By Naomi Baron

In a triumphant celebration of newly conditionally admitted students to Orafeala’s College of Business, the Wander with WIB event held during open house emerged as a resounding success, smashing all previous attendee records with  attendance peaking at 50 students since its inception in 2019, according to WIB VP of highschool partnerships, Abigail Dorman. 


Wander with WIB is an all day event for admitted female freshmen to the College of Business hosted by WIB during Cal Poly’s open house, according to Dorman. The event requires attendees to register in advance using an Eventbrite link sent out by the college to students meeting eligibility requirements. 

“One of our core values within WIB is community, and I think this event really promotes that value for students across the nation who are thinking of attending Cal Poly,” Dorman said. “By starting this community at this point, we help with retention for the school and continue on with that pipeline for WIB.”

The event aims to give students an idea of what life at Cal Poly is like and provide insight on WIB’s community, Dorman said. In order to cultivate a community feel that goes above and beyond standard open house events, every attendee of the event, called a mentee, is paired with a mentor. Each mentor, which is a student within the Orfalea College of Business is paired with around three mentees. 

“Throughout the day, their mentor will kind of serve as a guide and they'll have a chance to show them their dorms and their favorite places off and on campus,” Dorman said. “The reason why we do it this way is we really want them to get more of an intimate kind of experience with Cal Poly, rather than just learning about it during just a normal panel or discussion.” 

For Dorman, this year’s mentors are a testament to the event’s effectiveness in fostering long lasting connections.

“A lot of the mentors who participated in this year's event were mentees themselves four years ago,” Dorman said. “With this program in particular, we find that quite a few students who decide to come to Cal Poly decide to join Women in Business because of this experience.” 

WIB member and fourth year business information systems major, Sydney Skow, was one such member.

“I attended the Wander with WIB event when I was a senior in high school, so being a mentor this year was extremely full circle for me,” Skow said. “I just knew I wanted to serve as a mentor because I had gotten that mentorship when I was a freshman.”

Participating in the event as an incoming freshman, Skow said, solidified her desire to come to Cal Poly and even introduced her to friends and mentors she remains close with today.

“I attended the event and I met some really awesome upperclassmen who were the mentors and led the program, but then also a lot of other really, really great incoming freshmen,” Skow said. “I was offered great mentorship by my Wander with WIB mentor, Nicole, who has remained a mentor for me throughout my four years and even now we're going to be working at the same company in the fall, which is really cool. It was just able to introduce me to a lot of really great people and a good community that is Women in Business at Cal Poly.”

Spearheading the event, Dorman said, with the essential help of her team, has been a “full circle moment” for her as she wraps up her time at Cal Poly. 

“When I was a junior at San Luis Obispo high school, I had the chance to participate in the high school Defining Her Future conference sponsored by WIB, and this was an incredible experience for me,” she said. When I came to Cal Poly I decided that WIB was a group that I wanted to continue my involvement with. I'm just thrilled to finish off my senior year with such a full circle moment and get to support high schoolers who were in the same position I was just a few years ago.”