Babson Wins the 2008 Duke MBA Games
A team of ten graduate students from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College recently participated in and won the 2008 Duke MBA Games. The Duke MBA Games is a fundraising effort organized by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business to support Special Olympics North Carolina. This was the second time Babson participated in the event, which was held on the weekend of April 4th-April 6th, 2008. It was also the 20th anniversary of the Games.
The Team: Standing: (L to R) Andreas Berghoefer M'08, Julia Adriana Cornejo Novoa M'08, Dhairya Gupta M'08, Kristie Earley (Special Olympics Athlete), David Raymond M'08, Phedra Khosropour M'09, Gil Drori M'09, Karen Panyalertrat M'08
Sitting: (L to R) Eric Burns M'09, Mark Itskovitz M'09, Aditi Chowdhary M'08
The students held fund raising initiatives to raise money for Special Olympics committee including a raffle sale, with prizes including a parking spot near Olin Hall, a BlackBerry phone and an iPod shuffle. The team also received generous donations from Professor Kathy Hevert, the Graduate Student Council, the Dean's Office, the Babson Entrepreneurship Club, and the Blank Center for Entrepreneurship. Babson's team proudly donated $1,500 to the Special Olympics committee.
The MBA Games is a weekend of fundraising and fun involving teams of students from some of the top business schools in the United States. Once students arrive at Duke's campus in North Carolina, each team is joined by athletes from the Special Olympics for a weekend of light-hearted sports and games. These events include the Swimsuit Relay where participants have to swim a pool while wearing a business suit, Briefcase Hurling, Tug-of-War, and the Dizzy Bat Race, among others. The Babson team got off to a good start by winning second place in the school cheer-off, the opening event of the weekend. During the main events, the team won the Swimsuit Relay, the Dizzy Bat Race and Beanbag Toss and came in third in the Ocean Cruise.
The team attributes their success to team work and collaboration, skills they of course honed while at Babson College. The team was comprised of four first-year students and six second-year students from the two-year MBA program. For the team, the high point of the weekend was interacting with athletes from Special Olympics. It was also a fun opportunity to get involved with a great and worthwhile social cause and spread the Babson brand. They look forward to repeating their victory in 2009.