Akron Symphony: "Best student group we have ever worked with"
Students in the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at Youngstown State University participated in an immersive consulting project with the Akron Symphony Orchestra earlier this spring.
A group of nine students seeking the Nonprofit Leadership Minor and/or Certificate participated in the consulting project and identified solutions to challenges facing the Symphony.
“The students were interested, engaged, articulate, astute and friendly,” said Paul Jarrett, executive director of the Akron Symphony Orchestra. “It’s the best student group we have ever worked with. Their proposed solutions to our organization challenges were spot on.”
Student participants included Brooke Lissy, Jack Sebest, Cliff Hill, Shannon Arnim, Chayla Regano, Jenna Roesch, Jasmine Smyles, Amanda Paynter and Lois Martin-Uscianowski.
The day consisted of a tour of E.J. Thomas Hall in downtown Akron, where the Akron Symphony Orchestra performs, and an in-depth analysis of the Symphony as an organization. Three students served on the presentation team: Roesch of Erie, Pa.; Smyles of Chicago; and Sebest of Campbell, Ohio.
“We plan these immersive, one-day consulting projects for our students studying Nonprofit Leadership because it gives them the opportunity to work as consultants and to collaborate with each other to provide solutions to real world challenges at a large, established nonprofit organization outside the Mahoning Valley,” said Laura Dewberry, director of the YSU Center for Nonprofit Leadership.
Nonprofit Leadership students at YSU have also participated in regional consulting projects at Goodwill of Greater Cleveland & East Central Ohio (Canton), Mattress Factory Museum (Pittsburgh), Akron Zoo, University Circle Inc. (Cleveland), Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Carnegie Science Center (Pittsburgh), Center for Science and Industry (Columbus), the Cleveland Museum of Art, Catholic Community Foundation (Cleveland) and the Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh).
For more information on YSU’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership, contact Dewberry at 330-941-1870 or LJDewberry@ysu.edu.