From: Ashburn, Virginia
Studying: Business Analytics
An interview with Selassie Fugar, a second-year Impact Fellow from Ashburn, Virginia studying business analytics at George Mason University's School of Business.
What drew you to study at George Mason University?
I was deciding between three schools, James Madison, George Mason, and NOVA. My friends and family told me I fit in at George Mason more than anywhere else. It was a mix between family and friends and the connections Fairfax offers. The connectivity of people and the services they provide. It was easy to visualize other people in that setting. For me, I didn’t expect to get as many opportunities as I did in just two years of college. Within a few months of joining George Mason, I had emails flooding in with opportunities. I could apply to these things to improve my portfolio and add more to my skill sets. I think it really helped me grow in terms of communication and writing skills, the basics you need to push forward in the future. I find these really helpful to pursue a business analytics degree. You need to have transparency with the people you are working with and have to know how to connect and communicate properly and know when you are making the wrong mistakes. Also, with holding an interview, making sure you are formatting the right questions and having an agenda. That is the foundation and if I can build on that, it’ll carry me a long way.
Why did you decide to pursue a degree in business analytics? Moving forward, what do you see yourself interested in with a business analytics degree?
I feel it was more interesting than any other business majors out there. Business analytics is a fine medium between data, since I am the type of person who likes to do research, and how businesses use data. I think it’s a fine line of merging those two things together. Going forward, I see myself using my degree to maybe expand to law school and use my business knowledge I’ve gained with law experiences. I’m using business analytics as a stepping stone to get into law school and focus on areas of law that have business analytics within it. Then, use what I have been taught with excel sheets and expand on what people are going through. My main focus with law would be around the food sector. During the school year, I’ve been drawn to knowing a lot about food insecurity. I am targeting this area due to its rules and regulations. Looking at nonprofits, what they have to do or how they use their food to benefit the people they’re serving. If somehow they serve food that is not edible, they would be able to come to a lawyer to get justice in that situation.
How has the Impact Fellows helped you explore your area of research?
After the end of my first year, I got an email about one of the Oscar Programs concerning Bailey’s Culmore. I think that’s where I learned most of my skills in terms of interviewing and finding out what my passion was beyond the SDGs. I guess the one thing that pulled me the most was Zero Hunger, that’s when I began to narrow things down and focus on starting research regarding zero hunger. Then, I started doing projects aligning with zero hunger. I was talking to people who are in churches and are giving away food or talking to people who run gardens.
Why did you apply to the Impact Fellows? What are some of your best experiences in the program?
I didn’t want to get a regular degree. I felt I needed to do something a little extra. Not many of my friends who take business are in the Impact Fellows, so it just separates me from most of my peers. I think my best experiences are with the teachers who taught these Impact Fellow courses, like Professor Leila Austin and Dr. Karen King. They are really happy go lucky people, and they get you interested in these things. I feel their enthusiasm is rubbing off on me and that’s why I enjoy taking their classes.
Are you working on any projects in the Impact Fellows Program?
One project we are working on is with the Patriot Pantry. They wanted surveys to help them figure out how many people are insecure on campus. We are learning from other college communities on how they run their pantries to improve ours. We are doing all this research to help them create a kind of spreadsheet or a place where they can access all the data and to meet supply and demand for their students in order to give them food.
What would you tell prospective students looking into the Impact Fellows Program?
It’s really not a load on your back, so why not just try it out and see if you like it. If your passion is in the nonprofit sector or if your passion is concerning the SDG goals and improving the basic needs that humans deserve, then you should go ahead and join and see if it is your cup of tea.
What are some extracurriculars you participate in?
“Our cohort created a club called “Be the Change.” It is a club for the people in the Impact Fellows Program and the people who are planning for the future. It’s like a volunteering club, we volunteer with different organizations and help out. Recently, we’ve been doing a clothing drive for women and helping women in need. We are going to be sorting out clothes given to us by donation and giving to those people who need them.
What was your experience with the Summer Impact Program?
I think it was surreal to go to the area we were studying about and see the people in action and where they lived. I think the one thing I liked about the whole program was when we were given a simulation of the jobs in that area and we had to try to find housing and food accommodations. If we had kids, we had to try and fend for them. The money, effort, and time that goes into that, and seeing people living in that gives you an out of body experience. To see what people could be suffering through at Bailey’s Culmore, fuels your drive to help them even more.
Are there any changes you’d make to Mason’s programs or campus?
I think probably to First-Gen, in just the ways they present things. My parents were born here, so for First Gen students it would be difficult to assimilate and understand the resources that are out there for them to use. Maybe, emphasizing that it’s out there for people to get to know about is a big part of making the campus better. Providing a session for students to walk through so they can understand what they need in order to be a student or what they need to know in order to get through it. Like, financial aid and the opportunities of scholarships. It’s difficult to do so because the First Gen Center already has its own sector, and it is also trying to reach out to students. It’s whether students want to grab onto the opportunity that is being presented. It is just getting students interested in what they have to offer, which might be the biggest struggle.