The first Pamplin’s Inspiring Possibilities Academy succeeded in bringing 27 rising high school seniors from underrepresented and underserved communities and immersing them into a world of opportunity at the Pamplin College of Business. The Blackwood Department of Real Estate was thrilled to contribute speakers from the Program’s Industry Advisory Board to this event.

“In our Real Estate Department, we were able to leverage multiple advisory board members that led sessions for the students,” said Coral Rojas, the Assistant Director of Outreach, Recruitment, and Pre-Collegiate Program at Pamplin College of Business, “I think having individuals that engaged and impressed students expanded their perspective. They weren’t just the folks that would sit in the classroom and teach them but provided perspectives of where they are in their careers and what kind of portfolios they are managing in real terms. It created an environment that got across the inspiring possibilities aspect of our camp.”

The ten-day academy was packed full of learning opportunities. Students attended speakers from various disciplines, experienced living on campus, and worked on group projects throughout the week through a software system called Capsim. Capsim allowed students to participate in a series of business-focused simulations as teams. In each team, students broke into separate roles such as marketing or finance. Teams decided on a strategy for their business and monitored the success of their tactic throughout the week and could make adaptations to their strategy, as necessary. 

“We try to get across in the business disciplines, you’re not working solo.” Rojas said, “You may be an entrepreneur, but you have to depend on other individuals to help you move your agenda forward.”

Some of the speakers from the real estate Industry Advisory Board included Mervyn Alphonso, Brandon Rule, and Bill Chapman. Speakers introduced themselves, their role in the industry, and their path through the industry since graduating from college. All three speakers hold executive positions in their companies and expressed excitement about meeting with the students.

“I’m passionate about the next generation of people of color and women getting into the real estate space,” said Rule, “Historically, it’s been a space that’s been the leading wealth generator in the entire country/world. It’s been reserved predominantly for white men. I think having the ability to share my story — I’m only 33, but I’ve done a decent amount in my short career in this commercial real estate space. Not too long ago I was in the student’s seats. I appreciated the invite and was glad I was able to give back.”

Students were able to network with the speakers and ask them questions at a lunch after the real estate session. 

“One of the kids asked me about the impact of inflation on our business — that comes from a business school student, that doesn't come from a high school student,” said Alphonso, “I hope the students end up attending Virginia Tech. Just given the caliber of student, I think that would be fantastic for the kids and department. I hope this was a way to continue to diversify the department with really quality students.”

Both speakers were impressed with the students’ networking skills and curiosity. Rule expressed his best wishes for the students in the future.

“My hope for them is that they all follow their dreams,” Rule said, “they are all young enough to make mistakes and pivot and bounce back. I don’t think this period of life should define you, but I also want them to realize this period of life does lay a foundation for the rest of it. The work ethic that I had in high school is still something that I keep with me here today. I want them to understand themselves, be self-aware, acknowledge patterns and do better if necessary. And if not, it”s okay to accept things whenever they come. Everything does not happen at once. It’s okay to learn and fail and grow.”

Pamplin is one of the few academic colleges at Virginia Tech to have a program like the PIP academy to introduce high school students into a ten-day residential program to give them an in-depth experience of their majors. Pamplin intends to keep it a small program to continue to give the students a personal experience.

“It feels like a dream that we did all this planning from when I was first hired in September of last year,” said Rojas, “That was one of the first things Dean Hall said to me in our introductory meeting is that we’re going to put on a Summer 2022 session. Little did I know, she was not joking. I’m immensely proud that in less than a year we were able to bring it to fruition and really expand our area of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.”

Kevin Boyle, Director of the Blackwood Department in Real Estate, was appreciative of real estate industry board member involvement and the opportunity to support this initiative by Pamplin’s Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.