Thank you for supporting Honors Cohort last school year! Save the Date for November 14th, when we will be kicking off our fundraising campaign for the 2019-2020 academic year. More information will be posted then!

Thank you to everyone that participated in this year's fundraising campaign: The Battle of the Classes. There was a tie for the class with the most participation - The 21st and 22nd Honors Cohorts! Regardless of the winning team, the support from each and every one of you is appreciated. None of the opportunities our students receive would be possible without you. 

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

Thank you for all of your support! The Honors Cohort Program would not be what it is today without all of you. We only have one day left to donate - which class will end up on top?

Thank you again for all of the support we have received thus far – we are incredibly thankful for you. We are in the final stretch of the campaign with only 11 days left to donate. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Opportunity.

Whenever I’ve been asked, “Why Cohort?” I always respond with, “Opportunity.”

Fresh out of college, I can look back at the bend in the road that was Cohort and see how I got to where I am now because of those opportunities — opportunities that continue to propel me forward and for which I will be forever thankful.

The opportunity to learn from smart, passionate peers and meet of some of my best friends.

The opportunity to challenge myself academically and professionally and to hone my professional, networking and presentation skills.

The opportunity in the form of connections. Thanks to the Honors Cohort program, I landed a job at CleanTurn Enterprises.

The opportunity to have immersive business experiences in global hubs such as Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Brazil; and to learn about the vast array of opportunities around the world.

The Honors Cohort program continues to make a difference in my life.

Every day, I utilize the skills I learned during Cohort. In August, I moved to Sacramento, California, to begin a year of service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC). During this year of service, we have a modest stipend of $100 per month to live in solidarity with those we serve. I am working at Mustard Seed School, an emergency school for homeless children. When these children become homeless, they often stop attending school. Some lack immunizations, birth certificates or other documents; some are in transit, and almost all lack a support system. Mustard Seed intervenes to provide emergency schooling and help the kiddos get back into public school. I serve as an Outreach Assistant, connecting parents to local resources, stopping by motels and homeless campsites to share resources, networking with other nonprofits, and spending time with the school’s children.

And every day, I am thankful for the support of the Cohort. From care packages to donations to phone calls to texts, I have already felt the support and love from my Cohort family — and for that I will be forever thankful. 

Thank you for being part of the Honors Cohort family, for supporting the program and for making so many opportunities available!

The current senior class is picking up momentum!

We all have a story to tell.

Hello! My name is Sangeet Brar. I am a third-year student from San Jose, California, specializing in finance and minoring in public policy. I am involved on campus as a Fisher Ambassador and Peer Advisor, and I am a member of the 22nd Honors Cohort.

The Honors Cohort Mock Interview Day was one of the most impactful professional experiences I have had at Fisher. I am so grateful to the Honors Cohort program and all of our corporate partners for making it happen.

During the Mock Interview Day, my peers and I had the opportunity to interact with corporate partners and practice telling our stories. Each of us interviewed with six different companies and received real-time feedback. We were asked traditional behavioral questions, practiced case interviews and even practiced our online HireVue video responses.

Interviewing with top companies such as Deloitte, P&G and EY in front of my peers was unlike anything I had ever done before. The day was full of many firsts for me. I had never performed a case interview or a group interview, or received such candid feedback from my interviewers. Needless to say, I learned a lot.

I was able to learn from my peers’ responses and from the things they did well, and from those that could be improved on. More importantly, the criticism I received was specific and actionable, and I will be able to apply that feedback moving forward.

What surprised me most, however, was the confidence I built throughout the day. The Mock Interview Day was one of the first times I truly felt Fisher pushed me out of my comfort zone. I know as a member of the 22nd Honors Cohort, I will get many more opportunities to challenge myself and develop as a leader in my community. Without this experience, I never would have learned how to change the way I framed my stories to fit different interview questions or how to be successful in a case interview. I learned about myself and my classmates, some of whom I did not know as well before this experience.

I am so grateful to have had this opportunity, and I can finally say with confidence that I have a story to tell, and I know exactly how I want to tell it.

Now, as I look forward to the next chapter of my story working at JPMorgan Chase’s Corporate Analyst Development Program in New York City, I want to thank you for supporting a program that has made such a difference in my life.

The current junior class has the lead!

The Honors Cohort Impact Challenge is what has made an impact in my life.

What is the challenge? It places students on teams that will be responsible for planning and executing a community service project. 

For me, the challenge brought together a team of seven of us to attempt to make a lasting difference within our community. Little did we know that over the course of a year we would have built a nonprofit entirely from the ground up. GROW (Getting Ready for Opportunities & Work) has become a full-functioning organization that is working to provide housing for youth exiting incarceration.

Our past year was a great success! We were able to partner with a service organization called Buckeye Reach to implement a personal development curriculum for nearly 40 young men incarcerated at the Circleville Detention Center. Not only that, we were also able to donate over 400 items to Star House, a youth homeless shelter in Columbus.

We had achieved our goal of making a difference, but how could we keep our impact sustainable?

Well, there are some exciting times ahead of us! We hope to raise $600 for the IRS filing fee in order to receive 501(c)3 status by showcasing a feature film called Like Any Other Kid. This documentary reveals the latest developments in juvenile justice reform: examining the use of non-punitive therapeutic programs around the nation. This aligns perfectly with our housing model we plan to create! We just received great news that we have moved on to the second round of the President Prize Award, which President Drake grants to two graduating seniors to work on a social project. If we are selected as recipients we will receive $50,000 in funding to get our nonprofit up and running. We will continue to organize an annual donation drive, but this time we hope to support youth who are housed at the detention center. We are also excited to revisit the youth at the Circleville Detention Center to continue to foster their growth and development!

Truly, I would have never imagined being afforded such an opportunity to do something like this. This has been such a challenge, and as a result I have grown tremendously.

I have learned how to lead, by having to rectify intense conflict, being assertive for key decisions, and even helping to establish a vision that everyone can be on board with.

The Honors Cohort Impact Challenge has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and embark on something that seemed beyond my abilities. Yet, it has allowed me to become a better leader. I am so thankful to be able to work alongside six amazing teammates, and to have the help of Ty Shepfer along the way.

Passionate. Energetic. Leader.

My name is Lily Yan. I am from Toledo, Ohio, but I grew up in Denver, Colorado.

I am currently a 4th year student at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business studying accounting and economics, and I am proud to say I am in the Honors Cohort program.

My recent internship was a perfect example of how Honors Cohort has made a difference in my life.

This past summer, I interned with Dimensional Fund Advisors in Austin, Texas, in its Financial Advisor Services department.

One of my favorite experiences with Dimensional included volunteering with the Central Texas Food Bank where we helped provide and package over 19,000 meals. This was a great opportunity to give back to the community that touched me personally. Throughout the service component of cohort last year, I was involved with starting a local non-profit in Columbus combating youth homelessness, so it meant a lot to me to be able to serve the homeless population in Austin as well.

At the end of my summer internship, our team was asked to come up with three words to describe each intern. I have done similar exercises with companies I previously interned at and the words I received back then were very different. 

In the past, they described me as:  Insightful, quiet and thoughtful. These aren’t bad words by any means, but in the past, I was a lot more passive at work. I was scared to speak up in a professional setting. I rarely voiced my true opinions, and I never even thought about disagreeing with people on my team.

This time, they described me as passionate, energetic and a leader.

In that moment, I realized that being in the Honors Cohort has changed my mindset. It has given me a platform and the confidence to raise my hand. I learned how to challenge ideas without challenging people. I learned to be comfortable asking questions, taking the initiative to help lead and guide my peers, and stepping out of my comfort zone one seminar discussion at a time.

Thank you for supporting Honors Cohort, which has been an incredible experience for me and instrumental in my development as a leader.

My name is Lauren Holly, and I am an Honors Cohort student.

I want to personally thank you for supporting the program! Support from donors like you has made a true difference in the program, and I want to share how the program has made a difference in my life.

I am not your typical business student.

In addition to majoring in finance at Fisher, I have minors in dance and nonprofit studies. Having so many interests, it was difficult for me to visualize myself in any particular career. College can be intimidating when it feels like everyone around you has a plan; they know where they want to go and how they plan to get there. The summer following my sophomore year proved to be the peak of this concern for me. 

The Honors Cohort Program helped me to overcome this hurdle.

That summer, I decided to reach out to Ty Shepfer, director of the Honors Cohort program, for help in figuring out who I am.

Little did I know that decision would turn my approach to life upside down.

Ty immediately put me in contact with alumni and older students to learn about their stories. The connections I made provided me with more insight than I ever could have hoped for. One student in particular from the 20th cohort class helped me craft my story, and in doing so, prompted me to reflect on my path and personal growth in a way that I had never done before. 

Cohort has not only helped me in my career, but I can say with full confidence that this program has allowed me to find and express my voice. It can be difficult for a college student to discover their own worth. The staff, mentors and peers in this program are brilliant, and each offers a unique perspective.

At the start of this program, I did not know my own value. Through group projects and discussions in class, I was able to discover my value and speak my truth. This program has allowed me to see the strength in being an atypical business student. It has allowed me to make lifelong friends. It has allowed me to be brave.

Thank you for making a difference in the lives of Cohort students!

A NOTE FROM NANCY LAHMERS

Former director of Fisher’s Honors Cohort program  

I was a bridge in so many ways. A bridge between Deb Ballam’s determination to create a very special program for business students. A bridge to Ty Shepfer’s dynamic, forward-thinking approach to experimental learning today. A bridge between 30 cohorts each year. A bridge between organizations and their big ideas. A bridge to explore dreams and recognize potential. And, perhaps the greatest bridge of all, has been the lifelong friendships and support network of so many.

I thank the 280 Honors Cohort students who have touched, and continue to enrich, my life so deeply.

My best memories of those years are so many! Researching privacy issues for Netjets, advising Abercrombie & Fitch how to increase bra sales and winning the American Eagle marketing competition with our team’s photo in lights on Times Square in New York City! Presenting to key leaders at corporate headquarters of Owens Corning, AEP, Nationwide, Dow Chemical and Cardinal Health. Ben Bernanke’s surprise visit. Way too many pizzas! And finally, of course, traveling to Nassau, Bahamas, in December for seven consecutive years for community service.

Retirement has been absolutely grand. I am asked if I miss the Cohort program. I do not have the chance to! So many alumni call, text, visit and share the stories of their lives. This month my husband, Peter Sanderson, and I will be attending a destination wedding of an alumnus from the 15th class in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Eight other cohorts from that class will be there to share his joys! I am rewarded every time I learn that Honors Cohort alumni have stayed connected professionally and personally.

Today my joys center around family, travel, bicycling and volunteerism. As a Master Gardener, Docent at the Columbus Art Museum and Board Member of the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, it is my time to make our world a little better. You can find Peter and me bicycling around Columbus, the US and globally. We are planning to ride from California to Florida in early 2019!

It was such a privilege for me to lead the Honors Cohort program created by Deb Ballam, and I am excited to watch its future direction under Ty Shepfer.

Today, I continue to be a bridge — a bridge between what Honors Cohort is today to what it will be in the future!

Will you join me on this journey by making your gift in support of the Honors Cohort program today?

A NOTE FROM DEB BALLAM

Founder and former director of Fisher’s Honors Cohort program

Hello everyone!

My name is Deb Ballam (BA ’72, MA ’74, JD ’77, PhD ’97), and I had the great honor of being the founding director of the Fisher College of Business Honors Cohort program.

I retired from the university in 2010 after a 28-year career. I received all four of my degrees from The Ohio State University. If anyone bleeds Scarlet and Gray, it is me!

In my retirement, I have devoted myself primarily to becoming a professional golfer. I am pretty sure with another 20 years or so of refining my skills, I will make my first appearance on the tour! Seriously, I do have a lot of fun golfing, although my skill level confirms that I made the correct career choice.

My life has changed considerably since I retired. I met a wonderful woman, Judy Nantau, and decided at age 66 that it was finally time to get married. I had a lot of explaining to do, however, since Judy retired from the University of Michigan and is as much of a Wolverine as I am a Buckeye. We tell people that we are trying to bring peace to the world! We had to live someplace. So I moved to Ann Arbor last June. I consider myself an undercover spy for the Buckeyes.

Many of you knew my son David and goddaughter Anya. David is living in California pursuing his dream of being an actor. Anya just began her freshman year at Denison University. Both are happy and doing well in life. I am very proud of both of them.

As I reflect back on my career at Ohio State, one of the accomplishments that makes me most proud was my role in creating the Honors Cohort program. Today, I remain in contact with many of the students who were in the program during my seven years as director. In the picture above, two former cohort members, Brian Huprich (BSBA ’00) and Geremy Smith (BSBA ’00, MBA ’17), joined my wife Judy and I for a recent golf outing on the University of Michigan golf course near our home in Ann Arbor. (Judy is as much of a Wolverine as I am a Buckeye, so, given where we made our home, I consider myself an undercover spy for the Buckeyes.)

I am just so proud of all of my students and how they have chosen to live their lives! I also cannot begin to find the words to show how gratified I am to see the wonderful ways in which all the cohort directors, including Nancy Lahmers and Ty Shepfer, have strengthened the program during their tenures. I have no doubt that the Honors Cohort program has been pivotal in shaping so many students into the leaders they are today.

That’s why I hope you will join me by participating in the program’s special month-long fundraising campaign!

Now through November 30, please consider making a gift through our new crowdfunding page at go.osu.edu/HonorsCohort. Throughout the month, you will hear from fellow cohort alumni, students and leaders, and learn about how Honors Cohort has made a difference in their lives.

Please make a gift in support of the program today. Together, we can continue to provide exceptional opportunities possible for our cohort students! Thank you for your consideration!