SEBA Hosts La Salle Barcelona Undergraduates for Global Study Course on Innovation

What kind of paella would you make if you could use any ingredient? While visiting for an Innovation Study Tour, undergraduates from partner school LaSalle Barcelona invented a completely vegan black rice paella, a saffron paella, and a traditional shellfish paella.

During their a 10-day global cultural study program hosted by Saint Mary’s College and partner school LaSalle, Barcelona (LaSalle BCN) business students cooked up a storm in Dryden Hall. The room buzzed with activity while their final creations were served to a total of 25 judges who calmly walked around sampling the end products.

This year six teams competed for first place in the 2nd annual Paella Cooking Competition Extravaganza. Out of the six paella groups—with 71 students and 5 faculty members from LaSalle BCN included—Team Granny Shellfish got the final vote for timeliness, taste, presentation, and overall excellence.

The Paella Competition was one of the three competitions, including “A Cool Idea Pitch Competition” and “A San Francisco Treasure Hunt.”

“The competitions were creative team building events to teach leadership, communication, business analysis, strategy, and innovation,” said Business Administration Program Director, Mary Alice McNeil.

Students also visited six companies: Mozilla, Peet’s Coffee, LinkedIn, Cisco, Electronic Arts, and Ideo. They visited the SF Giants Stadium and Avila Stadium for a sports component of their program.

“This study tour was a fantastic experience for our students and faculty. We were looking for inspiration and we certainly found it: at the great company visits and cultural activities on campus and around the Bay Area, by interacting with Saint Mary’s faculty and staff as our wonderful hosts, and by spending time together as a group and getting to know each other better. The experience was deep and transformative. We’ll never forget it,” said Professor Carole Riverola, LaSalle BCN.

"I feel lucky to have been able to call Saint Mary's College home for these 10 days. It was a great opportunity for us to listen to so many experts that shared their knowledge with us on campus and also in Silicon Valley," said Francesc Casé, LaSalle BCN student.

“The study tour at St Mary's really made a difference in the way that I perceive the meaning of entrepreneurship, failure, and success,” said Marina Alegret, LaSalle BCN business student.

“I learnt that there is a whole new set of perspectives of business management right across the ocean. Where no definition is universal, and where giving up is never an option if you truly love what you do,” said Berta Montilla, LaSalle BCN business student.

Photo: team Granny Shellfish Photo credit: Gerard Serrano

Thank you to Chef Gabe, Chef Bill, the Sodexo team, and Barcelona educators Chris Kennett, Hugo Zarco, Carla Riverola, Burcin Guclu and of Miguel Sanchez