California Lutheran University’s School of Management hosted its second annual “Business School on Rails” event on Dec. 16, 2024.
Students who participated in the event toured Spotify’s headquarters in downtown Los Angeles and Crypto.com Arena. Students also had the opportunity to engage in networking opportunities with guest speakers from both companies.
“The idea is to offer students the opportunity for experiential learning outside the classroom. And what’s really cool is that Metrolink has a student adventure pass which allows students to travel for free around LA, which not many people know about,” said Rosie Baker, MBA student and communications coordinator at the School of Management.
The event was open to all students within the School of Management, regardless of class year. Pitched by the Dean of the School of Management Gerhard Apfelthaler, during a meeting, the idea, according to Baker, was intended to be an “outside of the box idea” that gave “students a way to have that experiential learning.”
“And what makes us really excited about it is that we have both undergrad and graduate students at the School of Management. So we offer it to a variety of different ages, and backgrounds, but also we have a lot of international students. So for some students, it’s the first time that they actually get to go onto a train in LA and, like, to go to downtown LA and kind of see a different side outside of Thousand Oaks,” Baker said.
Baker said the event sold out within three days and that organizers had to create a waitlist. According to Baker, the School of Management took 54 students to the event– 9 students more than last year.
Students who attended the event said the event was highly valuable and provided them with many opportunities to learn and connect with peers and business professionals.
“Exploring the various sets and studios, and learning about the behind-the-scenes of recording, producing, and releasing music and audio content, was the highlight of my visit,” senior César Mendoza said. “These experiences allow students to immerse themselves in the cultures of various industries they may be interested in. Additionally, they can help shape the careers of attendees by providing opportunities to ask questions and learn more about the values and skills required in each field.”
Attendees also said they felt as though the event was organized in a way that provided students with an intimate and collaboratively educational experience.
“My favorite part was going to the Spotify headquarters because it was, we got to see a lot, like, most of what they had to offer there. And it felt very personal because the people that were talking to us seemed very, like, down-to-earth, so it’s easy to connect with them,” junior business major Shelby Hamura said.
A key aspect of the “Business School on Rails” event is the train ride from Moorpark to downtown Los Angeles. Students also utilized the metro system in the city to get from one area to the other.
“I thought it was really cool that we traveled on the metro instead of going by car or something because being from out of state, I’ve never been on the metro or on a train-type transportation. So for me that was really cool,” Hamura said.
According to Baker, the planning team for this event hopes to expand to other cities in the near future, with Santa Barbara among one of the possible destinations.
“It’s just a really exciting day to give students the opportunity to not only tour these different office spaces, so really well-known brands but to also meet executives and to have that one-on-one conversation,” Baker said. “We hope we can continue doing this in the future and that, you know, keep having these different experiential learnings whether it’s through this event or through other events that we have planned for the next year or so.”
