MAcc Orientation and a Service Project

This week was Zero Week for the MAcc program at the University of Utah. I am now officially a master's student. I am part of the largest entering MAcc class ever at the U. I enjoyed meeting many new friends and seeing many old friends throughout the week. 

Zero Week is a class the accounting department set up to orient master's students, and teach professionalism and team building. We spent the week listening to presentations, participating in worksheets, working on team projects, and doing service. 

The service project was one of the highlights of the week. We worked with the Road Home to renovate their Community Winter Shelter. The Road Home is an incredible organization. They never turn away an individual or family who needs shelter. During the winter there is a spike in the number of people who turn to them for help. To accommodate the increase in demand, they have their overflow shelter. It is located in Midvale in an old celery warehouse. The conditions were very poor. They are planning to tear down the warehouse and build a new facility, but due to permitting difficulties, they need to use the warehouse for one more winter. 

I was on a team for a number of my friends and we were assigned to work on the east dock area. When we got there it was filthy and we didn't even know where to begin. We quickly developed a plan and we went to work. We swept, organized, scrubbed, painted, and had a lot of fun. 






When we were finished with the dock and it looked so much better. The change was incredible. 



We finished our assigned work before lunch and moved on to help a few of the other groups. We ended up helping the group that was working on the bathrooms. It was tough work. They were not in great shape and as we were cleaning and painting it got extremely muggy. While we were working one of the advisors talked about the perspective she had she said, "I just think about the little girls who will come to this facility and be happy that the walls are purple. A fresh coat of paint can make a big difference." 


It was a really good service project. This location is still not a great place to live, but it is immensely improved. Our efforts made the news. I am told I was on channel 2, but I didn't see it. I did find a nice write-up in the Deseret News.  

We got to do a presentation as a team on what we learned from the service project about working as a team. Our task was to present the strengths we used to work together in a way that was entertaining and unique. My group did a parody of the silent monks. It was so much fun and we ended up winning second place. 

Overall this week was a good experience and I can't wait to get started with school. 

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