Ball State Alumnus Magazine, Whale Hunters In Pursuit of the Big Catch

Immersion learning is an excellent process by which our students can learn first-hand how to apply the theories of the classroom, learn aspects of strategy application in the real world, and meet with other disciplines," says Brien Smith, chairman of the Department of Marketing and Management.

Ball State has wholeheartedly embraced immersive learning. One example in which the Department of Marketing and Management has pursued it is through the university's Business Fellows program.

Coordinated through the Ball State Career Center, Business Fellows offers students campuswide the opportunity to have hands-on experiences with on-site, problem-based projects in businesses and organizations throughout Indiana.

Ray Montagno is dean of Research and Outreach within the Miller College of Business. He has mentored five undergraduates and one graduate student through a project with The Whale Hunters, LLC, a two-year-old sales process and business development company, located on the north side of Indianapolis. The company works with big businesses to increase their sales and help them acquire "whale-sized" accounts by re-defining, clearly defining, integrating, developing, educating, and coaching each client on adequate sales processes.

"It's a good opportunity for them to see what the real business world is like," says Montagno, also a professor of management. "Our project has allowed students the experience of working with real business people without using faculty as a buffer."

Barbara Weaver Smith, co-founder of The Whale Hunters, approached Ball State's Career Center with the idea for her project. There were two objectives: one was to research and create a list of potential clients for her company; the second, to work with one of the company's existing not-for-profit clients to develop a promotional campaign. Smith viewed the project both as a way to identify students who might come to work for her after graduating and a way to create opportunities for students to learn more about business.

"We think it's a good strategy to grow our business, to get to know students as interns, and help them make better hiring decisions, and decisions about what kind of work they want to do," says Smith. "We're interested in helping Indiana college graduates stay in Indiana when they finish school."

The first step was to develop a target customer base for The Whale Hunters by researching companies in the Midwest market. A smaller business, The Whale Hunters wanted a more personal approach in reaching potential clients. Therefore, it was necessary to be selective in the number of companies that should be reached. The students, who worked together as a team, created a screening mechanism for identifying customers and determined a workable number of ideal candidates.

The six students, all business fellows with varying majors, committed ten hours a week to working on project goals. They also took part in weekly group meetings. They had two deadlines: to conclude the client list by the end of fall semester and to complete the work for a nonprofit by the end of spring semester.

"They did a very elaborate research project for us identifying companies that would be excellent to use our services," says Smith. "It provided us a major marketing push."

The first objective completed successfully, the team moved on to the second, to create a promotional campaign for one of The Whale Hunters' existing not-for-profit clients.

The team met directly with the client multiple times to understand the organization's expectations and to determine a strategic plan. Ultimately, they learned how to work well as a team, directly with a client. They also were successful in creating various supplemental materials.

An immediate outcome of the team was an invitation for one project member, Julia Sabatine, to participate in an internship for The Whale Hunters this summer.

Another team member speaks about her experience. "It is different to work in teams for a class project than to work for a business," says Lucia Martinez, a business fellow and graduate student working toward her master's degree in business administration. "It increases the pressure. I've had to present results to the company, not a teacher.

"All of this, the presentations and collection of information we've had to do, has taught me to deal better with pressure," Martinez concludes.

The Whale Hunters project was one of ten new projects going on this academic year through the Business Fellows program. Funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., the program has offered students a range of experience, from fashion retail growth for a boutique in Goshen to a cluster-computing project for the Indianapolis International Airport. Students are selected for projects at the discretion of faculty mentors through an application and interview process.

In the case of The Whale Hunters the students came together from different disciplines extending from psychology to English to business administration. The mixture of different disciplines proved to be advantageous on a project that required varied elements.

"I feel the project helped me to learn some real-world issues, to organize my time better, and also to deal with a group of people with different majors," says Martinez. "It will help me in every kind of experience I have from now on."

Immersive learning projects within the Business Fellows program is just one avenue Ball State utilizes to create a unique educational experience. It bridges the classroom to the real world.

"Immersion learning, that's what it's all about," says Montagno. "There's life outside the classroom and the more students can get involved, the better."