College Trip Equips Students with Sound Advice

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, March 26, 2014

(L-R) University of Cincinnati student Akilah Patterson pose with Arthur Walton, U of C Student Employment and Internship Coordinator (pictured center;) U of C student, Brandon Reynolds and U of C student Taylor Smith, during a visit last week to the Chicago Citizen Newspaper headquarters as part of the schcools annaual ADVANCE Corporate Excursion Spring Break Trip.
(L-R) University of Cincinnati student Akilah Patterson pose with Arthur Walton, U of C Student Employment and Internship Coordinator (pictured center;) U of C student, Brandon Reynolds and U of C student Taylor Smith, during a visit last week to the Chicago Citizen Newspaper headquarters as part of the schcools annaual ADVANCE Corporate Excursion Spring Break Trip.
Photo By: Deborah Bayliss

Over the past eighteen years, African American University of Cincinnati (U of C) students and two administrators from the university have embarked upon an annual Spring Break Corporate Excursion Trip as part of the ADVANCE Organization, a professional development student organization designed to help students make the transition from college to career by developing their leadership and networking skills, developing business etiquette, and understanding corporate and workplace cultures.

During the trips, students make connections on their visits with a mixture of black-owned, minority-owned, nonprofit and Fortune 500 companies as well as government agencies. The goal is to expose students to experiences that they’re not exposed to in a classroom setting.

“I serve as the advisor for U of C’s ADVANCE program which is a student group that range from freshman to senior year students,” said Arthur Walton, Student Employment and Internship Coordinator at the University of Cincinnati. “The Spring Break Corporate Excursion is in its 19th year that we’ve been doing these alternative Spring Break trips and this is our sixth time in the Chicago area and the third or fourth time we’ve convened a panel of entrepreneurs, under the direction of Lucille Dobbins (of Goodall-Kenner-CPAs LLC, 806 E. 78th St.), who organized this for us on previous trips.”

Last week, the group visited the Chicago Citizen Newspaper and met with a panel of local business owners including Dobbins and her business partner William C. Goodall of Goodall-Kenner-CPAs LLC; William B. Garth, Sr., Citizen Newspaper owner and QBG Foundation chairman; Norman J. Williams, Chairman of the Board and CEO at Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan Association, 4619 S. King Drive also president of Unity Funeral Parlors Inc., 4114 S. Michigan Ave. ; and independent pharmacist, Sherman White, Jr., owner and Vice President of 200 Pharmacy, 9133 S. Stony Island Ave; and Brenda Sheriff, co-owner with Patricia Towns of AMAXX Title Services, LLC, 800 E. 78th St.

Each panelist shared a story with the group, imparting practical advice, taking turns addressing the students who listened intently and took notes.

Sheriff, co-owner of AMAXX Title Services the only, full- service, Black-owned and operated Title Service Company in Illinois, addressed the group about the real estate business saying, “You can be a realtor, mortgage broker or accountant. These are professionals and these are jobs created as a result of the industry.”

Williams added “One of the things I was asked to talk about is what got me through because just being chairman of a lot of things does not necessarily explain how you got there. I did various menial labor jobs like driving a limo, cleaning up…willing to do unglamorous work and yet not see that as an end goal, it was a means to an end. ”

Pharmacist White addressed the students saying he is an independent pharmacist who started out wanting to play sports before getting a reality check from an instructor who would not excuse him from his class and reminded him that Howard University, where he was attending at the time, was not known for sports but that pharmacy students had jobs waiting for them.

“It’s all about excellence and you almost have to be obsessive about pursuing excellence. Be a sponge and soak everything in. I’m able to stay in business since 1980 because of the unique services we offer. When I came out of pharmacy school there were at least about 800 independent pharmacies in the Chicagoland area. I think there are about five to ten now."

Goodall shared the story of his father getting hurt in a West Virginia coal mine and dying. Goodall was 12 years old and when his father died.

“My father told us something on his death bed and that was, I would not go into the coal mines as he did to make a living and so my entire life has been conscious of not going into the coal mine. I’ve been successful at not doing that. Being serious about survival and creating opportunity has prepared me to be able to say that I’ve started and operated over 26 different companies."

Dobbins told students “Your creativity is your guide and there is no limit to what you can do if you have enough of it.”

Garth spoke, saying that he advises youth to become entrepreneurs, because opportunities of the past no longer exist.

“I always tell people to stick to their ideas whatever it is. People will talk about you but don’t give up. When I started in the newspaper business, I was running what we call a four-page newspaper, front, back and center. People laughed and asked what I was going to do with that little paper. Today we’re the largest ABC Audited Black newspaper in America.”

Fourth-year U of C student Brandon Reynolds, asked the panel how to set up an empire to keep it running even after you’re gone.

Sheriff answered saying, “One of the important things is placement of priority. The placement of priority is that houses pay for cars; cars do not pay for houses. It’s doing those things that are important. We talked about appreciating and depreciating assets. So you have to prioritize to say what do, I do today to get a return on tomorrow.”

Walton asked the panel to explain to the students the importance of recycling the Black dollar in the community.

Dobbins replied, “The importance is that your dollars in most communities other than ours, turn at least ten to twelve times (before it leaves the community) the dollars in our community, don’t turn over as much…maybe two or three times. You have to focus like a laser in terms of first, getting your own community in order, then you can be magnanimous and help other people but the Black community has forgotten that."

Taylor Smith, a senior majoring in psychology and communication, is vice president of Corporate Relations for the ADVANCE program.

“I pretty much helped Arthur develop it, that’s the prime thing I’m responsible for. I helped with the delegation of what we’re going to do and when we’re going to do it,” Smith said. “What stood out the most to me was them saying stay true to your, self-values and your self-worth and not try and fit into a mold, especially as an entrepreneur and think outside the box."

Student Akilah Patterson, president of the ADVANCE Organization, said, “Our mission is to build professionalism, specifically for minority students at the U of C and to lower the achievement gap between African American students and our white counter parts.

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