Business class blends service, writing

By Chris DaCosta

Professor Douglas Sweet's Business Writing class goes beyond the traditional English class setting and instead, blurs the distinction between the classroom and the business world.

In the bustling halls of the nationally recognized Leavey Business School, some students often lack the time to stray from their demanding schedules to pursue community focused activities. One class, however, combines the goals of competence, conscience and compassion to form an environment similar to what the mission statement describes: a society that expands the "boundaries of knowledge and insight through teaching, research, artistic expression, and other forms of scholarship."

Sweet's class is a component of the Professional Mentoring Program (PMP), an organization that pairs business writing students with business-oriented professionals.

"The program was designed to give students an avenue to learning that wasn't dependent upon either me or textbooks," said Sweet.

The program currently has about 150 mentors available worldwide; these volunteers are contacted, documented and placed into databases by Sweet's students. The class, which fulfills the university's third writing requirement, is almost entirely student-run, demanding a strong degree of initiative and responsibility.

While still keeping the curriculum of an English course, Sweet has developed the writing class into one that includes all forms of communication.

"We actually communicate with real people to accomplish tangible results," said Sweet. Students are assigned grant proposals, memos and reports that are considered outreach projects. Students gain writing experience while actually having the chance to use their skills in professional environment.

Perhaps the most unique feature of this class is its business structure and community-oriented projects. Tim Rahall and Tasce Simon, junior accounting majors, both refer to the class as a business. "[The class] gives you a sense of responsibility, like an actual business," said Rahall.

Students work in conjunction with the East San Jose Community Law Center, where they are assigned their tasks. The students are helping the center achieve its responsibilities without any additional cost.

This non-profit work is divided between groups of four who take care of publicity, fundraising, and other duties, which span from making brochures to helping at local schools. Students help facilitate the class and also act as intermediaries between community centers and the people those centers assist. These groups eventually converge with accounts of their research to form a real business entity,

"Class time is like a big meeting, everybody says what they've done and what they need help on," said Simon.

Students taking the course find that while the class is engaging and challenging, the workload is generally on par with that of other classes offered by the university.

"Just as the mentors give of their time to help our students, the students, in turn, give of their time to help others. It's a uniquely Santa Clara endeavor," commented Sweet on the service work his students perform.

Business writing's communication emphasis reaches past San Jose to the depths of Central America.

With immersion trips to El Salvador approaching, students are using their business and writing skills to advertise and request monetary donations as well as previously used goods. Students interact with appliance stores and discuss the program's endeavors sometimes securing computers for the program in El Salvador.

Students are currently in the process of rebuilding an under-funded music school in Segundo Montes, El Salvador. By raising money and gathering musical instruments, students of Sweet's class are attempting to restore music, which is at the heart of the El Salvadorian community.

The Association of Community Radio Stations in El Salvador has benefited enormously from the business writing class projects. Students have supplied over 500 musical CDs to the association, furthering its ability to serve rural El Salvadorian towns.

In addition to musical expansion, students are establishing technology in the rural village of Guarjila by sending computer equipment.

"So far, we've sent five working laptops, and we've heard from people there that they've created a high school class in the village where local kids can learn through technology despite the absence of teachers," explained Sweet.

This focused taskforce has positively improved the lives of those both locally and internationally. "I thought we would just be writing papers but it is actually doing good for the community - in the local community and also in Mexico and El Salvador," said Rahall.

Santa Clara University students have gained valuable learning experience in an uncommon yet satisfying way. While committing to social justice and the ideals of community, students have been able to apply their communication and writing abilities.

Through their many transactions with mentors, the East San Jose Community Law Center and potential patrons, students are able to see a connection between their classroom material and the business world, as well as the impact on the community. "We still get the English writing aspect of it, because it is business writing, but we get to do it in a real setting," elaborated Rahall.