2020 GMBA Coffee Chat
國際事務室暨GMBA辦公室
撰文者／會計系一年級任采蓁、GMBA二年級 Lea Nowack勞莉雅
在學期期間，GMBA學生幾乎每天都能在學校或課堂上見到彼此，但即使如此，大家仍對大部分同學的背景與他們的興趣嗜好一知半解。為解決這個問題，GMBA學生會通常會邀請同學在下學期的必修課上課前進行GMBA Connect的簡短自我介紹。然而，今年受到新冠肺炎Covid-19的影響， 108-2學期突然增加了許多線上課程與防疫要求，這個課前自我介紹被迫暫緩舉行。儘管如此，疫情的限制仍擋不住同學們的熱情，他們仍找到一些替代方法讓同學能盡可能分享關於自己的事。GMBA辦公室請三年級的Megan建立一個清楚又有條理的資料庫，裡面記載著關於二年級學生的個人簡介，除此之外，現任GMBA學生會成員的Lea與Hana，更在暑假期間舉辦三場小而美的Coffee Chat活動。在這個每場限制12個人出席的活動中，GMBA學生更能與同儕深入地交流、聊天，同時更新彼此自己的暑假行程與覺得有意義的活動，順帶分享更多關於自己的大小事。學生會也很貼心地為大家準備了許多問題提示小卡，內容從專業的經驗分享到個人的喜好與興趣都有，讓出席的學生能更快速、簡單地開啟話題。
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| A group photo of the afternoon 大合照 | Taking a group photo again 再次合照留念 |
透過這幾次的Coffee Chat，來自不同年級的GMBA學生們彼此交流有趣的個人小故事，也分享了許多實用的建議與資訊。有的人甚至參加了不只一次，只因為他覺得每次的聚會都能得到不同的樂趣，聽見不同的特殊經驗，更深認識不同的同學，非常有意義。例如，有人很愛水肺潛水或是喜歡做藝術蛋糕，有人聊起他剛起步的創業投資，還有人分享了自己在暑假踏訪的景點以及品嚐過的美食，在在吸引大家的關注與聆聽。除了上述課外話題，同學們也討論了新學期即將開始的課程與其過往的評價，我們很開心能看到校友、學長姐跟學弟妹無私地分享他們覺得具挑戰的課程，或是熱門但又讓人收穫滿滿的課程。對許多人來說，這幾次的Coffee Chat最棒的地方莫過於能在一個輕鬆的環境下和GMBA的家人們分享彼此的近況，無論是有關工作或家庭上的事情。其實學期期間，這類話題常常會因繁重的課業、工作與家庭的壓力而沒有很多時間與精力去觸及到，因此能找到這樣的機會真的難能可貴。Coffee Chat讓同學在一個輕鬆且友善的環境之下更了解彼此，儘管每次活動時間都長達好幾個小時，但快樂的時光總是一轉眼就過了。
雖然GMBA Connect首次採用這種Coffee Chat的方式舉行，但參與的同學都很認同這類型的安排，讓大家除了以出席正式應酬場合來拓展人際關係外，又多了一個能輕鬆享受愜意午後時光的選擇，因此未來GMBA學生會將考慮多多辦理這類型的活動。
GMBA students see each other frequently in class but sometimes still lack knowledge of peers’ backgrounds and interests outside of the classroom. Therefore, the GMBA Connect program typically has students share short presentations about themselves before the spring semester’s evening core courses. However, due to COVID-19, this past 2020 spring semester’s online class requirements made sharing presentations before class difficult. Therefore, students found other ways to share about themselves. Megan (GMBA 2020) created insightful online profiles highlighting different students in the 2021 batch. Furthermore, Lea and Hana (GMBA 2021) of the current GMBA Student Council hosted 3 coffee chat sessions over the summer. During these small sessions of only 12 students, GMBA peers were able to catch up with each other about their summer activities while also sharing more about themselves. Various prompts were provided for conversation starters that had topics ranging from professional experience and career advice to personal hobbies and fun facts.
Through these coffee chats, GMBA students from multiple batches were able to share different fun stories and pass along useful advice and information. A few students even attended multiple sessions because they had such a great time! Some students shared their unique past times such as scuba diving and cake decorating. Other students led riveting discussions about their different start-up business ideas. Students shared places they had visited that summer and what tasty foods they had tried. Next semester’s classes and course recommendations were also discussed. It was great to witness alumni and upperclassmen give advice about courses they found challenging as well as high praise to courses they found rewarding. And for many students, the best part was just being able to spend time with their GMBA colleagues in a casual setting and discuss how they were doing day to day – how their work was going, how their families were doing, etc. During the school year, these are usually topics that we forget to talk about or do not have time for due to work or school stress. The coffee chat sessions allowed students to get to know each other in a relaxed and friendly setting. Each session lasted for a few hours, but the time felt as if it went by very quickly.
This is the first time GMBA Connect was hosted in this fashion, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. While MBA students enjoy going out for drinks and attending professional networking events, it is also nice to have a casual afternoon event as well. The GMBA family benefitted from being given a chance to sit around a table and talk freely and openly over snacks, coffee, and tea. Due to the positive feedback, the Student Council is considering to host more of these types of events in the near future.
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| Students catching up on each other 同學們愉快地與彼此分享近況 | Listening to someone’s interesting topic 聚精會神地聆聽 |
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| Having a great time with each other 每個人都很開心見到彼此 | Chatting in a cozy way 隨意圍著桌子天南地北的聊天 |
