Sleeping On a Crossbeam

In my room, above my desk I hang a picture taken in 1938, titled “Top of the Rock, Sleeping on a Crossbeam.” It photos 5 guys sleeping on a beam that overhangs hundreds of feet above the New York City Skyline. The men are dress in t-shirts, work boots and those funny looking 1930’s hat you see in your grandparents - great-grandparents in my case -. It’s a cool photo and I don’t think it was overly staged. Even if it was staged, that fact that these guys are just casually sleeping high above New York City makes the photo legitimate in itself. So why is a guy from small(ish) town Sterling Illinois interested in a photo taken in 1938 in NYC? I keep this photo above my desk to look at every day because it reminds me that the accomplishments I have made are only possible because of the hard work of those that came before me. This isn’t me trying to diminish my accomplishments; it’s another way for me to push myself to be better. I can recognize that in order to meet the needs of the generations that come after me I need to work harder with the resources I have been provided. I plan to take this photo to college to remind me to work hard in all my endeavors.

03/04/2018

Mitch not Mitchell

I couldn’t tell you why I chose to write about this instead of a class business or a speaker or what not. But as I sit here on a Sunday it is what comes to mind. Lately ( the past year or so) I introduce myself as Mitch, instead of the full Mitchell. I haven’t put much thought into why until now. I always thought of it as something that was easier to roll of the tongue, you know, one syllable vs. two, but I’ve come to the conclusion that its more than that. I guess I’ll start by disclosing that I do not dislike my full name at all, that said, Mitch just sounds a whole lot better to me. Everyone always called me Mitchell when I was growing up, so it’s a way for me to transition from adolescence to adulthood ( or at least semi adulthood). It kind of reminds me of rebranding a business, same inside, same workings, same stuff, just a different look, and a different feel. I even thought of putting down Mitch for all my college information, that way it might be on my diploma. It’s kind of cool honestly, it feels like where I’m going I’ll be a different person than I was back home. All of the people I’ve met from UIUC know me as Mitch, and all my high school friends call me Mitchell. I know it doesn’t sound like that big of a difference but to me its symbolism for growth and renewal. There was once a Navy Seal who whenever he wanted to do something he didn’t know if he could do or not, he would think of himself as a different person, one that could do anything, and that would help him with his goal. In a nutshell that’s what I’m doing, retraining my brain to forget childish fears and apprehensions to move on to something better.

02/18/2018

Dinner Recap

I’d like to start off by saying thank you to my classmates for making my job as one of two project managers of the SVACC annual dinner an easy one. Anything that Isaac and I asked for they were willing to provide. Thank you to the servers that did the job that everyone needed, but no one wanted to do. Thank you to everyone who helped set up decorations Thank you to Andrew and Jasmine who blew the jeopardy hosting out of the water and made an otherwise dull game into an interactive entertainment section for the people in attendance. And also a huge thank you to my co-project manager Isaac. He always kept me informed as to what he was doing and developments he was overseeing. His willingness to help with the welcome made it no doubt memorable for everyone. There were some bumps along the way, but in the end, everything worked out even better than we once thought it would. I think that the dinner was a great learning experience for the class. In class on Friday, we went over what we could have done better and what we did right. Gehrig brought up a good point when he said we could learn a lot about how our class businesses will go by looking at how this event went. We can use what we learned to make everything run smoother. I’m excited for us to implement what we learned to make our class businesses successful.

01/28/2018

I had a great experience with the mentor match days. I was very pleased to meet so many community members and business professionals that would take time out of their busy day to try and help us learn. I think it says a lot about the community we live in that there is such an abundance of willing and talented people that have so much to offer us in terms of advice and world experience. The two days we did our mentor matching were possibly my favorite days of CEO to date. I love to talk to people, especially for the first time. I enjoy the opportunity to make a first impression. Of the three people in my interviewing group, one question that we always asked was, “What are to looking for in a mentee?” The answer we received most often was that these mentors just wanted for their mentee to utilize them. They all said that they have so many things to tell their mentees and they just want their mentee to make an effort to build a relationship with them. Knowing this makes me excited for the opportunities that CEO and the mentor program have in store.

11/05/2017