I have been regretfully, and to the dismay of others, neglecting my blog. My sincerest apologies, it has been almost a month since my last posting. I have, however, acquired much knowledge to share.

I had quite the memorable experience recently, and to my displeasure, it is still continuing. I attended an event hosted by my University connecting business students to Alum. It was very useful, and if taken full advantage of, which I intend to do, can prove to be very useful in the future. Approximately 5 students were assigned to each mentor for the morning/afternoon events. To understand the day- you must know all mentors had an hour long opportunity to meet all students, followed by each mentor and their respective assigned students met with 5 or so other mentors and their respective students for a panel discussion, and further dispersed to a more intimate discussion 5-1 between students and their mentor. Each mentor was given an usher out of their 5 students that would escort them to each of their rooms in which there presence was required.

This is the interesting part- I was willingly an usher to my mentor, whom I had never met. While in conversation during the networking portion of the morning, I finally had the opportunity to meet him as he rudely interrupted my conversation with another mentor. I immediately thought this was rude, looked at his name tag, realized he was my mentor, and was a bit annoyed- until I had the chance to take in his attire. Then I was appalled. He was dressed in a blazer, t shirt, jeans, and sneakers with dishevled hair. This was a professional event- tie required.

I was nice and poilte- in retrospect, this was my first mistake. I introduced myself as his usher and explained and offered my assigned services to him that afternoon. He was extremely innappropriate all afternoon long, kissing females on the cheek, using profanity, hitting on the students (myself included), promoted picking up women at events such as this, dressing as casually as he was, he was untimely, eccentric (made us meditate), and overall not someone you want representing your school-let alone influencing your students.

By the end of the day I had completely changed my demeanor toward him and was strictly professional, a little brash regarding his behavior, and basically set him straight a few times. It ultimately earned me a dinner invitation (declined), attempt at a kiss (rejected), stolen cell phone number from my resume, and resulting phone calls and text messages (to which I have not responded).

A week and a half later this manner has not changed. I have taken proper actions and approached the necessary school officials whom are not inviting him back.

In retrospect I have learned many things from attending this event that I had not forseen;

1. I am glad that this happened to me. Rather than someone else, I am a strong willed human being with strong moral convictions. Other female students may have been too shy to be straight with him, or have played into his innuendos too much. Overall, I had the perfect personality to handle such a character.

2. I made the best of the event, regardless. I decided 15 minutes into the event after meeting him that the day was a complete bust, but I reminded myself it didn't have to be. It was what I made it. I made many other useful connections and did try to sift out some valuable material from my mentor.

3. Sometimes in life you will be handed situations like this. These moments define you. How you handle them will have a huge impact on your life. I am proud of handling the situation the way I did, and that is because my Dean and other officials expressed that they also thought I handled the situation very professionally. I know that I will encounter more situations in my career that will test my morals, ethics, judgement, and business professionalism. I hope I can remain the person that I displayed that afternoon, but hopefully, have learned even more by then, and handle it even better.




The secret of many a man's success in the world resides in his insight into the moods of men and his tact in dealing with them. -J. G. Holland