Live from the Harris School… Chicago’s leading improv comedy company kicked off
the year by blending humor with serious training during this
year’s orientation week. Second City Communications
(SCC), The Second City’s corporate training, business
tools, and corporate entertainment division, worked with
the new students– familiarizing them with life at the
Harris School through a customized comedy show and coaching
them on the communication and interpersonal skills during
a half-day training session.
“We’re excited about Second City’s involvement
in orientation this year and we see it as an important component
of a larger program that prepares our students for their
training as public policy professionals,” said Dean
Susan Mayer.
The customized comedy show performed
by SCC helped incoming students orient themselves to all
aspects of the Harris School. “It
was very, very clever,” said new MPP
student Elisabeth Kim. “The way
they incorporated nuances and characteristics of the first-year
experiences of the Harris School, I thought that was ingenious.”
“I thought it was very funny,” said fellow MPP
student Michelle Garcia, “but clearly some jokes we’ll
get after we’ve taken a couple classes.”
The second aspect of SCC’s involvement was a training
session focusing on effective communication, team building,
and group dynamics. “The goal of our program is to
train students as critical and analytical thinkers capable
of answering important questions through policy research
and hopefully shaping social change. They’ll need to
know how to communicate well and to build consensus in order
to be successful. And Second City can help us get them started
on that path, “ said Mayer.
The team of SCC trainors – Sam Albert, Bumper Carroll,
Matt Craig, Sue Gillan, and Rebecca Sohn – led the
students in traditional improv exercises that focused on
listening techniques to build team skills.
“Effectiveness in team settings is very important
in our curriculum – and in public policy circles generally,” according
to Dean of Students Ellen Cohen. “We’re eager
to have Second City emphasize that and to get our students
to a highly effective and excellent level with team skills,
communications skills, and consensus building. Public policy
professionals need to be excellent in all of those areas
and our orientation opens an important door in this area
for our students.”
Eleanor Cartelli
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