Nichols holds third annual REAL Symposium
DUDLEY, Mass. – “Capture this moment as an opportunity,” said Nichols College alumna Kelly Bliss ’96, president of Teladoc Health’s U.S. Group Health (USGH) business, during her keynote address opening the College’s third annual Research, Experiential, and Applied Learning (REAL) Symposium.
The REAL Symposium is a day-long event celebrating the many unique and impactful projects of Nichols students and faculty, both in and out of the classroom. As the start of the event, Bliss’ remarks captured the spirit of the day—as well as career advice—as the audience of students listened intently to her words.
“College and your early career are one of the few times in life where you’re surrounded by opportunities … so say yes as much as you can,” said Bliss, speaking to the packed crowd in Daniels Auditorium. “Growth doesn’t happen when you’re cozy. It’s uncomfortable. Lean into the fact that you’re growing—build confidence and resilience, which are just absolute gold for your career.”
Following her remarks, the audience of Nichols faculty and students filed out of Daniels to head to the REAL Symposium sessions to celebrate those very same kinds of experiences.
On this day, presenters share their research and experiential and applied learning experiences with the Nichols community. In place of regular classes, attendees can choose from over 23 sessions and 60 presentations showcasing the work of more than 175 students and nearly 30 faculty members.
Throughout the day, the campus buzzed with presentations and discussions on student research on a range of topics, from the use of AI in accounting to building MLB stars using a data-driven approach to internet horror as folklore, as well as hands-on learning opportunities such as the Bison Consulting Group, the Super Bowl practicum, the Institute for Women’s Leadership’s Massachusetts Women’s Leadership Index, and real estate development projects.
Paired with a second speaker session featuring alumni Ben Carbone ’20 and Brooke Coughlin ’18 of Lamacchia Realty, Inc., two entrepreneurial graduates with successful careers in real estate who spoke about the power of networking and personal development, the day exemplified Nichols’ commitment to preparing students for what’s ahead.
“The REAL Symposium reflects how Nichols develops and supports career-ready leaders. The emphasis we put on experiential learning ensures that our business and professional curriculum is dynamic and meaningful,” says Jean Beaupre, Ed.D., Dean of the School of Business at Nichols College, about the event. “We are eager to showcase our talented students and how they engage in a wide range of hands-on learning opportunities with dedicated, experienced faculty, a hallmark of the Nichols College academic experience.”
Research powered by passion and career preparedness
In the Academic Building, crowds gathered around digital posters that lined the walls of the main foyer as student presenters dressed in business attire gestured to the screens that illuminated their project summaries.
“REAL is a great opportunity because we’ve been working since January on our project, so it’s cool to actually be able to present the work and what we learned from the data that we’ve been going over for three or four months now,” said Jacob Maxwell, a senior sports management major, who collaborated with fellow sports management senior Dylan Smaltz on the project. “Most classes we present in front of the class, but today we get to share with the entire school.”
His project, titled “Maximizing WAR in the MLB Draft: A Data-Driven Approach for Building Future Stars,” studies various pre-draft statistics for both high school and college baseball players in hopes of finding what correlates most when projecting MLB stars, or players with a high “wins above replacement” score. WAR is a statistic used in professional baseball to estimate a player’s overall worth, or how many wins a player could achieve in comparison to a replacement-level player.
“I got into this topic because I’m super interested in baseball. I want to get into player development or pro scouting after college,” said Maxwell, who currently works in player development for the Red Sox as a baseball technology assistant at triple A Worcester. “This project is something more on the scouting side, and I thought doing it would help with job interviews, where I can show my thought process on what can predict a good baseball player.”
He says it has been inspiring to work on a real-world-based project aligned with his passions while also helping him prepare for what’s next.
“To do a project like this, like I’m in the draft room for an MLB team, on a topic I really care about and that prepares me for after college, is awesome.”
“It’s great that there’s so many different projects being presented today. You’re walking through, you’re seeing a big variety in topics. Being able to present my project while also seeing what my peers are interested in is so rewarding,” said Samantha Mikulskis, a senior criminal justice major who is also currently working on a masters in counterterrorism.
Just as rewarding, said Mikulskis, is presenting her project while knowing how it’s helped her prepare for her career as an intelligence analyst.
Her project, titled “The Glass Threat: Smart Wearables in Terrorism,” is aligned with the work she does as an intelligence analyst/editor in her internship at The Counterterrorism Group. Her team was about to publish a report on the ways meta smart glasses could change how terrorists plan attacks when the New Orleans New Year’s attack happened. It turns out the perpetrator planned the event using meta smart glasses.
“We saw a real-life example of the exact threat we were predicting. So I knew immediately that I wanted to expand on that for my criminal justice capstone,” said Mikulskis. “I wanted to tie it back to law enforcement and provide recommendations because a huge issue we’re seeing right now is that malicious actors are picking up technology a lot faster than law enforcement and using it against us.”
“This project has helped me see how our different government organizations are going to work into what I’ll do as an analyst and how I could collaborate with them in the real world.”
Mikulski says a master’s degree is a must for her industry, so she was excited that she also got to present her master’s thesis during another session at REAL. “Having worked closely with knowledgeable faculty for these projects and being able to test run the result and really seeing what people think and how I can develop it further is just so awesome.”
Hands-on learning in the real world
Among the hands-on learning opportunities represented at REAL was Nichols’ student-run Bison Consulting Group, which provides real-world experience to undergraduate students who work as paid consultants for clients needing assistance with operations, marketing or bookkeeping.
Kristian Macris, along with his fellow Bison Consulting team members, in the REAL session provided an overview of the group’s growth to date, and what’s ahead for the organization, whose clients include a range of entities from sole proprietorships selling handmade goods to established consulting companies who need help with project overflow.
“Presenting at REAL was a great opportunity to highlight all that we’re doing at Bison Consulting and encourage students to join us, which I really want to do because of how much Bison Consulting has helped me,” said Macris.
Macris, a senior accounting and corporate finance & investments double-major, has worked for the consulting group for three years (this year as its leader), throughout his two internships at “Big Four” firm Ernst & Young, where he’s now accepted an offer from the company to work as an auditor after graduation.
“I think Bison Consulting really helped with my confidence. It helped me understand the position of leadership … I think it sets people up for the real world,” said Macris. “I had the privilege of interning with Ernst & Young twice. When I got there, I would say I was probably one of the people that was more comfortable in the office compared to a lot of my other peers.”
Why? Hands-on learning. “Experiences like Bison Consulting and others that Nichols offers, where you take what you’ve learned and apply it to the real world, teaches you that the answer isn’t always in the back of the book; the answer is very gray, not black and white—and it’s round about, not a straight line.”
Echoing alumna Kelly Bliss’ message at the day’s kickoff, he hopes attendees take away the fact that they can make anything they want out of Nichols.
“I didn’t even think I was going to go to college. Now I’m in my last two weeks of college and have the job offer of my dreams. It is what you make of it.”
About Nichols College
Nichols College has earned business accreditation from the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools and the largest business education network connecting learners, educators, and businesses worldwide. Founded in 1815, Nichols College transforms today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders through a dynamic, career-focused business and professional education. Nichols offers real-world learning focused on professional depth – combined with vibrant living, competitive athletics, and an unmatched alumni advantage – equipping students to exceed their own expectations. To learn more about Nichols College, visit www.nichols.edu.
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