Boston: Carbonite and Merrill Lynch

For day four of our exciting site visits all sixteen students from Quinlan and Arrupe, including myself, met in the lobby of the hotel at 8:30am sharp. The great amount of enthusiasm shown was incredibly notable and contagious. We were all incredibly happy to go and learn more about the amazing online backup service company, Carbonite and the prestigious wealth management company, Merrill Lynch.

Carbonite, a company with a Star Wars theme, is located near the Boston Common park. And despite that this is an amazing fact, the best thing I was able to learn about Carbonite was about its commitment to narrowing the gap that keeps Boston communities from accessing education within the STEM field. By partnering with the Boston Foundation, they have committed to support students and their development within this field and give students the opportunity to gain skills that will allow them to thrive. Furthermore, the learning did not stop there. Carbonite gave us the amazing opportunity to work on a case study right there and then -which gave us in fact great insights about the company- and ultimately present our findings to Loyola Alumni, Paul Oetjen and the Director of Global Talent Acquisition, Kanda Alagappan. The commitment of Carbonite to support its communities and the opportunities they offer are admirable.

After our great morning at Carbonite, we shuttled to grab some lunch at ZC Boston. While at the restaurant, we were all able to continue connecting with one another, and I have to say that I now consider these fifteen amazing students my friends. I know that once this experience is over, I will have a new support system in which I will able to count on.

Our last stop of the day was Merrill Lynch, the well known wealth management company located in the heart of Boston’s Financial District. Thanks to Loyola Alumni, Patrick “Pat” Dapic, we were able to gain great insight about the way he was able to succeed within this highly competitive industry. A few things that I found very meaningful about his presentation were that you must keep an open mind about what type of career you would like to pursue in the future. And that it is key to surround yourself by people that will motivate and encourage you to better yourself. Lastly, I learned that at Merrill Lynch it is key to create connections with your clients. Being able to go above and beyond to forge those relationships will set you apart as a Financial Advisor.

Despite that this experience is almost over I cannot stress enough how excited I am for tomorrow’s final Boston site visit. And overall, this trip has genuinely taught to put myself out there and to make connections with others, whether they are professional, personal or both.

 

Carlos Martinez (AA '19)
Business Administration, Arrupe College