How the Asper School’s learning opportunities empowered graduating BComm student Kaiden Kalcsics to expand his world.
When Graduating BComm student Kaiden Kalcsics took his first University classes (online), his world seemed small and contained.
Only a few months earlier, he wrapped up his high school experiences in Lorette, MB by grabbing his diploma as if it was a whopper at a drive-thru grad.
Now, after five years of transformative business education at the Asper School of Business, Kaiden is about to walk up to a real stage to grab his diploma, empowered by the feeling that his world has never been so big and full of opportunity.
If Kaiden had one “TSN Turning Point” for when his world became suddenly a lot bigger, he knows the exact moment.
At the end of his first year, Kaiden had been a first-year representative of the student group UMICS: University of Manitoba Indigenous Commerce Students.
Everyone else in the student group at the time was graduating, and they were discussing who would lead the group the next school year. Their eyes fell on Kaiden—and they asked if he would want to run for President.
He said yes—and in the best possible way, he did not know what he was getting into.
Kaiden’s second year at the Asper School was a blur—but a transformative one.
As President of UMICS, he got the chance to attend a string of committees and take on an incredible leadership role, talking to the Dean of the school… talking to other groups of STAGs (student action groups)… and more…
One of the peaks, perhaps, was doing the land acknowledgement in from of a room of over a thousand prominent businesspeople at the Asper School’s IDEA dinner.
“My heart was [intense beating noises],” says Kaiden, “but of course, at that point, I was already a lot more used to it.”
So, throughout the rest of his school journey, he started chasing what made his heart make [intense beating noises].
“I think there was a kind of butterfly effect,” he said. “That pushed me onto the path of being more confident and open for everything.”
Post-presidency and newly fearless, Kaiden invested himself in the experiential learning opportunities offered to him by the Asper School of Business.
He started out with two exchanges which took him far, far away from Lorette. First was the Arnie Thorsten Student Experience Program, a month-long travelling course for 3 credit hours between Asper and the Guildford Glazer Faculty of Management at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, Israel.
The program, which has been running for 18 years, gives students the chance to visit major companies like Google and Intel. It also gave Kaiden the travel bug.
His next stop was Seoul, South Korea for a 6-month exchange at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), which taught him to stop thinking through things so much, and just “go with the flow.”
“People in my university would say, ‘Hey, we're going to drive to this city that none of us have ever heard of before, but someone says there's a gorgeous view here. Do you want to come with us?’” Kaiden said.
By taking Asper’s exchange opportunities, going out of his comfort zone became as easy as saying “Sure, why not?”
He next said “Sure, why not?” to Case Competitions—where business students solve real-world problems under time and resource constraints, and present their solutions to a panel of industry judges.
At the Alberta Not-for-Profit Case Competition, he and his team secured a first-place win for team Asper, and he recently made it all the way to Belgrade, Serbia, for the Belgrade Business International Case Competition.
These competitions sharpened his ability to think critically and made him more ready than ever for the business world. Instead of two-dimensional, often theoretical classroom work, case forces you to solve real-world problems in three-dimensions (and not to mention, while travelling and working in teams).
“In case competitions you can’t BS a solution,” he said. “Your solution has to be multifaceted, realistic, and applicable to the real-world business.”
48 hours after Kaiden walks that real stage and shakes hands with the dean for his diploma, he’s jetting off to Toronto to shake some more hands at Scotiabank headquarters, where he’ll be working as an associate in the global strategic functions department.
Getting the job is a massive achievement, but one that Kaiden knows he couldn’t have earned without the support of an incredible Indigenous community at Asper.
When Kaiden first found out that he was Metis as a teenager, he didn’t really know what it meant. But at Asper, he joined the Indigenous Business Education Partners (IBEP)—which provides support, mentorship, and funding for Indigenous Asper students. Here, Kaiden started feeling like he was truly part of something.
Kaiden’s transition from local to global is a fitting arc to his tremendous Asper School of Business journey, but he’s doing it all while prominently displaying “Métis student” on his resume.
“But, I guess have to change it to Métis person now, because I’m no longer a student,” Kaiden says. “I’m just a student of life now.”
UM Bisons are at the centre of it all, making a difference here in Manitoba and around the world. Many of these new alumni will stay in Manitoba, supplying high-demand skills to the labour market and contributing to UM’s economic impact on our community.
IBEP is an innovative support program that offers free memberships to Indigenous students pursuing a business degree at the Asper School of Business through complimentary tutoring, mentoring, financial aid, and more
For nearly 90 years, Asper School of Business students and alumni have brought bold ideas to life every day. Our active community of alumni can be found across continents, industries, all the way from the store floor to the C-suite. Be part of a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and emerging business leaders. Learn more about Asper programs of study today!
It takes human-centered teaching, genuine care for students, and innovative assignments that encourage critical thinking.
An Asper School researcher examines trust in the early stages of entrepreneurship for a top academic business journal
Daniel Eng has done it all at Asper — from exchange, to case competitions — and he's still pining for the next adventure.
Asper School MBA students conduct a cost-benefit analysis on converting diesel school buses to electric.
