Incoming Class of 2027
It’s tough to recall my emotions from a decade ago in the Spring of 2015. I bet I felt the same as I do now that I’m back from the Wisconsin School of Business’ On, Wisconsin weekend. I probably felt anxious about high school graduation and excited to head to UW-Madison in the fall. Like then, I can barely contain my eagerness to fast-forward through the next four months. However, there are key differences from then to now. My 17-year-old self’s excitement came from uncertainty, the wonder of what college life would be like, and the mystery of what path I would choose to take. My 27-year-old self’s excitement comes from the certainty that I’m on the right path—a path that takes me through the Wisconsin School of Business and the Strategic Human Resource Management Center.
Information sessions, snapshots of classwork, networking and personal brand workshops, and events with the Graduate Business Association are just a few of the agenda items in a jam-packed weekend. Throughout all these events, though, one theme kept coming up again and again. From Dean Samba’s “hardy welcome” on Thursday night to the GBA Spring Ball that closed the weekend on Saturday, every speaker and event relayed a message: honoring our history while looking to the future.
Dean Samba set the tone for the rest of the weekend at the welcome reception. Hearing the recent efforts of the WSB to boost Wisconsin MBAs’ preparedness, rankings, reputation, and job readiness contextualized how special it is to be part of the WSB and the SHR Center. Wisconsin MBAs are “trusted to lead,” and we earn this trust through a unique blended learning experience that balances depth and breadth of knowledge. His welcome also highlighted the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. The center directors and faculty who will support us over the next two years and beyond are the backbone of the Wisconsin MBA, and it’s easy to see they are trusted to lead. Full-Time MBA & Master’s Program Director, Joe Crombie, addressed the group on Friday morning and echoed many of the same things that Dean Samba introduced the previous night. The unified message was an appreciation for the long-standing traditions of the business school, balanced with the pursuit of continuous improvement.
Talk is one thing, though. It’s another thing to experience the program first-hand. One of the many highlights of the weekend was participating in the blended learning experience Dean Samba described by joining Professor Jan Heide in the classroom. During the case study and discussion, I witnessed initial trepidation from my classmates to speak up. Despite having many opportunities to network and meet other incoming MBAs by now, we were still strangers. At last, someone broke the silence. In that moment, I watched the group collectively realize that this was not a one-off conference, keynote, or special discussion. We will all be sitting in this room again, faced with the same questions, in four months. The values of commitment, participation, collaboration, community, and professionalism that Director Crombie described to us just hours earlier settled over us. With that silent agreement that we should take advantage of the opportunity and get started early, participation ramped up as we each got more comfortable with each other and the fear of giving a “wrong” answer melted away.
A SHR Thing
It’s at this point, dear reader, that I resist the urge to do a chronological recap of the On, Wisconsin weekend despite desperately wanting to tell everyone I meet about all the fun I had with my peers. The challenge is that each session, event, or activity, built upon the ones that came before it. As I review my copious notes from the weekend, the same messaging comes up time and time again, making it difficult not to approach this chronologically. If I leave you with anything, I don’t want it to be simply what I did—I want you to understand what I felt. With that in mind, and with this being the SHR Center Blog, let’s turn our attention to my specialization.
I’ve been very fortunate to network and get to know many people in the SHR Center prior to the weekend by attending fall event planning meetings, the SHR Symposium last October, the WISHRM Student Summit, and coffee chats with current and incoming students. The SHR Center has also done a fabulous job ensuring we had the tools to build our community early. However, finally getting to gather with the other incoming SHR MBAs in one place with Assistant Center Director Mahina Adams, Center Director Tanya Hubanks, and Academic Director Charlie Trevor was surreal. While you can argue our MBA journeys began before we even applied—in my case, it was a conversation with Tanya last June that convinced me to apply —and while this weekend wasn’t an official orientation, it really does feel like I became a student again while sitting in the SHR Center.
When I first arrived at the hotel, I quickly met up with fellow SHR MBAs Janani Iyer and Ellen Varhol. The conversation was easy and casual. At some point, the question of whether I was excited or nervous was raised. Almost immediately, I said that I wasn’t nervous. The feeling I had was pure excitement. After the On, Wisconsin weekend, my excitement is paired with confidence.
Feeling Great Since 1848
I’m a proud Wisconsinite. Growing up, I always wanted to be a Badger. While my first foray into higher education did not end with a degree from UW-Madison, I look back on the five years I spent here fondly. I finished my degree through UW-Platteville, and I’m hugely proud of that achievement, but I can’t help but feel that I have unfinished business. That’s partly why I’m so ready for this fall. It helps, too, that the program is so highly rated thanks to the efforts of Tanya, Mahina, Charlie, the SHR MBAs that came before me, and the rest of the faculty who provide career coaching, set the vision and curriculum, and deliver the information.
I’ll end by shouting out the WSB Graduate Business Association. I can’t get over how welcoming they were at all their events. I thought the incoming students would stick out like sore thumbs, but we were immediately pulled into the fold. The Spring Ball and Thursday After Professional Studies (TAPS) were both highlights for networking and being able to have a little fun. Plus, I was able to close out the On, Wisconsin experience by sharing some of the greatest customs and traditions our great state has to offer with my new peers: enjoying a brandy old-fashioned and playing a hand of euchre just a few hundred feet away from the state capitol.