THE BEGINNING!

A Bay Area, California native, I have also lived in New Orleans, LA, Arlington, TX, back to New Orleans, LA and now Kalamazoo, MI. People say that my story is excitedly exhausting, but I have barely put a dent in my wish list!

Attending undergrad in New Orleans, the day of the grad school fair, I had another engagement that ended up getting cancelled. Moments before take-off, I was invited to the fair. Of course it is evident that Western Michigan University was the most intriguing!

After showing interest, I was invited to the 1st HBCU Visitation Weekend hosted by the Graduate College and upon arrival was notified that I was accepted into the MBA Program!!! That clearly made my weekend - though I did not officially celebrate until my spring break trip in Philadelphia a couple of weeks later (my birthday was also during this week - you guys know I love celebrating)!!!

I began WMU in July of 2007.

The first thing I noticed was that, though our classes consisted of tons of group work, it was very difficult to establish relationships outside of the classroom! Frustrated that 1) I had no connection with my new peers and 2) I missed my steady undergrad study group - the few brave students who undertook Econ and Finance and went through our junior and senior year together - it also sucked that we did not have a cohort like I had heard other programs had established.

Thank goodness for the Graduate College and the Haworth College of Business' administration to help me get through the times I felt alone while I was on campus. However, off campus, I made connections with those from other departments!

With the students I met early on, we went to the movies, concerts, comedy shows, museums, birthday parties, eating, drinking, dancing, drinking, and dancing together!

Memories from the start of the program was going to Milwauke, WI for a black-and-white bday party, and Keyshia Cole's concert at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL (and was surprised to see an old friend - an added bonus) all in one weekend! Travel, hotel stays, limos, champaign - the best!

So, you may be wondering - when did I actually do any studying? How was I able to focus on my scool work?...

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION COMPLETION!

OMG! As of December 3, 2008 @ 8-ish pm, my last final exam was completed and I was freed of ethical decision-making, international policies, finance and accounting situational problems, managerial changes, presentations, group work, term papers, and obscene study hours brought on by the Master of Business Administration Program at Western Michigan University!

EXCITED, ELATED, PROUD, IN AWE - these words barely express the feeling!!!

My peers and I have been celebrated since Thursday, December 4th where we started at Shakespeare's Pub, with the following being more celebratory events up to date

Friday, Dec. 5th Wayside (VIP)
Saturday, Dec. 6th Ain't Mis Behavin (play), actually this night was supposed to be Firehouse but snowy weather was so terrible!
Wednesday, Dec. 10th Blue Dolphin and Wildbull

Continuing on, tonight we have our graduation reception brought to us by our very own Haworth College of Business - and graduation is not even until Saturday, Dec. 13th!

The only reason why we started so late was because everyone was so tired! I feel like I am recuperating from this past year and a half!

Hold up, did she say 'year and a half?' As in, she finished the entire program in a year and a half?! Yep, I sure did...and NOTHING about that was easy.

But, I am way ahead of myself, I have jumped to the end.

The purpose of this blog is to get people to understand what graduate students endure. How at any one particular point in time, we can feel overwhelmed, happy, stressed, excited, scared, and/or fulfilled - but none of that matters when we are in the midst of completing the designed academic programs.

We pull resources and energy from out of nowhere in order to do what we gotta do! And every moment is a memory that will never be forgotten....here are some stories of graduate students who love, live, and laugh even through the hardships of higher education...