Tiger King, Zoom Happy Hours, and Virtual Formal: How the MAcc Class is Staying in Touch

By: Taylor Kinney MAcc '20 and Joe McDonald MAcc '20

While people across the country are adjusting to life 6 feet apart from one another, the Michigan Ross Master of Accounting Class of 2020 is doing the same. While we may be physically distanced from each other right now, we are still staying connected socially. 

For our class, the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ended our year in Ann Arbor. It was hard on all of us, as our class has gotten very close since we started the program in August. Since most of us have become close friends this year, we were not going to let the situation stop us from growing our friendships. We have been staying in touch remotely from across the country: from California to Idaho, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Connecticut, back to Michigan, and everywhere in between. Through Zoom, we have been able to meet up to talk about Tiger King, hold virtual happy hours, and even host a virtual formal! 

When Netflix released the Tiger King documentary, one student suggested that we all watch the show individually and then come together at the end of the week to discuss what took place via Zoom. When we logged onto Zoom, some students were dressed in cat print clothing with stuffed cats sitting on their shoulders. Since then, the MAcc class has become obsessed with Joe Exotic. Around 25 students joined the call, and it was such a hit we decided our next Zoom show should be The People vs. OJ Simpson, another Netflix show. 

We planned to hold a Ross one-year masters program formal on April 17, in Ann Arbor, but due to COVID-19, it was canceled. One of our classmates, Erica Freeburg, suggested that we try to make a virtual formal happen. We started to brainstorm and decided to hold the formal through Zoom and have everyone dress up for a Friday night video call. Another student, Jackson Collis, took the lead on creating a PowerPoint for class superlative awards. During the Zoom call, one student shared his screen and presented the awards to everyone. Each superlative popped up on the screen and everybody took turns guessing who it was for. Silly pictures and videos from the year were included as a nice way to reminisce on the good times we had together before the pandemic brought life to a near-halt. 
    
The MAcc Class of 2020 plans to hold more Zoom meetings during the rest of the year and we intend to keep in touch even after graduation.

The situation we are in now will not last forever, but the friendships we made this year will.

Go Blue!