Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Reflections on the first semester

Well, I'm officially finished with 1/4 of my MBA! I took my final final late last week and am now just waiting for grades to be posted. I'm hoping to see lots of letters that look like upside-down V's with a line across the middle.

I've had some time to think about the past few months now that school work is on hiatus for a few weeks. I happen to think that reflection is one of the most valuable parts of an experience (more on that later!), so I'd like to share a few of my reflections on my first semester with you:
  • Grad school has been challenging but very rewarding, already. I like the course work that I am doing and am inspired by what some of the alumni of my program are doing to make our world a better place.
  • People and culture can make a grad school experience. I feel so lucky that I ended up in the class of people that I have. I learn so much from my colleagues - from their sharing of life experiences to their thoughts on the future and where to go next. I love that the faculty and staff know my interests and are involved in student life and not only in academia. I feel like part of a community, which is super helpful when making a geographic transition as well.
  • Moving is always hard, but can also be extremely rewarding. It's been really difficult to leave behind people that I love and care about in pursuit of a new adventure, but the people I've met and the experiences I've had in just one semester have made this transition worthwhile. I'm learning a lot here in Boston and am starting to establish a network of friends and mentors.
  • I had a hard time adjusting to being a full-time student again! This surprised me - I thought I'd be right back at it and loving it all the time. But, I missed working and my regular schedule and my PA people. It felt a little surreal at first to have full-time student as my occupation. I don't really have any good advice for conquering this one, but just know that it might be a possibility, even if you are 100% excited about going back to school.
  • Finally, I am sure that I ended up in the right place. I think I am gaining the skills and meeting the people here that I need to be inspired and succeed in fulfilling my goals.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the holidays! Next year at this time you'll hopefully be reading about the completion of my MBA and my graduation from the Heller School!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Happy socially responsible holidays!

I was reading an article in the Boston Globe this morning about how often people that are very eco-friendly & socially conscious throughout the year totally give it up at the holidays in the spirit of spreading holiday cheer. It got me to thinking about my own holiday habits. I often indulge in what might be considered socially responsible holiday habits both in the interest of social impacts and in the interest of my lean budget. Especially my extremely lean grad student budget. Especially in the past few years, I've worked hard to make my holidays less about consumerism and more about spreading the love.

I usually try to make a few gifts - usually lots of cookies or an afghan or something. What spreads holiday cheer better than a gift "handmade with love"? And what reduces grad school stress better than a little holiday baking? I also always reuse gift bags and boxes. I've probably never actually purchased a gift bag from a store. The shopping bags that you get from stores if you choose to shop for a few gifts in this way are often beautiful packaging, too.

I'll admit that it's hard to completely give up shopping for gifts. So though I often make a few gifts, I always buy a few also. My philosophy around buying gifts is that I want to make sure I purchase items that people will actually use. Who needs another knick-knack sitting around the house collecting dust?

This year, I tried to purchase several gifts from various fundraisers. My holiday gifts this year contributed to students' travel expenses for service trips and an affordable housing coalition in a neighboring community. I also love to give food gifts. Fair trade & organic coffee and chocolate are a few delicious suggestions. Grounds for Change (groundsforchange.com) has a great website & philosophy if you don't have any fair trade coffee retailers close to where you live. Ten Thousand Villages has some beautiful gift options too, and supports fair trade craft sales for artisans in developing countries. I also think cookbooks are a great gift idea. Foodie friends will use this gift for years to come, and perhaps they will purchase local organic food while enjoying it.

Finally, here are a few fun websites about this topic that I have come across:
Grist.org: http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/11/20/stuff-free/index.html
Treehugger: http://www.treehugger.com/giftguide/

So get out there, spread some holiday cheer and save your pocketbook and the planet from further demise!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Business plan ... done!

I've taken quite a few items off of my very long list of assignments from last time! One of the most enjoyable was actually my business plan presentation. It was probably one of the best group projects I've worked on in my educational career. My group was great to work with - prepared, organized, intelligent - and our presentation was well-received. It felt rewarding to stand up and present an idea that we had spent months working on. I had never looked forward to giving a presentation before, but I was excited to do this one. Overall, a great experience.

Our assignment was to pitch a social venture. Our professor arranged for a few outside professionals to come in and give us feedback; we had people from prominent social ventures in the Boston area as our panel. Our group designed and pitched a unique consulting firm focusing on social impact consulting for small businesses. Who knows ... maybe we'll start it up someday!

In terms of next steps, though, it made me consider consulting as a possible field. I never really thought I'd be interested in the profession, but it was fun to think through all of the organizational problems and challenges that we encountered in designing our project. I enjoyed thinking about the inner workings of a business, and it was also a lot of fun to share our ideas. Oh, the possibilities!