Leaving Oz: Where the Journey and Learning Begin
A farewell to the Class of 2005

SO HERE WE ARE at the end of the Yellow Brick Road. It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since we left our homes and routines and landed in this strange and foreign place known as the Kennedy School. And just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we have had an incredible experience that will stay with us the rest of our lives.

What a remarkable group of companions we have had on this journey — classmates with the heart of the Tin Man, courage of the Lion, and brain of the Scarecrow, who helped Dorothy reach the Emerald City.

And although the journey was magical, it also had its scary moments. As when flying monkeys descended on Dorothy, we were confronted with policy issues that haunt our times: the risk of nuclear terrorism, global climate change, genocide in Darfur, and the AIDS pandemic.

But we made it to Oz and met the wizard. Actually, we met lots of them — professors with the experience and wisdom we had hoped to find. Presiding at the front of our classes they had the mystique of the Great Oz, yet when we pulled back the curtains they became human, accessible, caring.

So we’re at that moment when the Good Witch Glinda (Sue Williamson) tells Dorothy to close her eyes, tap her ruby red slippers together, and repeat three times: “There’s no place like home.”

This was Dorothy’s “aha” moment, when she learned that she had it in her all along to find her way home. It was similar to the “aha” moments of the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man — who didn’t need the wizard after all. They simply needed to discover their own inner strengths.

It was also similar to the “aha” moments that have changed each of us at the Kennedy School. I think we all came here hoping for at least one good “aha” moment, when the meaning of our lives, direction of our careers, or understanding of the world would become suddenly clear in a blinding flash.

And the “aha” moments happened, especially when we looked inward and confronted fundamental questions about who we are, how we think, why we behave the ways we do, and what information we accept and reject — and why.

During a PAL-101 class, Professor Heifetz declared: “It is very difficult to teach people anything, anything of significance.” Our prejudices, set patterns of thinking, and comfort with the status quo get in the way. But the KSG class of 2005 did some impressive learning. We took risks, left our “comfort zones,” and allowed new information to shake up our thinking — creating new mental models of the world around us, and of ourselves. We leave here having learned how to learn, which may be more important to our careers than what we learned.

Marcel Proust said, “The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” When Dorothy finally reaches the end of her journey and is standing there clutching her dog, Toto, wondering how she will get back to Kansas, she suddenly sees with new eyes. That’s how we’ve been changed at the Kennedy School. That’s the real gift we’ve received in this strange and wonderful land.

When we graduate, we should close our eyes, tap our heels together, and repeat three times: “There’s no place like the Kennedy School.” As we say good-bye, we understand that this is when the real journey and learning begins — with all the courage, heart, and brains we can muster.

And let’s remember one of Dorothy’s final lines in the movie: “No. But it wasn’t a dream. It was a place. And you — and you — and you — and you were there.”I feel so humbled and blessed to have spent this year with all my fellow graduates of Oz!

Pete Didisheim is a member of the Mid-Career MPA class of 2005. He lives with his wife and family in Brunswick, Maine.