My Learning Team (aka Can Group)

"You live and die with your Can Group."

I heard this advice during my first days in AIM and I really didn't give that much attention because I didn't know what the heck a Can Group was. But after eight months in the MBA program, I pretty much have an idea what a Can Group is and how important it is-- you basically live and die with it.

A Learning Team, what the Can Group is officially called, is composed of 6-8 students and is the "official" grouping of students for the first eight months of core MBA subjects. The MBA program administrators scientifically configure each team to have a balanced composition, whether it is by gender, professional background, or personality type. (I don't know if they consider IQ and EQ, but that's a different story :P) Being your designation for a good portion of your MBA life, you will work exclusively with your Learning Team on group assignments and projects 95% of the time. This means your grade and performance will hinge so much on how well you work together.

The Learning Team also serves a purpose beyond the default groups for projects. It can also be a support group for adjustments in class, a study group for those darned Language of Business (LOB) topics, and could even be your circle of friends in AIM. Heck, romantic relationships have also blossomed from Learning Teams, so it's really relevant in more than one ways.

I belong to Learning Team 2B (groups are segregated by section) and we are eight in our group. Here's a snapshot of us in our very first Can Group meeting, circa August 2007:

Our group is composed of (left to right from the photo):

1. Arpita "CP Blooper" Maity - Arpita was voted the "CP Blooper" award by our section during last Diwali for her "quality" class participation. But she has gone a long way from that point, even sporting a new look that would rival Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. I wonder why... :P
2. Cheska "Beowulf" Herrera - Smart and articulate, except when she busts out the occasional Filipino expression in her English. :P She's the group's panic button-- she always has the sense of urgency when it comes to group work. Why "Beowulf"? Ask Paolo.
3. Paolo "Polar Bear" Tomas - He's always likened to a certain Filipino actor, but Paolo always shrugs it off. He's silent and introspective, but he's deep as well. Our group's resident athlete, he's a member of AIM's badminton and basketball team. Why "Polar Bear"? Ask Cheska.
4. Kanishka "Voldemort" Bhargava - Man, can this guy dance! He's one of the sensible guys in the group, who's not afraid to share his opinion. Once you get to be with Kanishka in class, you will remember two things: his deep baritone voice and the "karate chop" movements he makes whenever he intelligently recites in class.
5. Pankaj "Harry Potter" Dhawan - Our very own Commendation Lister. Pankaj may be soft-spoken and low key, but he's definitely a whiz. I remember during the first few months of the MBA program, Pankaj would always get "knocked on" or be asked to speak louder; but he always made people hear him out with his insightful contributions. It may not be evident in the picture above, but Pankaj bears quite a resemblance to Daniel Radcliffe.
6. John "Johnny Ray Sunshine" Ray - The only guy in our class with a British accent-- our Marketing Manager (MM) professor Joe Miranda loves it whenever John speaks. He's also one of the very few entrepreneurs in the MBA program. John's very funny and creative that's why we usually handle the marketing and/or creative tasks in the group. He got his nickname from his dorm room mates when they were thinking of a nice adult movie star name for John.
7. Me - Just read this blog. :P
8. Mahdu "The Face that could be described by a Thousand Metaphors" Ponnuveetil - Prof. Ricky Lim gave Madhu this nickname, but I think a thousand metaphors is too little. He's the type of person who makes you think and give you nice little thought nuggets to chew on during class. He's also one of the best presenters in the whole batch. Trivia: Madhu is the only married person in our learning team.

With the core subjects done, our Learning Team probably has done its last activity during the Management Control Systems (MCS) paper submission a few days before the finals. We had our "last" group lunch at Chili's last April 17, and here's how we look like now (John is not in the picture):

I wasn't able to tell this to the group during our lunch , but I'm glad with how Learning Team 2B for our batch turned out to be-- we didn't have much problems and everyone was really cool in his or her own right. It's always fun to go out with the group because we rarely talk about school and almost always talk about someone's wedding. :P

So here's my little tribute to Learning Team 2B, with photos taken from Cheska's camera:


Do you have a nice little can group photo slideshow or video? Please do share 'em! Send me the link by commenting at this blog post. :P