For Josh Matsuura, it was a no-brainer. Return to his Chicago roots and help show 20 Luddy School students what the city has to offer -- including visits to a nationally renowned company known for hiring Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering graduates and one of the world’s best museums.
And if meant a 16-hour whirlwind of a fall-break bus trip that began at dawn and ended just before midnight, no one complained.
“It was not only a great opportunity, it was a life experience,” said Matsuura, a senior in intelligent systems engineering. “A lot of the students hadn’t been to a city like Chicago. It was their first time seeing an employer. It was a great entry point for them.”
Tiana Williams Iruoje, the Luddy School’s director of student engagement and success, organized the trip.
“It provided opportunities for students who had never been on a tech tour or a big city to explore the city, hear from tech professionals at Grant Thornton, and get advice and a feel for the company culture, first-hand," Iruoje says.
As chair for the Luddy Student Engagement Committee, Matsuura works closely with Iruoje.
“We plan a lot of events to help students get connected and acclimated,” he says.
The Chicago native offered invaluable city insight, says Jessica Thompson, a freshman majoring in intelligent systems engineering.
“It was the best experience for me to go on,” she says, “especially having Josh as a tour guide.”
The trip for freshmen through graduate students was highlighted by the visit to Grant Thornton, the nation’s sixth-largest accounting and advisory organization with 59 offices around the country, around 8,500 employees and more than $1.9 billion in annual revenue. The company is a Luddy corporate partner and consistently supports students, participates in career fairs, and hires Luddy graduates.
Luddy students toured the main-office facility, met employees and had a Q&A session.
“Grant Thornton hires a ton of Luddy students, especially informatics students,” Matsuura says. “They showed us different departments where Luddy students would fit into their business model.”
Students also toured Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, which featured exhibits such as a submarine simulation, a coal-mine simulation, flight simulators and the Art of the Brick, which featured life-size Lego sculptures. The museum is considered the largest science center in the Western Hemisphere.
Thompson made the Chicago trip before attending the Women in Engineering Conference in Houston, Texas.
“It all gave me a sense of every opportunity that is available at Luddy,” she says.
Thompson says she made key connections at Grant Thornton. She adds that the Chicago trip, “Made me live in the moment” and allowed her to make new Luddy friends. She says she appreciates that Luddy and Iruoje provide opportunities to “form connections and memories that will last a lifetime.”
Ling Xiong, a senior majoring in informatics, says getting to see Grant Thornton’s facility was a big plus -- “It’s nice to know what kind of environment they work in and what the general atmosphere is like.” -- as was meeting with company recruiters and managers.
Matsuura, whose concentration is on bioengineering, didn’t expect Grant Thornton would have any job opportunities for him, but changed his mind after talking to company officials.
“They surprised me with a lot of stuff. I was relatively closed minded because it’s an accounting firm, what does bioengineering have to do with that? I want a job with a lot of variability.”
Grant Thornton’s project-and-client-based approach “appealed to me,” Matsuura says, although he wants to get a master’s degree before starting his career.
Students also had a couple of hours to explore Chicago’s Loop area that includes Millennium Park, Chicago City Hall, the Riverwalk and the Art Institute of Chicago.
“I enjoyed that we could have our own time to explore,” Xiong says. “I will definitely attend another one if the opportunity occurs.”
It will. The Luddy School offers multiple travel opportunities throughout the academic year. Those include Indianapolis, San Francisco and Austin, Texas.
“We want to send students to these tech tours because of the great opportunities,” Matsuura says.