MBA Program Receives National Park Service Award

The Georgetown McDonough MBA program received a 2017 National Park Service Arrowhead Award for collectively giving over 200 hours of volunteer service to the National Park Service this year. The award was presented at a volunteer appreciation luncheon on Nov. 4 at the Women in Military Service Memorial, at Arlington National Cemetery.

Nearly 150 Full-time and Evening MBA students have logged a collective 426 hours over the past year. The partnership with the National Parks began three years ago, when the MBA Program Office integrated community service as an optional component to orientation.

“The National Parks is a great partner, as students who are new to D.C. also get a chance to see the National Mall and other iconic scenery shortly after their move and prior to classes starting,” said Chelsea Thies, director of operations and student services for the MBA program.

MBA orientation now has a half day dedicated to a service project in cooperation with the National Parks Service and is followed by a social networking hour for incoming Full-Time and Evening MBA students. More than 100 students participate each year.

This year, students painted fences and benches along the National Mall. In previous years, participants have weeded and beautified the grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thomas Jefferson memorials and Lady Bird Johnson Park.

Thies says that the award “really showcases the integrity of the individuals being admitted and entering into Georgetown’s MBA Program — willing to wake up early on a Saturday before classes even start to give back to our community and to our nation’s capital.”

All hours completed can be submitted to count toward the MBA Community Fellows program, which recognizes students who complete 100 hours of community service by April of their graduating year.