College on Steroids

It's common to hear that college is the greatest learning experience of your life. The most memorable years, days, moments of your life. Don't get me wrong, college was definitely all that for me. But, the first 'year,' aka 8 weeks, of my masters program was college on steriods. For that matter, my masters program as a whole, especially any face time we spent together was an enhanced college experience. 

I utilize lessons learned during that year on a daily basis. The lessons are integrated into every aspect of my life. We observed and learned the importance of passion every day. We valued our family, our relationships. We gained an understanding of influence first-hand. We interacted with people daily who walked the walk; they didn't just talk the talk. 

I still have all of the hand-written and electronic notes I took throughout that year. I am that person that refers back to them multiple times each year. I also created a document that compiled the quotes and one-liners from instructors, guest speakers and classmates. 

Today I spent time writing handwritten Thank You notes to people that recently served as guest speakers in my course, have helped our department/unit in some way, that we've interacted with through community outreach, etc. As I wrote those notes, I thought of specific quotes from Husky Athletics boosters that spoke in my EDLPS 579 (Development/Fundraising) course taught by Andy Geiger. Then, during conversations I had today with a coach, I again referenced lessons learned in that course. 

Today's reminders prompted me to review some of the notes documents saved on my computer -- The 2009 IAL Cohort Values, Writing the Book on EDLPS 579 and IAL in Quotes. Below are some of my favorites from those documents.

Values
 The 2009 IAL Cohort Values:  Integrity ..... Respect ..... Optimism ..... Success ..... Family ..... Influence ..... Trust. 
[We established our values during our first week together. We lived by our values daily and held eachother accountable to them. I believe in the importance of group/organizational values, which has prompted me to incorporate it into programs I directly work with.]

Quotes
“Realize the importance of the work.” ~Andy Geiger, Instructor [Former AD of Ohio State]

“Handwritten thank you’s are gold!” ~Ron Crockett [President of Emerald Downs; UW booster]

“Athletics is about relationships. If you go into athletics you’re deciding to get along with everyone.” ~Todd Turner [Former AD of Washington]

“Never be scared to surround yourself by really smart people who challenge you.” ~Kevin Lennon, NCAA

“Work to the value you think you are, not the value you are getting paid.” ~Bill Jurgens, Florida Tech

“If I can’t dream it, you can’t achieve it.” ~Todd Turner [Shared during a discussion on how you can only be as good as your leader will allow. Find a leader who will let you dream.]

Media Love

Check out the article about the IAL program in the Fall 2012 NCAA Champion Magazine:  http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/03aaab68#/03aaab68/64.