Yesterday I was starting to prepare for a keynote I’m giving to a Purdue Women’s Network lumch later this week. It had me thinking about women who mentored me. As part of that, I ran across this blog post I wrote 11 years ago. Friday, I’ll be thanking Mrs. McGahan publicly (though she won’t necessarily know it). She’s one of many women who impacted me in significant ways.

When’s the last time you stopped to think about all the ways you’ve been mentored? And have you said thank you? It’s so very important to do that!

December 2011: Friday night, I attended a Purdue event where one of the alums at our table talked about the importance of saying “thank you.” It doesn’t matter how much time has passed. A thank you is always appreciated. He got me thinking about people who have played a key role in my education.

One woman was Marilyn McGahan. When I was a student at Mid-Plains Community College, she was an instructor. Most important, she was an advisor for the student senate. When I walked on campus as a 16 year old who wasn’t quite sure how to get involved, she took me under her wing and opened all kinds of opportunities to me. I started as a student senator. The next year I was student body president. During that year I was also selected to serve on a long term strategic planning committee for the community colleges in Nebraska. Then I lead the committee I’d served on when similar strategic planning meetings were held at Mid-Plains.

I would have never had those opportunities if Mrs. McGahan hadn’t spent a lot of time in her office investing me. These opportunities helped open future doors to me.

So in case I didn’t say it enough back then, thanks for everything, Mrs. McGahan. And I’m looking forward to having coffee in a few weeks!

Who’s someone who impacted you at a key juncture?