Build-A-Bear Catch-Up

Alright, so I have been slacking in my blog posts – but there is a lot to write.  I am going on vacation immediately after my internship ends (!) on Friday though and unfortunately, do not have a ton of time.  As such, I will not be able to go into as much depth on some of these topics as I would have otherwise done.

On Monday, all of the interns gave a presentation on each of our experiences this summer at Build-A-Bear Workshop to the Chiefs and Managing Directors of the company as well as all of the intern supervisors.  We had five minutes to cover a lot of information: who I am, summary of projects, highlight a key project(s) (I selected the International Holiday Toolkit), key takeaways from the summer, and the affect of the internship on career plans.  My presentation went well I believe (I mean, it did include a vuvuzela on the table and a joke about Excel) and I have been pleased with the feedback I have gotten – including from the CEO and from the President!

Yesterday, I had the privilege to sit down for about half an hour with Maxine Clark, Chief Executive Bear and Chairman of Build-A-Bear Workshop.  She was very welcoming.  Meeting with her was not stressful, but rather seemed like a conversation with a very knowledgable friend.  She asked what questions I had about the company or her.  I asked about her thoughts on company growth,the role of international, the importance of philanthropy to her personally and to the company, how she manages time, company culture, when she knew she “made it”, what was the inspiration behind the company/what convinced her to give up her job as President of Payless Shoesource to start Build-A-Bear Workshop, among other questions.  She was very honest and shared some of her personal history with me.  It was a great conversation.  It is easy to see why she is so admired and how the company has grown so quickly.  She is definitely a role model.  Maxine ended our conversation by asking for a hug. 🙂

Today was the quarterly BearQuarters meeting.  I was involved in a few parts for which we practiced yesterday.  They began the meeting by recognizing new associates, including the interns.  We got several shout outs, which was nice.  Maxine introduced the first speaker, a lady from the United Way.  Her story was extremely potent.  Build-A-Bear has a company campaign to support the United Way and this was certainly a great way to get people energized for it.  The meeting included presentations by Tina Klocke, Chief Operations and Financial Bear (CFO), and John Haugh, President and Chief Marketing Bear, about the state of the business.  It certainly is encouraging.  There was also a presentation on corporate sales.

I was involved in two other pieces of the meeting: the international presentation and the fashion show.  Tim made a presentation at the meeting on news about the international franchisees including new business development, world cup sales, landmark store sales, and awards in Australia.  In honor of the success of Mexico, we had pinatas which we broke during the meeting.  It was a great surprise.

Before Maxine spoke to conclude the meeting (during which time she mentioned the importance and value of diversity!), there was a fashion show to show off the new product that will premiere during the quarter.  Most of the interns helped with this.  It was the first time I have been paid to be in a fashion show! Although, I guess the animals had the fashion…  Be sure to check out the Smallfrys when they premiere in September.  They are awesome and I really want them… all.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to see one of this meetings and participate in it.

I have been working on a lot of projects lately including preparing PowerPoints for the fall International Operations Summit, new business government filing for expansion, evaluation of world cup sales in anticipation of 2014, preparing the FY2011 International Department budget, and more.  I will post my final list of projects after the internship is over.

Today I was putting together one of the PowerPoints for the fall Summit and included the video from the Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For”.  If you watch it, you will see several people I have ben working with closely this summer – including my new dog friend, Heath.

Tomorrow, Cory and I are going to lunch with the international team.  I’m looking forward to it, but it also makes me a bit sad to realize that the internship is ending.  I have several other meetings tomorrow though.  When I met with Maxine, she suggested meeting with a few other people before I leave so tomorrow I am meeting with Tina (CFO) and Eric Fencl (General Counsel).  I look forward to those meetings.

It was clear from today’s meeting that we have been appreciated and our work recognized throughout the company.  I will certainly miss working there.  Two more days.  Wow!

DonorsChoose.org

Thanks to Build-A-Bear Workshop, I just gave my first contribution to DonorsChoose.org.  I’ve never really visited the site before, but I definitely encourage you to.  It seems to be a great way to increase education and help people who truly need it – and who will be our future leaders.

Here is information on the project I supported:

Summer Learnin’…Having a Blast!

Classroom project requested by Ms. M. on Apr 9, 2010

My Students: The long, hot, lazy days lounging during summer. No more papers, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks! But when August comes around again, students stare blankly at the simplest problems on the board, unsure of how to proceed because of three months of no practice!

I teach in a low-income school, where students are classified as “high risk” and “struggling”. Over the course of this school year, my kids have worked incredibly hard to overcome barriers and obstacles to close that achievement gap. However, with the arrival of summer comes the possibility of all our hard work being lost to the rays of sunshine and endless television programs. My students need to extra practice over the summer to keep their skills sharp for next year. For every school break, students receive a packet of homework to complete, which helps them practice essential skills when they’re not in school.

My Project: I am lucky enough to be able to loop with my class next year, meaning that I will have the opportunity to teach the same group of kids that I did this year. In this way, I will have one more year to catch them up to their more affluent peers. However, in order to ensure that we don’t lose more ground, I want to give them a packet of work to hone their skills over the summer. The kids enjoy these packets and always ask me for more. However, I don’t have a way of compiling the packets without binders and reproducible pages for the packets! This is where you can come in and help us! I will reuse the binders as long as they hold up during the school year and the reproducible activities will keep them busy throughout the school year, starting with this summer break all the way through the 2010-2011 school year!

With your extremely generous donation, I will be able to make homework packets for my students for the summer and every school holiday. They will be able to practice reading, writing, math, science and spelling in an organized and manageable way. You will be helping us close the achievement gap and get in the extra practice we need to succeed!

My students need binders for their various school break homework packets and reproducible literacy, math, and science curricula.