Sips From The Old Well
At times, it genuinely felt like adult summer camp: no one wanted to go to bed; we all wanted to soak in every conversation and connection, and the energy just kept rolling late into the night. It wasn’t all socializing. We had some incredible, eye-opening conversations, such as hearing from the first female dean of Kenan-Flagler, herself a triple Tar Heel, and engaging in big-picture discussions on where AI is headed and what we’ll be immersed in through our program over the next two years.
We also explored ourselves and our peers more deeply through a five-factor personality test, which sparked conversations that were both revealing and fun. While I’ve taken plenty of personality assessments over the years, each one seems to illuminate a new nugget about how to explain who I am in a way that someone else can relate to. This exercise was especially valuable in the context of an MBA program, where so much of our work will be in teams. Understanding my own preferences and being able to recognize and appreciate the tendencies of others already feels like a powerful tool for navigating group projects, communication, and decision-making processes. It’s one thing to know your strengths and weaknesses, but it’s another to see them in the context of a diverse team. Self-awareness, paired with empathy, enables us to be the most productive team we can be, optimizing our group work and our ability to learn and grow from the program and each other.
Through all the learning, laughing, and late-night talks, the biggest takeaway was laying the groundwork for what we’ll grow over the next two years. All of it—our experiences, our insights, our connections—will fall under the common theme of leaving our Heel print. Orientation wasn’t just an introduction to a program; it was the first chapter of something that already feels like it will shape the rest of our journey.
More About The Author
Lia Esposito is a digital marketing professional whose passion is the intersection of creativity and analytics. She is an MBA candidate at UNC Kenan-Flager.