ALL POSTS BY: Cam Johnson

Some universities start class the day after Labor Day.  The day after Labor Day this year, I was sitting in a Statistics midterm.

But let’s look the week before Labor Day, the height of intensity thus far.  Normally I have the following requirements from the core each week: Finance quiz on Monday; Statistics problem set due on Tuesday by 5pm; Leading Teams & Organizations (LTO) case reactions due on Monday and Wednesday by 5pm; and a Finance problem set group submission due on Friday by noon.  In the week before Labor Day we also had a group global perspective presentation for Leadership Communications and a group paper for LTO.  The group presentation was to total 8 minutes in length with each speaker presenting for 2 minutes.  Preparation takes a lot longer than you would think.  Admittedly, we met longer than we should have as a group, but individually I rehearsed 2 hours for my 2 minutes, practicing my part somewhere around 30-40 times to really have it down.  Ultimately my effort resulted in positive feedback from the professor.  The LTO paper was to be done completely virtually with communications, including coordinating meeting times, being limited to phone, email or other online sources.  Enter Skype conference call and Google Docs.

I’m tired.

This is not undergrad.  With 7 weeks instead of 14, we dove right
into the material in the first class. 
Fortunately, the professors and students have kept each class
interesting.  We also had a group paper
due the first week on a case we read.  It
was fascinating to speak with classmates about their group experiences, how
they coordinated, discussed the case, delegated responsibilities, and most
importantly how much time they spent in meetings.

Socially, our class is off to a
great start.  It’s incredible to develop
this many connections so quickly.  Some
of us have joked that we’re working on last names now.  We know that there are three Justins, but do
we know who Justin X, Y, or Z is?  Oh, is
he the one that was wearing a white polo last night?  With a class of about 185, I believe we will
build stronger and more diverse connections than at a larger program.  We will benefit from the strength of those
connections well after we finish our two years here at Owen.

I arrived in Nashville the Monday before orientation believing that one week would be plenty of time to get organized.  Through the constant search, acquisition and assembly of furniture, getting whatever else I needed for my apartment, and meeting up with fellow first years, orientation started before I had much of a chance to stop and rest.  However, I did walk into orientation knowing about 30 more people than before I arrived in Nashville as we put together an unofficial first year gathering at Dan McGuinness last Friday night.  I left the bar realizing that this two year journey will be a socially and intellectually stimulating experience.

Monday started bright and early at 8am with a number of presentations, alumni speakers, and a team activity in the afternoon.  The team activity involved a lot of running, sweating, and building something (you'll have to come here to find out what), which were donated to a local charity.  It was our first preview into the challenges of working in a team on a project with a tight deadline.  In the evening, we mingled with classmates at Mercy Lounge.