With a touch of sadness in her voice, Dean Sandy Richtermeyer delivered the news during a late-fall Manning School of Business faculty meeting: SeniorĀ business administrationĀ major Roma Aurora would be graduating in the spring, and the school would have to carry on without her.
That wonāt be easy.
Aurora has become a strong and valued presence on campus, from her roles as president of both the Manning Leaders Council and Marketing Society, to her ambassador work for both international students and student alumni, to her participation in the DifferenceMaker Program.
āI wouldnāt be where I am if I didnāt get involved early on and if I didnāt have professors and faculty who believed in me,ā says Aurora, an Honors College student from North Andover whose concentrations are inĀ marketingĢż²¹²Ō»å management information systems.
As a freshman, Auroraās poise and leadership skills caught the attention of lecturer Deb Finch, who recommended her for a spot on the Deanās Student Leadership Council (DSLC) ā a high honor for a first-year student.
āIt felt good to be recognized and gave me a lot of confidence,ā says Aurora, who was born and raised in India and moved to the United States with her family just before high school.
When the Manning School revamped the DSLC and rebranded it as the Manning Leaders Council, Aurora was voted its first president heading into her senior year. She has worked to create a more collaborative environment and improve the communication between the Manning Schoolās 14 different student organizations.
Outside the classroom, Aurora has spent summers working as a marketing and business development intern at a tutoring company, a marketing associate for a software developer and, most recently, as a recruitment operations coordinator in the universityās Graduate Admissions office.
And then thereās her volunteer work with the Lowell Association for the Blind, Habitat for Humanity and the International Medical Equipment Collaborative.
āI learned to always be on the lookout for networking opportunities,ā says Aurora, who was among 10 students chosen by the dean to represent at the Manning School at this fallās Forbes Under 30 Summit in Boston.
Of all her experiences at ŠÓ°É“«Ć½, Aurora says participating in DifferenceMakers her junior year may prove to be the most valuable. Working with mechanical, computer and electrical engineering students on āProject Starfish,ā a prosthetic hand that uses a combination of 3-D printing and advanced machine learning software, Auroraās team won the Innovative Technology Solution category (and a $4,500 prize) at the 2017 $50K Idea Challenge.
āLearning about muscle movements, machine learning software and how to market prosthetics to help patients isnāt something I ever thought Iād do in college,ā says Aurora, whose team is exploring how to take the software to market. āAs a business student, being part of a startup is the best experience I could get. Iāve learned how to collaborate in a cross-functional team.ā
While the Manning School will be sad to see Aurora graduate in the spring, she may not be gone completely. Sheās interested in coming back part-time to earn her masterās in business analytics.
āI do want to get out there and start working,ā Aurora says. āIām very excited to see whatās in store.ā