“Since our team had to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for parts, tools, travel and housing money, which would come from grants, the school, donors and a fundraiser that was ran by the student,” he stated. 

As his sophomore year was ending, the teammate who was in charge of running the fundraiser was graduating, leaving a gap in his absence. A gap which Charbonneau saw as a great opportunity. This meant managing students who would be willing to sell refreshments to their classmates throughout the day.

His role also consisted of managing supplies and determining the product mix, the progress of which had to kept track of with the help of a dynamic spreadsheet. He also organized fundraising events at a local Chipotle, who gave the team a percentage of the profits that came from his supporters who visited the restaurant. Charbonneau carried on his legacy as a fundraising manager over his junior and senior years. Over this time the club had raised $18,000 from sales.

However, Charbonneau mentioned that, “This wasn’t done alone.” The following year his current successors worked alongside to ensure that the operation was running smoothly. It is because of this that Charbonneau became more interested in marketing and management. He said that through this experience, he learned different things such as leadership, how to better handle money and the power of working with others. As a result of all this, he came to Baruch with the intention of majoring in marketing management.

“I hope to one day to start a business while also being involved in investing,” he said.

In order to learn more, Charbonneau also took the time to attend several conferences and workshops about data analytics, investing in the stock market and investing in real estate. Of these events, one featured Barbara Corcoran, a television personality on the show “Shark Tank.” She came in as a speaker and was a great inspiration for Charbonneau as she was responsible for turning $1,000 into a billion-dollar business. This conference focused heavily on real estate and different investing options. 

It led to him learning different tactics that people use in order to sell a product, skills he hopes to use for charity.