SMEAL MBA..A Journey to Remember for Life....

Written in Collaboration with my awesome classmate- Kelly Burns.

August 9, 2010 was our first day at this great institution,

When Smeal Quest kick-started our orientation.

Pre-term accounting kept us on our toes;

MBA Action brought us all close.

Our first MBA party was at Mad Mex and we were loud;

The pre-term accounting exam results made us not so proud.

Official classes greeted us as we began Mod 1;

The first thing we learned was ‘what gets rewarded gets done.’

Balance sheets and income statements ruled our lives;

The 8 a.m. classes were cutting us like knives.

Team assignments and deadlines were the norm;

We aced Statistics because the review session rested the storm.

Our class now communicated using a 3 point presentation;

Before we could realize, it was time for career immersion.

Mod 2 started on a high note;

Thanks to the end of Mod 1 party at Brian, Andrew and Joe's.

Managerial Accounting homework always required several tries;

@Risk squirrels made regular appearances in all of our lives.

Thanks to Dr. Crocker, Microeconomics was never complex;

And who knew that the Big Mac could be an index?

Late nights spent on assignments and studying required constant motivation;

Post-final exams, it was time for a much-needed vacation.

Mod 3 welcomed us as we entered a new year;

We were missing the football tailgates already, thanks to Claire.

Marketing and Supply Chain grew our learning tree;

We could make any business work with a positive NPV.

While some classmates fine-tuned their global perspectives.

Others were busy locking down summer internships.

We were overwhelmed by assignments, with no idea when they were due;

Finally global immersion came to our rescue!

Mod 4 gave us a deep understanding of Porter’s Five Forces;

Never in our lives had we taken so many courses.

Learning from Dr. Jordan was like a dream;

Thanks to Dr. Trevino, we are now more ethical and supreme.

Exec Panel included presentations about HTC;

Time had flown so quickly, we were half done the MBA Program already.

It was the 2nd year of MBA now;

We were all ready to take our final bow.

Some of us had secured full time jobs, while others were still flouting in the clouds;

But together we are all tremendously Penn State proud.

It was now time to greet the smiling faces of the first years;

We felt accomplished since we made it to our second year.

At the start of November, the Penn State spirit was shaken;

The Sandusky Scandal left us feeling our pride had been mistaken.

But We Are more than the crimes of one man,

And together through the Blue Out we took a stand.

For all the victims of child sex abuse,

We gathered our funds, to be put to good use.

While the media has tried to cast our entire University in a negative light,

We still stand united, forever Penn State blue and white.

In January we mourned the passing of Coach Joseph Vincent Paterno;

All week the lights in Beaver Stadium shone over his statue like a halo.

‘A Memorial For Joe’ provided us with a sense of closure;

His family’s lasting positive impact on Penn State will be impossible to ever truly measure.

Now our class stands at the beginning of Mod 8;

The clock is counting down to our graduation date.

Over the past two years we have learned so much;

By classmates, professors and staff, our lives have been touched.

After two Chinese New Year, Thanksgiving, and Diwali celebrations,

Just several weeks remain before our graduation.

Thank you Smeal for transforming our lives;

Thank you Smeal for filling our hearts with pride.

In retrospect, these past two years have passed in the blink of an eye;

We will say ‘adios’ for now, because we hate the word goodbye.