Confession: if you haven’t realized it by now, I’m a bit of a nerd. I thoroughly enjoyed school, enough to be considering pursuing a Master’s Degree, just for funsies. So imagine my delight when, through my NTCUE experience and success, I was able to travel to Philadelphia for one very intense week of school. And not just any school – the Wharton School at UPenn is one of the most prestigious business schools in the nation.

I’ll admit that I was nervous – which you already know if you read my pre-trip blog post. I was worried that I wouldn’t understand the material, that the curriculum would be over my head, and that I would grossly out of place as the only non-management attendee (I am, at present time, a Coordinator). After all, this is training for the next edition of CEOs – top executives in our industry. I’m not experienced reading call reports, dealing with personnel issues, or forming the strategic plan for an entire organization.

I was delighted to discover, as DeeDee Myers had encouraged, that not only was I not out of my element, I was firmly within my element. I understood, connected with, and excelled at the content of the sessions, finding many things relevant to my current position and to my plans for future growth and advancement. I was even successful at the math – yes, math! – portions of the week (fear not; if you are considering attending the CEO Institute and are mathematically challenged, the week is not very math-intensive).

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