DENVER — At Metropolitan State University (MSU) of Denver, more students are turning to Rowdy’s Corner, the free campus food pantry.
“I’ve been using Rowdy’s Corner for almost three years now and it really just provides peace of mind and a stress-free place where I know that I can get food on a hard day and see welcoming people and just get what I need,” MSU student Chase Jurgaitis said.
Now MBA graduate students are stepping in to help make sure the pantry can keep up with the growing demand. This project is part of Professor Paul Anderson’s course on Integrative and Strategic Perspectives of Organizations.
In business, we look at like the triple bottom line, not just the profit, but the planet and the people,” MSU Denver Professor Paul Anderson said.
35 graduate students are acting as business consultants creating a three-to-five-year plan to help the food pantry keep up with the growing demand.
“This is a great opportunity for these capstone students to really take something that's viable from a curriculum perspective, and then take it to another level, which would be serving their people, their communities and society as a greater whole,” Anderson said.
Students are split into four groups. Each group creating their own proposal. Their plans include research, a summary and a step-by step guide for the pantry’s future.
“They'll have a strategic roadmap, an executive summary, executive brief, and about 30 to 40 pages of detail that will tie all of that stuff together. They'll turn that in the following week, and then we will distribute that to Rowdy’s Corner leadership,” Anderson said.
Anderson said there is so much for the students to take away from this project.
“The students are learning business. Most of them are in a business career already, so they're looking to advance their careers,” Anderson said.
Timing is important because more students are coming to Rowdy’s Corner. Professor Anderson said pantry use among MSU students has increased by 70% just last semester and that surge is just not a random spike. He said a lot has changed over the last few months which is exactly why a long-term plan matters now.
“There's definitely been some changes with SNAP benefits and just food insecurity in general in the last six months, and that's also part of like the strategic plan which is to allow Rowdy’s Corner to be able to forecast some of those changes into the future. Also thinking about the geopolitical landscape, legal landscape, technological landscapes,” Anderson said.
Once the proposals are presented, Rowdy’s Corner will decide which ideas to put into action.
“The outcome is for the long-term sustainability of Rowdy’s Corner. So being able to serve the students, being able to adjust the long-term sustainability of Rowdy’s Corner and ensure that they're equipped with the tools and the forecasting to be able to grow MSU Denver,” Anderson said.
For more information on Rowdy's Corner click here.
