Great Grads 2020: Harsh Vaniawala, MBA/20
On June 19th, Carleton University approved this year’s list of graduates! While celebrations have moved online this year, it gives us even more reason to celebrate all our amazing graduates of 2020. We’ve asked a few of our Great Grads this year to share their memories of Carleton and the Sprott community.
Harsh Vaniawala is a graduate of the MBA program.
If you could choose one word to sum up your time at Sprott, what is it and why?
Osmosis.
It truly means a gradual process where you learn new things and starts adopting it without actually realizing it.
When I reflect upon my time at Sprott, I realize that I learned something new every single day but never actually realized it until I started my professional career after graduation. I never realized that I learned ice skating and started attending classes by skating on the canal! Similarly, I never realized my potential in project management until I started taking each and every assignment as a project, creating a schedule, and allotting the tasks to team members. The program pushed me to limits which enabled me to adopt new learnings without even realizing it, until now.
What were your goals when you started at Sprott? Did you achieve them?
As an international student, my major goals were to:-
1) Overcome my introvert nature
2) Adapt to new culture either professional or general
Yes, I did achieve those. I engaged as much as I could with the Sprott school during my MBA. I participated in the MBA Games 2019, held the position of VP Social at MBA Society, became a part of the MBA Games 2020 organizing committee, selected to be a peer mentor for Fall 2019 MBA, and several other things.
As part of my goal of adapting to the new culture, I started meeting local people and learning about them. For example – my first experience of Canadian culture was when one of my new local friends invited me to his place for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner.
To be very honest, I have achieved so much more than my initial “planned” goals.
What is your favourite Sprott memory?
Definitely it has to be the MBA Games of 2019 held at Ryerson University Toronto. We were considered to be underdogs but I along with my team broke the barriers and secured the first place in business case analysis and presentation. Being an international student, I never dreamt about winning a national MBA level case competition within the first four months of my time in Canada. The cherry on top was when I came to know that this was the first time when a team from Sprott secured first place in a case competition at MBA Games.
I would certainly cherish this memory for decades to come.
What was your favourite course or professor?
There are so many!
One of the favourite courses for me was Business Case Analysis and Presentation course with Julie Caldwell that was during my first term. I really enjoyed the skills of presentation and business analysis which later turned out to be my strength now.
Along with that, there were many other courses that I thoroughly enjoyed. To name a few, Managing People and Organization with Linda Duxbury, Business Analytics Methods with Hugh Cairns, and Marketing Strategy with Robin Richie.
What was the most important lesson you learned during your time at Sprott?
The importance of networking and building connections. As an introvert, it was really difficult for me to attend networking events and have small talks. But during my time at Sprott, I really pushed myself to limits which helped me acquire the skills of networking and since then now I am addicted to meet new people and learn about their work.
What will you miss the most?
There are countless things that I will be missing. From those early mornings and late-night meetings at the MBA Lounge to post-exam and pre-class sessions at Mike’s place. The entire Sprott community including my classmates, academic faculty members, and admin staff who welcomed me to this new country with open arms and developed a great platform to start my new life.
What’s next for you?
I love adventure in life maybe it is traveling to unknown destinations or starting a new business venture. I will be hunting for opportunities for starting a business where I can support the local community and create a better future for the next generations.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the Sprott community?
I will certainly cherish my time at Sprott. I would like to thank each and every one of you for welcoming me with open arms. I am surely looking forward to somehow be involved with Sprott for years to come.