Albright Institute (week two)

This is the last week of the Albright Institute. The past two weeks have been some of the most exciting and intellectually stimulating weeks of my life. Whether I was in our Albright classroom in Pendleton, at the lunch table with other fellows, or even just in the dorms hanging out, there were always so many questions to be discussed. One of my favorite questions to come out of the Institute this year was posed by Katherine Marshall ’67: “By what authority do we act on development?” In a world full of people and organizations trying to make things better… sometimes we need to step back and make sure that our actions don’t overstep our bounds in some way.

Over these past weeks, I’ve been exposed to new perspectives. From the CIA to overseas journalists, from NGOs to “Big Business.” I have found both role models in the professional world willing to help me get started on my future, and role models among my peers willing to start this new journey of entering professional life with me… And willing to commiserate about how taking these first steps are hard!!! Haha:)

On Saturday, I spent the entire day (literally from 10:30am-11pm) with my presentation group. We had brunch together, we worked all afternoon in the library together… And when the day was done we hung out and had a great time in the common room together. I am so lucky to be surrounded by women who will work hard with me until they drop. And somehow they are still willing to appreciate each other’s company at the end of a long day.

We present our final project tomorrow. It feels like we’ve been working on it for years but also only a few short days. I have allowed myself to feel the pressure. (I want to do a good job, of course!) But in the end, the incredible enjoyment I have received from working with such intelligent friends to pull something together is better than anybody telling me that our presentation is well crafted. I have finally realized that the journey is more important to me than the destination. And I hope to live an exciting, impassioned life by these words.

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