In January 2013 I started a journey that has shaped the woman I am today. I agonized over what to wear and worried about who I would sit with at lunch, much like I did on my first day of school 22 years earlier.

Guest Blogger: Colleen Wilson, PMBA Class 35, graduated May 15, 2015

As I walked into the lecture room on the first day of orientation, I picked a seat near the door in case my nervous stomach continued to act up and I had to make a run for the nearest ladies room. I also folded up a small garbage bag and put it in my purse in case I could not find said bathroom. I sat next to a sweet girl named Meg, and a goofy guy named Mike. And over the course of the day, my nervousness melted away and I started to feel at home with the fun people I would spend the next two and a half years with.

Over the course of those two and a half years, these would be the people we threw Christmas parties with and had BBQs with in the summer; people whose weddings and babies we would celebrate, and whose losses we would mourn together; people we stayed up late with working on papers and projects and drinking with at school until midnight; people we talked to often more times a day than our own spouses or partners.

That room of 54 other faces grew into lifelong friends I will never forget. It is composed of strong men and women leaders who have quit safe jobs and started innovative companies, fell in love, started families, moved to new cities, and pushed themselves to try new things and take risks.

It has been one of the most wild and fun rides of my life, and in a way, I am very sad to see it end. Congratulations to my fellow graduates and PMBA 35 folks – you are some of the brightest, funniest, most courageous and insane people I have met, and I feel so fortunate to have crossed your path.

A huge congratulations to my fellow graduates and an even larger THANK YOU to the spouses, partners, family, and friends who have helped make it possible.