions was the incredible amount of diversity and culture that we were exposed to." - Michael Wulfstat

Summer program student feedback:

"Gardeneers, such an amazing idea! They integrate all the 5Ps [Purpose, People, Product, Process, Profit] with the community!" - Naira Barros

Next: see Part 2 for our excursions to Hannah's Bretzel and TOMS, as A-Listers continue in the culture of networking, mentoring, and volunteering, and continue to inspire pride!

Onward and upward!