There are a million things I want to tell you about. There are a million things that I want to record here for my own posterity that have yet to be recorded, for a myriad of reasons. I will do my best to catch up over the next few weeks - in the order that things happened. First - the University of Florida Student Personnel in Higher Education Visitation Days!

I was lucky enough to serve on an amazing committee of cohort mates who went above and beyond with their vision of Visitation Days. No one realizes how much work and planning go into 3 days of welcoming over 30 students to our campus but under Christina's leadership everyone pulled together and made it happen.

It was only a year ago that I was doing my own search for a Student Affairs program. What everyone tells you as a candidate but that you never truly understand until it's all over is that what is truly important in this search is the way that you fit - your values with the institutions, your goals with the goals of the programs, your personality with the culture. I applied to 5 schools and interviewed at 3 and they were all so completely different... in ways I never would have thought to consider. Administrative vs. counseling focus, theory vs. practical focus, cohort based or not (and then, TRUE cohort or not), 1 year vs. 3... the list goes on and on. I can say now that one of the things that impressed me with the University of Florida last year was how unapologetically honest the program director and the students are about what they have to offer and what they are NOT.

We don't know who has been accepted or offered a graduate assistantship yet. But I will say that I met some really incredible future student affairs professionals during Visitation Days. It was such an honor to host them and to, as a program and as a cohort, provide advice. Because of this weekend I'm not only more excited about my cohort (and how far we've come and how much love I have for most of these people) but I'm also excited about the profession and my future as a professional. I can't wait to work with and go to conferences with such fun and openminded and constantly learning individuals!

I get cheesy sometimes - but I mean it! :)

This is my favorite picture of the day and I wasn't even there! We had started a twitter hashtag (#UFVisDays2012) and encouraged prospectives to #tebow at us to show us their spirit. We got some pretty awesome responses and even convinced some faculty and students to #tebow so that we could send it out. Here, the whole group embraced it in the Swamp.

I am excited to learn who our new SPHE cohort is and who my mentee will be. I'm lucky - this wonderful woman helped me figure out where I belonged in school and continues to challenge me. Excited to be that for someone!

♥ Jessa