learning to Lead (Part three in an occasional series) | Wharton students - the next Santa?

Ducks flew together last weekend.

Team Mighty Ducks, comprised of 10 of 527 Wharton freshman taking Management 100, pulled out all the stops for part of their class's requirement that they put on a community-focused event, part of a semester-long project.

For the last month and a half, the team has been working with the Inter-Community Development Corporation to put on an event that promoted local businesses in the Wadsworth community of the Mt. Airy section of the city.

Wadsworth Avenue came alive last Saturday with a live entertainment show, a clown, wares from the businesses and Wharton freshman and Mighty Duck team member George Huang dressed as Santa Claus.

"We noticed a lot of families . with children," Huang said. " I went around giving kids candy and greeting them."

Huang wasn't the only one putting in the extra effort: Wharton freshman Douglas Eckhardt and another team member drummed up business at the local Wal-Mart, and the entire team made multiple trips to Wadsworth - a half-hour drive from Penn. They had to plan last-minute details up until 1 a.m. the night before the event, only to get up at 6 a.m. the next day to set up.

"When we talked with the businesses afterward, they were all really happy with the job we had done," Wharton freshman Catherine Gao said.

"Most of them had seen improvements in sales that day," she added. "One business owner said we inspired her" to work harder.

Eckhardt said he overheard a business manager thanking an ICDC representative for all of the hard work the team was doing to improve the neighborhood.

In addition to planning the event, Wharton freshmen Jeffrey Lanes and Jason Bernstein faced the infamous status report. The report consists of a five-minute presentation done in pairs that every teammate must deliver once a semester, updating the class on their team's progress through the angle of a particular leadership or communication idea.

The presentation - which accounts for 15 percent of each students' grade - really brings out the future business leader within the 18-year-olds: Bernstein, normally the joker of the Mighty Ducks, seemed to have checked his playful personality at the doors of Huntsman Hall.

Lanes said he and Bernstein worked on the presentation for about 25 hours, collaborating with each other, the team and their teaching assistant, Brittany Jones, before perfecting the final product.

Part of the presentation requires the students to discuss certain other teammates' performance. Despite the potential for discomfort, Lanes said their team was so close the requirement wasn't a problem.

"I thought the status reports were a good idea," Eckhardt said, adding that he liked the non-restrictive requirements for the topics.

In the remaining weeks of the semester, Team Mighty Ducks must finalize their project with a presentation to the clients and will then earn a final grade from their professor and client.

About this series: Articles in this occasional series examine the progress of one group of first-year students enrolled in Wharton's mandatory Management 100 class.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.