MHA Awards Banquet

Graduation is in one week and this weekend the School of Public Health held their Annual MHA Awards Banquet.  They put on a nice dinner for the students and those graduating are given some awards.  I attended as a first-year student last April, and was excited to attend as a graduating student.  I also got to take Cory with me, which I always enjoy because she is so much a part of my success at school and work.  I have been the President of the MHA Student Association for the past year, so I had a small hand in planning parts of the night, like the student superlative awards, and the Teacher of the Year award.  It was a nice night to celebrate all of the students' hard work.  

I was one of the students given honor cords and inducted into Upsilon Phi Delta, the honor society for students in healthcare administration, for having the highest GPAs of the graduating class.

I was also presented the MHA Program Service Award by my academic adviser, Dr. Carlton.  The faculty voted me "the student who most significantly contributed to the personal growth of students and enrichment of the MHA program."  Cory and I were told afterward that a cash scholarship accompanied the award.  We had no idea, but immediately thought of all the prayers, planning, and budgeting we have been doing to make sure we could make it to August when my job starts.  We felt very blessed.

I also received my Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification.  My partner, Sherina, and I worked for the past semester to improve the process for administration of medication for stroke patients in the emergency department.  We saw some great results and presented our initiatives and outcomes to become certified.  

As far as the student superlatives go, I got "Most Likely to Succeed."  I mostly enjoyed hearing all of the funny ones given out to my cohort.  After spending almost every day with these people for 21 months, there were some pretty funny inside jokes. 

I already posted this picture of Cory and me, but I think she looks so great in it I wanted to post again.  I could never have been so successful in the MHA program without Cory supporting me.