Students, faculty and staff from the Fisher Honors Cohort Program were in Brazil December 11-21. The program consists of a diverse, tight knit group of 30 highly motivated, hand-picked students who seek to leverage educational opportunities across the entire university. The program spans the autumn and spring semesters of a student’s junior year and continues into their senior year.
Ty Shepfer, senior lecturer and director of the Honors Cohort Program, and Nancy K. Lahmers, former director, accompanied the students on their visits to Brazilian companies and non-profits, as well as other events and activities. The program was organized by Shepfer with support from an in-country travel agency, and the Brazil Gateway team.
While in São Paulo, the group visited Invest São Paulo, a governmental development agency that assists those interested in establishing their businesses in the region, and the Brazil Gateway’s office in Moema. Jane K. Aparecido, director of the Brazil Gateway, spoke to them about the office and the relationships and opportunities between Ohio State and institutions in Brazil. Marla Goins, an Ohio State PhD candidate who is currently doing research at the University of São Paulo (USP), was invited to speak about her experience and research. They also met Three Consulting’s founders, Mariana Deperon and Leticia Rodrigues, to learn about their mission of helping companies interested in increasing diversity and inclusion.
This year was the second edition of the case competition project within the Honors Cohort program. Teams of students from Ohio State, USP’s School of Business (FEA-USP) and ESPM School of Marketing worked together to solve a problem for COMEMOS!, a restaurant business in São Paulo that was looking for solutions to reduce single-use plastic bottles.
“It was a pleasure to have them and it is very important that we had connections with a company that had a current case we could ask for them to solve,” said Kavita Hamza, marketing professor at FEA-USP.
In Rio de Janeiro, the group attended an alumni reception at the J.W. Marriott Copacabana, where they proudly sang Carmen Ohio. Attendees – all Fisher alumni – graduated between 1968 and 2017.
On December 18, the group spent a day at Sinal do Vale, an initiative that creates experiential learning through regenerative nature projects. The founder, Thais Corral, a social innovator with more than three decades of experience working in environmental progress and gender equity, created the space “where change agents could get hands-on experience in an environment where diversity and authenticity are cultivated.”
If you want to learn more about the Fisher Honors Cohort, visit fisher.osu.edu/honors-cohort.