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Executive MBA students from the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah raised $160,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to help the Utah chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Student teams participating in Professor Harris Sondak's advanced negotiations class raised the funding and contributions from businesses, corporations, foundations and individuals within their own social and business networks.
They also contributed $10,000 of their own money.
"We wanted to put students into a position where they could work as teams toward a meaningful, shared goal, in this case working toward a beneficial outcome while becoming embedded in community service," Sondak said in announcing the students' achievement. "This was a very different approach from the usual classroom role-playing used to teach negotiation skills."
Sondak adapted the project from one originally developed by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
"This real-world assignment really made the classroom's lessons truly come alive," said Aaron Hall, an executive MBA candidate who particiapted in the project. "The fundraising component took students out of their comfort zones. It was much more collaborative and much more powerful."
Nationally, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants special trips and experiences — they include everything from family trips to Disneyland to visits with celebrities or attending such events as the NBA All-StarS or Super Bowl games — to one child in the U.S. every 40 minutes.
The organization's Utah chapter grants 160 wishes a year. More than 2,700 children have had their wishes granted in Utah since the state chapter was founded in 1985.