I'm a UCF Alumni

It finally happened! I graduated from UCF this past weekend! I even made an A- in my class this semester, so I made A's in all of my classes except in three. In those three classes I earned a B, B+, and an A-. My graduation GPA is 3.948, which makes me Summa Cum Laude!!!!! It was more than I could have hoped for. My friends and family really made it one special weekend for me. It was difficult, but I somehow made it through the weekend without crying. I definitely had to fight back some happy tears at my graduation ceremony though.  It felt great to walk across that stage and shake the College of Business Administration's Dean's hand. My lab professor, Leo, was sitting in the very front row and he shouted out to me as I was crossing the stage, "Way to go, Lauren!" I gave him a huge smile, waved, and thanked him. I received an email from another professor who was at the ceremony congratulating me on graduating and with Summa Cum Laude honors (they mention honors after they said my name at graduation). He said he was very impressed and proud of the accomplishment.  I think the weekend can best be summarized in pictures.

Taylor made the trip from Miami to celebrate my graduation. She made me a "My Adventure Book" scrap book with pages dedicated to check things off of my bucket list. The wigs and balloons represent the everlasting friendship we will share through old age like in the movie UP.


This gift was beyond better than the unicorn turd that I had originally predicted.

Savanna joined us at Sak

My sisters and I

I had an absolute blast celebrating my graduation at SAK Comedy Lab with family and friends!  I had been planning that night for 6 months and it was worth the wait!

I wouldn't have made it to graduation without these ladies!

After the Sak show, Leigha, Brittany, Taylor, and I went next door to a pub called Avenue Gastrobar. The name GASTOBAR is what drew me in! I even got a free shot from the bartender!

I did it!!!!!!

I waited all semester to take a picture of me in my cap and gown on this statue!

A graduation selfie!

My proud parents!!!

My whole family!

Taylor and I at the alumni statue!

It's Over...I'm Done....Peace Out

I failed my last final exam that I took as an undergraduate student. I scored a 66%. Honestly, I lost motivation. Plus, the fact that I worked over a 12 hours shift the day before my exam ate into most of the study time that allocated for the exam.  I'm not even mad because I sold two cars that day. I passed my final class with a B+! So, I earned an A in all of my college classes except for 3. I earned one B and 2 B+'s.  By my calculations, my overall graduating GPA is 3.932! That's high enough for me to graduate Summa Cum Laude, which means I'm graduating in the top 2.5% of the College of Business Administration. Reality of finally being finished comes in emotional waves. Is it weird that I'm so proud of myself that I cry?

I had a meeting with my favorite professor at UCF, Christopher Leo, after my final exam. He was my lab instructor this semester and it was the third class I've taken with him. He does magic tricks... that's how awesome he is. He was also my professor for a class I took my very first semester at UCF when I had a bad flare. When I was seriously considering quitting school, he gave me kind words of encouragement and showed understanding. If it weren't for him, I'm not sure I would have stayed in school. He is one of the very few professor's at UCF that took the time to learn my name. He always made time to talk with me after class. He had confidence that I could make it and that ultimately helped me decide to stick with school through my health issues. We talked about my current position at Classic Mazda and my future with the company. We also talked about a potential plan B for my career. We talked about graduate school. We talked about my strengths, which he considers my biggest strengths to be my interpersonal skills and my drive to do my best at everything I do. He even gave me his cell phone number and said I could call him anytime if I need advice with my career or graduate school. He is also allowing me to use him as a reference. He has confidence that I will find success where ever I go. I awarded him with a certificate of appreciation that I made especially for him. It said:

Be it Known that
Christopher Leo
during the course of my study, through personal sacrifice, selflessness, and without material reward, bestowed the support and understanding without which my graduation would not have been possible. This certificate is hereby conferred to honor and recognize the confidence, guidance, wisdom and assistance freely given in helping me attain this important milestone in my life!

He was so honored to receive this appreciation from me. I wish you could have seen his eyes light up!  He is one fantastic professor and I wanted him to know that someone appreciated his passion to teach.

"Don't Sell Yourself Short"

Since graduation is right around the corner I've been reminiscing about my journey through college. I took English Comp I as one of my very first classes at Valencia. If it wasn't for my Comp I professor, I'm not certain I would have continued my college education. When I started going to Valencia in the Spring of 2009, I went to prove to my twin that I could do things and succeed without her. So, I didn't really have any definite intentions on graduating with my A.A. and I certainly didn't believe I would transfer to UCF to get my undergraduate degree. Well, in one of my conversations with my Comp I professor she gave me advice that certainly led me down the path I'm on today. "Don't sell yourself short" and "Keep your options open" are the two pieces of advice that stuck with me from Professor Sebacher. My first step was switching my major at Valencia from an A.S degree to an A.A. General Studies degree to keep the option of transferring to UCF open, if I decided that was what I wanted to do. When I switched to an A.A., I still had no real intention of actually going to UCF.

I had no real intention to go to UCF until I met Taylor in the Fall of 2011. She also had the 'don't sell yourself short' mentality and she made me believe that I could succeed at UCF. In fact, I registered for 5 classes in the Spring of 2012 at Valencia so that I could graduate from Valencia with her in May 2012 and transfer to UCF in the Fall of 2012. Taylor gave me the reassurance I needed to transfer to UCF with confidence instead of fear and uncertainty.  If you would have told me in the Spring of 2009 that I would graduate with my A.A. in General Studies with a 4.0 GPA, I would have called bullshit! I am so glad I listened to that wise professor and kept my options open and now that I'll be graduating from UCF Summa Cum Laude (top 2.5% in the College of Business) I can proudly say I didn't sell myself short. I overcame tons of health issues while still finding success in the classroom. I overcame tons of self doubt to get to where I am today. Heck, at one point I even overcame depression! I never claim to be smart, but I do pride myself in being a hard worker.

I had a customer today that got his undergraduate degree in finance at UCF a few years ago and is now getting ready to take the GMAT to apply for graduate schools. I mentioned my 3.9 GPA and he is convinced that I should take the GMAT and apply to ivy league schools for my Masters. He thinks as long as I score high on the GMAT I'll get in because my GPA is ridiculously high. I don't even know if it's possible or even reasonable to think I could get accepted to an ivy league school. How crazy awesome would that be? It got me thinking... Will I be "selling myself short" if I don't look into this nonsense to see if it's something that I should be considering?

Captured Moments

Below are a few of my favorite captured moments from my graduation photo shoot! I am so freaking close to graduating!

 



Last Minute Lauren: The Finale

Procrastination has a firm grip on me. My team didn't finish our strategic analysis report until two hours before it was due last week. I believe that was my first "all nighter" in college. I finished my part by 3am and had to wake up at 6am to make sure my teammates were finishing their sections as well.  Honestly, I don't know what grade to expect on it. We worked our asses off on the first report before spring break and only got an 83%, so since we weren't as organized with this one I don't have high expectations.  I'll gladly take a 66%

Today my team had a 12 minute presentation to highlight our strategic recommendation listed in our report. We met at school at 8am, made our power point slides (which was pretty easy because it was just information we covered in the report), we practiced three times, and then I ran to the library to print our slides at 9:15am. Class and presentations started at 9:30am. Thankfully, we were the last team to go, so we were able to step out of class and practice one more time.  The presentation went surprisingly well. I was a little nervous because our CEO (our online professor) said that if the financial analysis section doesn't fully support the recommendation, the highest grade my in-class professor is allowed to give is a C. Since I was responsible for the financial analysis section I felt a lot of pressure to give my team any chance at a decent grade on the presentation.   After the presentation, my professor asked about five follow up questions to clarify certain aspects in our presentation and he didn't ask one question about the financial analysis section. I'm hoping that means I fully supported our recommendation with my financial analysis. The questions he did ask were answered with confidence by my teammates. I think we effectively bull shitted with outstanding confidence.

Now, I'm waiting for my professor to announce which team is going to The Great Capstone Competition. If my team gets selected, I don't have to take the final exam. However, if my team is not selected, then I'll have to take the final exam. I am three lectures behind on the video lectures and I'm four chapters behind in the book. I also have not watched any of the 5 "off the books" videos that will be covered on the exam. Obviously, I'm hoping to get invited to the competition so that I don't have to play catch to study for the final exam.

By the way, I'm impatiently waiting to get the grades on my team's strategic analysis report and presentation so that I'll know how bad I can do on the final, if I have to take it, in order to get at least a B in the class. 

Plans Change and I'm Okay With That

Today, I met up with a girl I played basketball with in high school to have her take my senior/graduation pictures at UCF. I already blogged about my ideal plan of locations and even outfits for the photo shoot. While I was getting my outfits ready today before I realized it was going to rain, I happened to find the dress I wore for my high school graduation. My sister had the brilliant idea of recreating the photo since the dress still fit. Apparently, the older I get, the paler I become.  These were taken  about 9 years apart. I think I look so much healthier in the older photo on the left.

2006 to 2015

It rained today during the shoot, so we were limited to indoors and sheltered areas. The rain certainly changed my original photo shoot plans and I'm okay with that. I think we made it work. I didn't get many photos taken on the Pegasus sitting behind Knightro, but by golly I was finally able to climb up there, even though it was in the rain, for a few quick pictures. Thankfully, my sister Kim was there to snap the shot below with my cell phone.

CHARGE!!!

Absolutely Amaze-Balls

Someone pinch me! Graduation is in 37 days!!!  Yes, I am counting down the days! It is finally starting to seem real even though about half of the possible points in my class are still up for grabs. I have placed my order to rent my cap and gown. I have scheduled a graduation/senior photo shoot. I just received the class ring that I custom designed back in February and it is absolutely amaze-balls!

Around the black onyx it says "University of Central Florida." On the right side of the ring is "BS" for Bachelor of Science degree and it also says "Finance" on a ribbon next the symbol for business. On the left side of the ring is my school's crest above "15" which stands for 2015, the year I'm graduating. I had my full name engraved on the inside of the ring. My mom questioned why I had my last name engraved. To which I responded that it will be the name on my diploma and I have no intention to ever get married, so it made sense to put my full name on the ring. 

It's my first real piece of jewelry. It's 10K gold. Honestly, I'm not sure what that means... I just chose that gold because it was the cheapest. Even though I'm not that into regular jewelry, I am so proud to be earning the degree engraved on the ring! I selected the black onyx stone because my school colors are black and gold and since the ring is gold, it made sense to have a black stone to compliment it. I am very happy I decided to reward myself for all of my hard work in school by buying the ring.

I don't think it's bad luck to start wearing the ring before I graduate, so I've already started wearing it as encouragement to finish strong. 

Help, I Have Senioritis!

It's been two weeks since spring break and all I've been doing is the bare minimum to get by. I don't know where my motivation went to finish strong. My team's final project is suppose to be underway, but I have not even touched it yet. I'm to the point where I calculated my current points against all of the available points in the class to see if I could pass the class without doing anything else. I can't. I currently have 491 points out of a possible 1000 points, so I only have a 49% and that's not good enough to graduate. The good news is that so far only 520 points of the 1000 points have been up for grabs, so I'm making a 94%, which is an A!

I should be inspired to keep up my hard work to maintain the A, but I'm over it. Mostly because I just want to focus on work and getting promoted.  I've diagnosed myself with a severe case of senioritis. Help! How do I get over this feeling of school no longer being important? It's so bad that I even thought about skipping class today. If it wasn't for my team meeting after class, I probably wouldn't have went.

Preparing for My Senior Photo Shoot

Sure, I've always been somewhat of a ham for the camera. However, I've rarely had any photo shoots of me since I've entered into adulthood. Honestly, I'm a little nervous. I hope I look healthy on the day we decide to schedule the photo shoot. I'm excited to have a photographer lined up to take my senior pictures at UCF with "two outfit changes." Does that mean I get to change twice for a total of three outfits, or does that mean I'll only be getting photographed in two outfits? I'll ask once we set the date.

I already have locations on campus in mind for the shoot. I want my photo taken with me sitting behind the knight in the statue of the picture below. The statue is right outside of the football stadium.

I also want my picture taken in front of the reflection pond that's in front of the campus library.

As far as photo shoot outfits I'm not very fashionable, so here is what I've come up with so far. A yellow polka-dotted 50's style skirt with a black sleeveless top. Polished off with a hat I love that brings the whole outfit together.

It's slowly starting to sink in that graduation is right around the corner. =)

My Fear of Failing Has Disappeared

When I first registered for College and began taking my first classes in the spring of 2009, I had a huge fear of failing. I thought: What if I'm not smart enough? What if I don't pass? What if I don't do well? Looking back it was an irrational fear to have and I'm glad it didn't stop me from trying. Throughout my college education I've consistently been at the top of my classes. Early on I had a very wise professor explain that the only way you can fail college is to quit and stop trying.  Somewhere along the way my fear of failing turned into a fear of getting less than an A on an assignment or in the course overall. Suddenly, I not only did not want to fail, but I also didn't want to get anything less than the very best possible grades. I put wicked pressure on myself to work hard and be the best.

I try to be a role model for the people in my life. Recently I've noticed that other people in my life have their own fears. With my graduation from UCF imminent, I've been reflecting on how much I've grown during my college education. I don't know that I am smarter. However, I certainly know that I am better prepared to take on the world. My fear of failure has been replaced with a fear of not trying. Now, I think: What if I don't try? What if  I don't seek new opportunities? If I don't try and if I don't seek new opportunities, I'm afraid my college education will go to waste.

I'll be graduating with more confidence than when I started. I'll be graduating with a sense of hunger to seek opportunities. Fear will not hold me back because I no longer have a fear of failing. I know I will not quit and I will not stop trying. If I can make it through this whole higher education circuit, then I feel anyone can. I don't have a super brain. I just work hard.

School, Work, New Car Fever, and Health!

I made it!!! I took my midterm today for my one and only class and passed it with an 88%! I'm officially on Spring Break! Although I'm still waiting for my exact grades back from my team's industry analysis report and presentation, a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I am performing well beyond what I even considered possible while juggling my new job with school. I can say I'll be graduating this semester with more confidence now. I'm still striving to earn an A or a B in this class so that I can graduate with the highest honors (Summa Cum Laude), but at the very least I'm pretty positive that I'll pass the class.

I ended the month of February with 5 cars sold, which is freaking awesome considering I worked less than half the month on the sales floor. My hope is that I can exceed my sales goal for the month of March. I've had the privilege to work with many fascinating customers. It's hard work, but I still love it!

I do have a confession: I am experiencing new car fever! I'm not financially ready to buy a new car yet, so that's controlling my temperature at the moment. However, the new 2016 Mazda6 GTs gave me the sensation of love at first sight. Talk safety to me, baby! Ooh la la...zoom-zoom!!! Just the smell of them raises my temperature. Don't let Loop Hole (my 2006 Mazda6) read this. He may get jealous.

My health has been the best it's been in a couple of years. My bowel movements are absolutely beautiful and regular! My stomach has been pain free. Praise, Jesus! I am beyond thankful for good health because I think I would struggle to keep up with work and school if I wasn't feeling as well as I am.

First Capstone Team Assignment

For the past three weeks, my Capstone team, Strategic Knights, has been researching and analyzing the retail grocery industry. Today, we had our first team assignment due, which consisted of our 15 page retail grocery industry analysis report and our 10 minute presentation about our analysis of the industry. The report and presentation are each worth 100 points, so we had 200 points up for grabs today. That's 20% of our overall grade. We managed to pull everything together with less than 30 minutes until class started. Thankfully, my team has quite a few superstar students and they make my job as team leader a hell of a lot easier than I ever dreamed was possible.

Strategic Knights: Raeann, me, Lauren, Gabby, and Elizabeth

We gave our presentation exactly as we had rehearsed it, with 20 seconds to spare on our time limit. Afterwards, our professor asked about five in depth questions. I think we answered four of the questions really well; however, we struggled with one question because the girl who had that part in the report that the question related to couldn't back up her statements with reason or resources.  Overall, I am proud of my team's performance. Our professor let us know that we got an A on the presentation, but the exact grade is not yet known. Plus, we have to wait for him to grade our 15 page report.

Having this assignment behind me is a huge relief. I don't have much time to relax though because the mid-term is next week. Hopefully, I'll get some down time the week after mid-term during spring break.

I'm Rocking At Life!

I am totally rocking at life this week! Don't get me wrong, I'm working my ass off to do it, but at least my hard work is being rewarded. I pulled a 96% on my first big report of the semester! That impressed me for some reason. It's a senior level class and the professor will not pass students that cannot write at a college level. Relief set in because I was unsure at how well my writing skills are since I don't write a lot of college level stuff as a finance major. Evidently, I'm an amazing college level writer. I don't think I ever got that high of a grade in English Comp I or II.  I know I write as a hobby, but I guess I didn't realize the quality of my grammar and word choices show my level of education.

Also, my team turned in a mission statement for our strategic business unit (lab) and my professor selected it as the best mission statement from all of the other teams that turned one in.  Considering that only one girl on my team sent me her ideas of what the mission statement should be, and everyone else left it up to me to combined it with my ideas (Oh, the responsibility of being team leader... gag me).  I came up with the following mission statement to guide us in what we do and who we are for the rest of the semester:

We conduct competitive analysis for firms and their industries to uncover sustainable, competitive advantages. Our continued development of employees allows us to integrate the various levels of expertise required to maximize the benefits of stakeholders and society.

Yeah, I am on track to finish this semester with a BANG!!! 

Also, I'm back at the dealership this week. Yesterday, I was only supposed to be shadowing. However, I had just clocked back in from break when a customer came in and all of the other sales associates were busy. I got to step up to the plate. The customer had been at the dealership the day before and my co-worker, Mary, had helped out then. Since Mary was with another customer I got to be put in the game. I ended up selling a car! It seems crazy, but I didn't know anything about the car because it was pre-owned. That didn't slow me down though. I discovered the features of the car with my customer and gave a kickass demo drive. I'm certain it was on the demo drive that the customer was sold. Shoot, I was sold. lol I convinced myself it was a good car for a good price. I even wrote up all the paperwork with guidance from my manager. It was fun!

Not Sure How, But I'm Surviving

My social life has been non-existent all year; however, I've met more new people in the first two months of 2015 than I did throughout 2014. In a way, I am making one friend at a time. When I was shadowing Mo at work and practically sold his customer a second car by myself, I let Mo take the sale and count it toward his cars sold amount. He was shocked I just gave it to him, but the way I looked at it was that I was shadowing him to learn the sales process, not to steal a sale from him. I just didn't feel right counting the sale toward my cars sold amount. That decision earned Mo's trust and respect and now I know he'll have my back on the sales floor and he will be willing to help me out in the future. A co-worker's car broke down this week and we were both at HR all week for sales training. Even though it was out of my way, I offered her a ride while her car was in service. She took me up on it and bought me lunch to thank me. She was grateful and I think we'll be great team players on the sales floor.

Work is getting intense. I have learned so much that my brain might be on the verge of exploding. I don't think it will be too much longer until I'm actually on the sales floor selling cars. I'm a little nervous because I know I'm inexperienced, but I'm hopeful customers will be patient with me as I learn and do everything I can to help them. I can't wait to help my first customer and I really can't wait to sell my first car!  I'm currently suffering from new car fever. During sales training, I met the COO and CMO of Holler-Classic Automotive Group, which was really neat because they took the time out of their important duties to welcome us to the company and share some of their experience in the auto industry. Their ideas for the future of the company are impressive and inspiring!

School is going full speed ahead. I had my very first team meeting outside of class today and it went amazingly well. We had a great discussion on the retail grocery industry. Is it an attractive industry? That is the mystery our 15 page report will be solving. Before the meeting I felt overwhelmed and uncertain on how we will complete everything on time, but after the meeting I felt more confident in my part and our team's ability to kick ass on this report. So far, I'm getting great feedback on my team for being a well organized team leader. =) I manage all of our discussion threads on webcourses and make weekly announcements on our goals for the week.  I also communicate with our lab instructor to keep him updated on our team's progress.  I'm glad my teammates recognize my effort in keeping us all on the same page.

P.S. Still waiting to get a grade back on my first big report of the semester... =/

What Does It Mean To Have Fun?

I think with all of my hard work I've been putting forth in work and school I have forgotten how to have fun. Tonight I found myself reading numerous 10-K forms filed with The Securities and Exchange Commission. I think I actually convinced myself that it was fun and interesting...until I got to my fifth or sixth 10-K form on a company in the retail grocery industry. They all pretty much repeat the same shit over and over again, and most of the information is not useful to my research for my team's industry analysis report. I need info on Porter's Five Forces: Threat of New Entrants, Competitive Rivalry, Bargaining Power of Buyers, Bargaining Power of Sellers, and Threat of Substitute Products.  Oh well, off to have more "fun" researching. Someone save me!!!

So Much To Do, So Little Time = Life

To say that my life is crazy busy seems like an understatement.  Between work and school I really don't have much time for myself or anyone else for that matter. Taylor and I cancelled her visit last weekend. I can't even remember the last time I took a nap.

I'm still loving Mazda! I'm learning tons of stuff every day! I'm officially Mazda certified, which is pretty awesome! I'm still learning how to tell all of the different trim levels apart at first glance though. Plus, I'm still learning all the technology offered: BSM, MRCC, RCTC, LDWS, etc... I pretty much know the different engines, horse powers, torques, wheel sizes, and cloth or leather that comes on each trim level. It's just the technology and some safety features that are tripping me up when I'm asked to explain them. This week I'm learning the sales process. So far, I know our greeting and concept statement that we share with each customer. I should be ready to hit the sales floor in two weeks! I'm so grateful that I found a company willing to invest in me.  I plan to work my butt off to reward their investment.

As for school, I kind of want to quit so that I can focus on work. I know I'm only taking one class, but it's a monster of a class! I turned in my first big project today, my 10-K report. I only got it to 12 pages because I just ran out of time to work on it. I'd love to get an 80%; however, I'd settle for a 70% since I know I could have done better if I had more time. This morning in class, we were assigned our first team project and it's due in three weeks. Everyone in class is freaking out because we have a 15-20 page industry analysis report to write about the retail grocery industry, we have a 10 minute presentation to give about our industry analysis, and we have our mid-term exam all due in the same week. February 24th is going to be a week from Hell. This week my team is focusing on researching the industry since we have use a minimum of 10 sources in our analysis. Next week, we will split the project up and give everyone on the team a portion to write. Hopefully, writing the report won't take too long since we'll already have most of the research completed, and then we'll need to put together a presentation and practice delivering it flawlessly! Oh yeah, and in our spare time we should study for the mid-term! HA! We'll see how that goes.

Also, I finally have the official date I will be graduating as long as I can pass this class! The big day will be Saturday, May 9th, 2015 at 9AM! Even though I know the date, it still doesn't seem real yet. Perhaps it's because I'm not yet certain I'll pass this class.

I have no clue how I'm going to get everything done to get to where I want to go with work and school, but I know I'm working my butt off to get there. Kim keeps reminding me that I will be rewarded in May for all of my hard work in school.

What a Week

My first full week at my new job started today!  I spent it at human resources to attend a sales training meeting with Tom Ryan. He is a master of selling! I can't wait to learn more from him in February. Today he discussed the automotive industry, greetings ("No one will buy a car from you if they think you're a creep."), identifying needs, product presentation, demo drives, trial closes, closes, tension in relationships, how to handle objections, and many other topics. Sales training was rich with useful information. When we were given an hour for lunch, three other sales people (Mohammed, Eddy, and Meagan)  from Classic Mazda introduced themselves and invited me to lunch with them. It was great getting advice from them and getting to know a few of my new co-workers. I'm off tomorrow and then I work Wednesday through Saturday at Classic Mazda to work on getting Mazda certified.

I'm in the middle of writing my 10-K report. I've got eight pages and I'm sure by the time I'm finished I'll have about 18. I have a meeting with my professor tomorrow after class so that he can give me some feedback on what I have for my report so far. Hopefully, I'm heading in the right direction because the 10-K report is due in a week. I've been working my butt off because I want to have it finished Thursday night so that I won't have to work on it while Taylor's here this weekend. Since I'll be working while she's here I want to be able to spend non working hours hanging with her, not writing a report.   I can dream can't I?

I Am Blessed!

When I decided last year to take only one class in the Spring so that I would have time to practice interview skills, sharpen my resume, and job hunt, I never dreamed I would have a new job in January. I honestly anticipated still job hunting well after graduation.  I didn't land just any job, I landed a job that has everything I wanted in my first "real world" job after college. I wanted a company that would be willing to invest in me. They're investing their time and resources to train me in their industry and it's fantastic! I wanted a company that I would have potential to be promoted within to grow with the company and they certainly seem to have that potential. I wanted a company that offered great benefits and after 90 days, I will have access to their great benefits. I wanted to work somewhere I could make a difference and help people and I will have the opportunity to do just that. Dare I say that I've never been this excited about anything before. I am blessed

Now, looking back at how all of the pieces fell perfectly together, it seems crazy. I am beyond excited to see what this year has in store for me. If only I could look through binoculars into the future to see what my future holds...

Chase the Change You Want To See

After asking my friend Brittany to blog about why change scares her and reading her post, I figured I'll blog about the other side of the coin, my side isn't scary. Let me start by saying that before I read Britt's blog I didn't think I encountered too many changes. However, now I see that I over look a lot of the changes in my life without giving it a second thought. I don't over think things. I like to paint my nails a different color every week. Whenever I have the chance to change my running route, I take it! Trying new places and things excites me. My health changes pretty frequently, but I expect it and accept it.  For the past six years, I've had a new school schedule every semester with new material, new professors, new classmates.

I think the biggest change in my life is happening right now with me getting a new job.  This change excites me! Sure, I may have some nervous jitters, but I'm not afraid of it. I wanted this, so I chased the change I wanted to see.  Perhaps I'm optimistic in that I believe I can control most of the changes in my life without letting them control me.

I recognize that not all change is good. When Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, he went on to create Pixar. Being fired from Apple seems like the worst thing that could happen to the founder of the company, but Mr. Jobs made the best of it and didn't let it stop him from chasing his dreams.

I wrote a poem many years ago titled: Chance to Chase:

Quitting isn't a bad thing 
If it gets us closer to our dreams
Might be hard to turn the page
If we never take the chance to chase
But if we chase the change we want to see
We might get the chance to chase our dreams

Strangely enough, I use this poem as a rule of thumb when deciding to quit. I've thought about quitting school many times when health issues bogged me down, but quitting would not get me closer to my dreams so I always decided to stick with it.  When deciding to quit my current job and take the job with Mazda, I quit because I believe the job with Mazda will get me closer to my dreams.

My Final Chapter at UCF

I'm only taking one class this semester, Strategic Management, also known as, Capstone. The lecture part of the course is live streaming, which means I could attend class live or I could watch it online because it's recorded. I watch the hour and fifteen minute lecture every week online. The midterm and final exams are based on material covered in lecture, mostly from the book and other sources of material. The exams will be taken in the testing lab. The lab part of the course is a face to face class. The lab is where I'll be quizzed every week about what was covered in the lecture. The lab instructor will go over strategic case studies and my five member team will take turns with other teams solving different strategic dilemmas. The lab meets once a week for an hour and twenty minutes.

The class is setup like a corporation. The guy giving the lecture calls himself the CEO of Applied Strategy Incorporated. Class is called training meetings. My lab instructor is my SBU (Strategic Business Unit) manager. My fellow classmates and myself are the employees. We get paid in the form of grades, "grade income". Quizzes are called Interviews, etc...

Throughout the semester there will be 3 big projects on top of the exams and quizzes: 10-K Integration Project, Industry Analysis, and a Strategic Analysis. The theme this semester is the retail grocery industry. The 10-K Integration project is an individual project. Each member of my team had to select a different one of eight retail grocery companies that were approved by our CEO. I'll be doing my 10-K report on Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. A 10-K is an annual report publicly traded companies file with the Security Exchange and Commission (SEC). I will be digging into the business analysis section of the 10-K, and then apply what I discover there to the industry analysis and strategic analysis frameworks developed in the training meetings(class). My 10-K project will be a 15 page analysis.   It's due February 3rd.

The Industry Analysis project is a team project, where each team represents a consulting firm. My team will use our 5 different 10-K projects on different companies in the retail grocery industry to write a 15-20 page industry analysis and give a 12 minute presentation about the industry. The goal is to conduct a competitive analysis of the retail grocery industry.

The Strategic Analysis project is also a team project. My consulting team will prepare a strategic analysis on Winn Dixie. This will also be both a 15-20 page paper and a 12 minute presentation. All teams will examine the same firm, and will address the same general strategic issue. The goal is to provide a strategic recommendation for the firm.

There are about 25 different lab sections for the course and each lab instructor gets to select one team from their lab to enter The Great Capstone Case Competition, which is the culminating event for this class and for my experience at the UCF College of Business. After hearing each team in the SBU labs present their strategic analysis, each SBU manager will choose one team from his/her SBU lab to advance to the semi-finals of The Great Capstone Case Competition. The SBU managers will be looking for teams that can think strategically and also work well together as a consulting team, and deliver a rigorous, competent presentation of those ideas. The selected teams from across Capstone SBU labs will be seeded  into several semi-final groups, and each team in each group will deliver their presentation to a panel of judges, comprised of experts, including members of the UCF Executive MBA program, UCF Business faculty, and/or executives from Winn Dixie. The judges will pick a winner from each semifinalist group to advance to the finals. Teams that advance to the finals will receive awards for their efforts. The finals will be judged by a panel comprised of faculty experts, industry experts representing the Dean's Advisory Council, members of the UCF College of Business Hall of Fame, The Wall Street Journal, and/or Winn Dixie.

My team is in it to win The Great Capstone Case Competition. I'm excited to work hard with my team throughout the semester in hopes of making it to the semi-finals and moving on to win in the final round. This class isn't like anything I've ever taken before. It's intense and complicated and I love it! Hoping for a successful semester!

PS: I was nominated by my team to be our team leader!  These days when I look in the mirror, I see someone that has grown so much confidence since the first semester at Valencia back in 2009.