Beach Week is the Best Week
The last class was over. We survived disorientation. The only thing standing between the class of 2016 and graduation was the blissful time known as beach week. During my first year, I didn’t have time to go to beach week due to preparations for our final Goizueta Marketing Strategy Consultancy presentation. The additional practice was well worth it, but I felt like I missed out on an opportunity to bond with my classmates. Given the lighter course load during my second year I made sure to attend this Goizueta tradition. The great part about beach week is that it is student run and organized. One of my classmates did a fantastic job setting up an agenda so that there was a formal activity every day. That said, nobody was required to attend each event and it was completely dependent on how you felt. For example, a couple dozen people decided to head out on pontoon boats to a sand bar one day and had an absolute blast!
Credit: Chelsea Mago
Beach week is an excellent time to also reflect on all that we’ve accomplished as a class over the past two years. Whether you were involved in student government or leading a club through dramatic change, we all had an impact on the school in our own unique way. Also, spending time with my classmates outside of the Emory “bubble” has been one of the most rewarding set of experiences I’ve had over the past two years. Traveling to foreign countries and learning about new cultures has allowed me to learn how fantastic my classmates are on an individual basis. When applying to school, I felt like I was submitting everything into a black box. Sometimes I liked the outcome, frequently I did not. Yet after the two year whirlwind that was my MBA, I am incredibly grateful that Admissions shaped my class with incredibly fantastic people that I hope to work with in the future.
Just because some of us (ok, mostly me) did some soul searching and reflection, doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun. Another classmate brought down a full set of speakers and conducted a DJ session next to the pool for most of the night. There also may or may not have been a swan that came to symbolize where everyone was sitting at the beach.
Overall, I couldn’t imagine a better way to cap my time at GBS. After a week of “socializing”, we headed back for commencement exercises at Emory University. I’m excited to start the next chapter in my career, but I will always hold my times at Goizueta close as I move forward with my life. Thanks for listening to my rambles over the past two years!!