In the midst of making the journey over the cusp of adulthood, adjusting to college life is a daunting task for many. With an abundance of resources and opportunities present here at Skyline, the Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance Club (BEFC) has started up once again to join the mission of supporting the student populace.
Spearheading the effort is Club President Bryan Rodas Cifuentes, who aspires to help students cultivate good financial habits early.
Cifuentes, a student ambassador for the business department, spoke on the club’s vision, stating that their goal is to promote financial literacy amongst students.
“I’m really glad to be able to be in a position where I can help them build those financial habits that will help them be successful,” Cifuentes said. “It’s important to get them informed about financial literacy as soon as possible so that their habits compound over time.”
Having had their first meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 30, the 20 student turnout engaged in a variety of activities to kick off the club’s fresh start. An icebreaker that had small groups figuring out what company they were assigned based on clues, a news report exploring how the economy is doing and how it impacts students directly, plus a friendly competition — all contributing to what Cifuentes considers a promising trajectory for the future.
“It’s recently starting, but I think I’m very proud of the good projection we’re headed I’d say, because we had a good turnout the first time,” said Cifuentes. “I’m pretty sure that we’re gonna keep going as the semester goes on, even though we’re starting kind of late.”
In contrast to the club’s budding community now, things weren’t always this steady; before Cifuentes first got the encouragement from professors to start up the BEFC again, he didn’t attend meetings as there weren’t any meetings to go to at the time.
“The club for last semester was kind of slow, so I didn’t really know much about it,” Cifuentes said.
He explains his relation to the club with his role as a student ambassador prior to this undertaking. Facing the challenge, he contacted a few friends to help him jumpstart the endeavor of starting up the club again.
Cifuentes’ role as club president has him carrying out responsibilities such as delegating tasks to the other commissioners, making sure that they post on their Instagram story, or communicating updates on how the budgets are doing. He also sets up appointments for board member meetings outside of club meetings.
“Mainly, the hard work that I would do would be working on the slides and preparing for the presentations,” Cifuentes said. “Updating the members, letting them know ‘you’re gonna be doing this slide, if you want [to] rehearse.’”
When it comes to their goal of promoting student financial literacy, the BEFC is planning to host workshops once every month on a different topic. The first one will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 14 and will cover budgeting and saving. Planning for the second one to cover credit and the last one to cover investing, Cifuentes states that the last one may be postponed due to finals in December.
“We do plan to collaborate with other clubs here on campus — I’d say for more bigger events they’ll take place in the Spring,” Cifuentes said.
The club plans to promote the workshops by way of Instagram and flyers around campus. In preparation, they are ensuring that the presentation has information that is accurate and will be helpful for students.
Cifuentes expresses his appreciation for his professors who gave him the initial push to start the club again.
“I would just like to thank my professors for encouraging me to actually go out and start up the Business club,” Cifuentes said. “I’m grateful to be here at Skyline, to be a part of the business department, and really just help other students.”
The BEFC’s next meetings will take place on Oct. 14 and 28 in Building 8, room 306 from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
