News and Events

News & Events

SEPHLI Poem by Dr. Julie Casani, 07-08 Scholar

Twas a day in December
When all through the Southeast
To Rizzo we came.
OMG what a feast!

Quiet and nervous we sat there
As if we had aphasia.
What the heck does it mean
I’m Tango and Asia?

The graduates they laughed
We sat and we wondered
What’s happened to them?
We felt very outnumbered.

What car do I drive?
Paper airplanes we made.
If ever I leave Public Health
At least I have a trade.

Then came assessment results
Some faced it with dread.
Our “friends” had us naked.
They’d been in my head!

Then came the real work:
Choose mentors, read a book!
Decide on a project
This SEPHLI thing, it had hooks!

In April to Nashville
A different group it was there
We laughed and told stories
Even disco we shared.

Firo-B it came easy
Media training was a breeze
Along the wall we all lined up
And felt more at ease

At the water cooler we wrote down
Our thoughts and comments
Team calls every month
It all made more sense

Then came the big deadline
December 1st it loomed large
Maybe Erin and Lisa would
B’lieve I got hit with a barge

My project’s not finished
I’ve not read that last piece
I’d have been on the call
If my work would just cease

But to Chapel Hill we come again
Maybe better but no worse
Have we learned it already?
(It’s almost the last verse)

As a leader we’re growing,
It’s not “I” now but “we”
Lifelong learning we’re told
Is where we wanna be!

To the entering class,
May you also succeed.
To Class # 11
Good Luck and Godspeed!

1/20/10