Gurnee student consults for McDonald's in NIU class

Danielle Harris, of Gurnee, recently was part of a team of Northern Illinois University students working as consultants to McDonald's Corporation.

The consulting project was conducted through the Experiential Learning Center in the NIU College of Business. For the last decade, teams operating out of the ELC have been “hired” by companies looking for fresh insight into a business issue. Companies such as Caterpillar and Wal-Mart have each used multiple ELC teams over the past decade.

The projects allow students, who are drawn from departments throughout the college and across the university, to apply concepts that they are learning in the classroom to actual business challenges. Along the way, they also learn lessons about teamwork, leadership, researching, presentation skills and more.

Harris, a junior majoring in management, was part of a team that researched emerging and relevant technologies that could be utilized in a training environment. They analyzed training best practices, trends, opportunities and challenges on a global scale with a focus on crew and store management. For their final report, they developed and presented a road-map for training at McDonald's restaurants.

The team presented their findings to executives from McDonald's Corporation on May 7th.

About 50 students participate in ELC projects each year gaining real world experience and a unique experience to place on their resume.

For more information on the ELC, visit http://www.cob.niu.edu/elc/