Welcome Round 1 Admitted Students and Partners!

Our life these days!
Photo by Maria Hudnall at Hudnall Photography

Darden put out its round one admissions results yesterday- so congratulations to Darden's first group of newly-admitted students and partners for this year! We can't wait to meet you-- hope to see you at Day @ Darden or Darden Days in the spring.

It's a big deal as a partner when your student is accepted-- it means a lot of potential changes for both of your lives and for your relationship. Being in a relationship with a student is definitely an adjustment, especially when that student is at Darden in their first semester first year working their butt off! 

One question that might spring up in your mind after you've finished the champagne toast is "would I want to relocate to Charlottesville while my student attended Darden?" You are probably thinking about:
-Staying near your current friends vs. making new friends in the Darden community (and also participating in Darden events only on weekends vs. being available for weeknight events)
-Staying at your current house/apartment vs. finding a new place to live in Cville
and perhaps most of all,
-staying in your current job situation vs. modifying your job situation or finding a new job!

I'm the Job Resources Chair for the Darden Partners Association, and I myself had quite the career decision to make when I came to Cville, so this last struggle is very close to my heart. I intend to write a future post on jobs for Darden partners, but for now I'll say there are lots of options and lots of scenarios that work. You  may have to get creative, you may have to take a leap of faith, you may have to grin and bear a less-than-ideal situation for a while-- you may even have to do all of those things, but I promise that you can make it happen and enjoy your and your student's time at Darden. It has certainly been worth it for us!

As I said, I'll discuss relocation and jobs for partners in a future post. But if you have any immediate questions about jobs as a potential Darden partner, feel free to email me at darden.dpajobs@gmail.com. I'm happy to chat!

Again, congrats to accepted students and partners! Raise a glass and say Wahoo-wa!

The Darden Family

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday, the LO and I attended a fun little Halloween party hosted by the Darden Partners Association-- our first outing as a family to a DPA event! I went as Hermione-- my default costume, since we're effectively the same person-- and the LO went as Piglet.

The Darden Partners Association, or DPA, is a network of spouses and partners of Darden students that provide community and support for one another. The DPA hosts events, fosters community, and creates resources for all kinds of partners, and is coordinated by a leadership team that covers social, family, hospitality, career, communications, and community service activities. I'm the Job Resources Chair for the DPA, a role into which I'll delve more deeply in my next post. The DPA's family activities are coordinated by the Family Committee, composed of four moms with kids a variety of ages. Their events range from playdates to apple-picking outings to yesterday's Halloween Party, and are open to all students and partners regardless of whether or not they have children.

Right now, there are four Darden families that I know of with kids 3 months or below-- three second-year and one first-year. It was amazing to see all the older kids running around today at the Halloween party and realize that I was entering into a whole new part of the Darden community-- although I've been closely connected with Darden families through my friends and at the many family-friendly events that the Darden Student Association (DSA) and DPA host. Plenty of non-parent partners were at the party, too, especially international ones. Since most international partners are here on visas that don't allow them to work, many of them are very active with the DPA and attend family events, which is wonderful!

The outpouring of support that came from the entire Darden community when our LO was born  was fantastic and has helped sustain us during this challenging time. The DPA Family Committee organized two weeks of meals for us delivered by students and partners, and as a result we have been incredibly well-fed and didn't have to rely on expensive take-out when it would have been impossible for us to manage cooking. In addition to all the love we've felt from our friends, we've also received good wishes from the Office of Student Affairs and a number of professors.

It's amazing what a great community we have here at Darden, and what a blessing it is to have such a close "family" when our family is growing!

Baby Means Business!

A truly Wahoo maternity shoot in Pavilion VIII from this summer-- Photo by Maria Hudnall of Hudnall Photography

This blog is still under construction, since we've just welcomed a new addition to our family and she is taking up much of our time! I'll be focusing here on the joys and challenges of having a new baby and a husband at Darden, all while living in a 600-square-foot one-bedroom apartment. My husband Andrew is a second-year student (section C!) and I work in fundraising for a medical research nonprofit, the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. The little one arrived very recently and has turned our lives upside-down in the most fantastic way. Now it's time for Andrew and I to navigate the seas of balancing schoolwork and home life, and eventually my work, in a way that is true to what we really value. Here we go!

Andrew reads cases to the LO (little one, not Leading Organizations!) in the hospital