Programs

On the afternoon of October 22nd, 10 SAIF MF17 students volunteered in the social responsibility event, "adoption instead of buying", in the Minhang District. It aimed to find homes for stray cats and dogs. Participating in volunteer activities has become a regular part of MF students' lives. 34 puppies and 46 kittens with different stories showed up with their temporary adopters and waited to be claimed by their future owners. To find a reliable family for each one of them, SAIF volunteers had a deep discussion with the temporary adopters about the animals' past experience, health conditions, and characteristics, and also with the potential adopters about their motivations for adoption, living schedule, and personal hobbies. Finally, with great effort from all the volunteers, three cats and two dogs were able to find a home, and another nine animals were noticed by families who had preliminary intentions of adopting them. By helping homeless cats and dogs find an adoption family, SAIF students developed a deeper understanding of the living conditions of stray animals, and developed a more comprehensive view of social responsibility. Pets are not one-time toy, but a member of the family. Once they are adopted, they should be taken good care of from the beginning to the end of their life.

On October 18th, Ms. Angela Qian was invited to give a lecture on social responsibility to all of the MF17 students. Angela is now serving on the executive board of Yizhong Fund. She has 8 years of education management experience based in China. Based on the theories and examples told in the lecture, Ms. Angela Qian explained to the students what social responsibility is, why people make irrational decisions, and who they should care for. By sharing examples of Mobike and Elon Musk's Neuralink, Ms. Angela Qian led the discussion of enterprise social responsibility. To further illustrate selfishness and the reasons why people make irrational decisions in life, Ms. Angela Qian explained theories on how the human brain works and had the students play games that were similar to the prisoner's dilemma. At the end of the lecture, Ms. Angela Qian drew the conclusion that we need to care for all of society's members, especially those in need. From this course, the students gained a deeper understanding of social responsibility. they also became more aware of what they can do to fulfill their own responsibilities to society for the reasons Ms. Qian showed.

On October 11th, Ms. Angela Lin, Co-founder/Partner of LESS ORDINARY, was invited to give a lecture on the interview process. What deserves to be mentioned is that she was former Head of China at CRCC Asia, the leading internship provider in China. By describing her own experience as an interviewer and giving practical advice to all the MF17 students, she helped them figure out how to prepare for interviews in advance. The seminar was divided into three parts. In the first part, Angela showed the students how to do research about a company and highlighted the important points such as the organizational background, outside factors and detailed position requirements. Following was the introduction to interview etiquette, which was about giving a complete self-introduction of the student’s essential qualities. Students were paired together to practice introducing themselves, which enabled them to engage with the lecture. Last but not least, she provided the students with sample questions that they might be faced with in both common and mock interviews. From this course, students learned valuable skills for job interviews. They became especially aware of one fact when talking about interview preparation, the more practice, the better.

On September 20th, Mr. Alan Qiu, senior lecturer at SAIF, was invited to give a lecture on professional development. Before joining SAIF, Alan previously worked at J.P. Morgan. By sharing his personal experience with MF17 students, he helped them prepare and enhanced their chances of receiving an offer from the Wall Street banks. To further their understanding of Wall Street, Alan introduced J.P. Morgan’s structure as well as its functions including Mergers and Acquisitions (MA), Investment Banking Division (IBD), and Sales and Trading (ST). He also spoke about the requisite communication skills and encouraged students to focus on the big picture. Through this course, students developed a better understanding of Wall Street and realized that it is accessible for everyone.