Our first class at Foster: an eLEAD recap

Michaela Byrne recaps eLEAD- the first class students take as MBA Students.

This last weekend, the class of 2017 completed their very first Foster MBA school credits. eLead was a full weekend complete with personal reflection, team building, creative peer presentations and of course, meaningful happy hours. Now that the work week is back in full swing and we’ve had a chance to reflect on the weekend, below are a a few of my takeaways.

Just because you’re in grad school, does not mean that you’re a faster reader than before grad school. Noting the number of students pouring into our readings the morning before class tells me that we may have fooled ourselves into thinking we’re capable of reading 20 plus pages just before class begins. Fortunately, students proved just fast enough to get through the pages to have engaging discussions with both Professor Bigley and Professor Fong.
The UW bars haven’t changed much, but the company in them may have. As a former UW undergrad, I swapped countless stories with other two-time Husky’s on their past experiences on the Ave. Twenty-one runs, Thursday night outings, and the unbeatable food offerings of the late night hours were all reminisced by those who had spent four years here before. But now the conversations have shifted towards entrepreneurship, technology, or maybe even politics… Undoubtedly an incredible class of students to share insights and a beer with.
Just because you’re getting your MBA does not mean that the touchy feely stuff doesn’t matter. It matters more. Professor Christina Fong’s Leadership class gave us the opportunity to reflect on feedback from our peers, while Professor Bigley challenged us to share tips with one another on ways to combat some of our weaknesses. While diving into deep discussions about one another and ourselves, it became very apparent that this program will serve as so much more than a tool to polish our business acumen, but an opportunity for personal growth.
This program is exceptional. We have yet to begin our first class and already our start to Foster has been an amazing one. We’ve shared personal stories, gave semi-embarassing presentations, learned that Tim truly does like to stand on things before he makes an announcement, and have begun to build strong and lasting friendships. Class of 2016, and 2015, watch out. 2017 is starting at full strength, ready to take advantage of all that Foster has to offer.

Go Dawgs!