The annual Business Expo, hosted by the Moorpark College Business Students Association (BSA), provides students interested in careers in business, accounting, marketing, and more an opportunity to learn about career options as well as network with professionals.
Held on April 25, the day began with a brief welcome from BSA President Andrew Garcia, followed by three consecutive seminars with business professionals from a variety of different fields, and concluded with the keynote address by Disney.
Professor Navreet Sumal acts as one of the advisors for the BSA.
“Overall, we have been highly commended on the quality of speakers that we had, so a lot of people were very interested,” he said. “I think all the seminars were pretty well attended and that was really nice.”
Seminars included representatives from the music, investment, marketing, accounting, insurance, and video game industries.
“There is always an interest in entrepreneurship, that’s always our biggest draw,” he said.
According to Sumal, the most popular seminar was “The Waves of Entrepreneurship,” presented by Sunny Trinh, founder of 9:Fish Surfboards.
The keynote address by Disney also drew a large crowd in the Performing Arts Center. The two human relations representatives, Sarah Woodman and Andy DiGenova, spoke about the Disney College Program, a paid internship opportunity with the company that provides work experience at Disneyland and courses in leadership and business.
“The benefits are huge. Not only do you have a Fortune 500 company on your resume, you also have an inside scoop into a lot of different contacts from a lot of different lines of business,” Woodman said. “This really gives them their foot in the door at Disney.”
Those interested were invited to fill out an application at the Expo, or visit dlrcollegeprogram.com.
In order to plan for the event, the BSA has held meetings every week, as opposed to the normal alternating week schedule, since early this semester.
President Andrew Garcia, 18, owes the success of the expo to the hard work of fellow members and advisers, as well as experience from planning past expos.
“Everything at the end just clicked together and it was a success,” the business major said.
Next fall, Garcia will be taking the role of Director of Budget in Finance for the Associated Students.
The BSA is expanding and looking for new ways to connect students to local businesses according to student demand. Club meetings will be held every Tuesday next year at 3 p.m. in T-205. Those interested are encouraged to stop by.
