EMBA students strengthen their sense of community by sharing a traveling stuffed tiger that connects them across the country

Rochester, New York – On a lively fall afternoon in the heart of New York City, the kind where tourists crowd benches and street musicians send sound drifting through Washington Square Park, graduate student Anna Attkisson paused under the famous arch and lifted a small stuffed tiger into the air. In a city overflowing with noise and movement, the moment looked playful—almost whimsical—but for Attkisson, it was something deeper. It was a quick message sent to classmates spread across miles of highway, office buildings, and time zones. A reminder that even in a demanding Executive MBA program, connection still thrives.

Attkisson is part of the Saunders College of Business Executive MBA, a nationally recognized program built for professionals who already juggle heavy workloads, family duties, and daily responsibilities. The structure is intense: a 16-month pace, team-based activities, and deadlines that stack up fast. For many students, balancing everything feels like a marathon running alongside a relay race. But as co-director Rick Lagiewski explains, the students don’t go through it alone. “Our EMBA students come from incredibly diverse industries and leadership backgrounds, but what connects them is a shared commitment to growth and teamwork. Experiences like this show how powerful relationship-building can be.”

That “experience” Lagiewski refers to is a small, striped ambassador named Cash—short for Cashmere. Cash is a stuffed tiger chosen by the latest EMBA cohort as their traveling mascot. His job sounds simple: move from home to home, spend time with each student, and collect snapshots of life along the way. But in practice, he has become a surprisingly powerful link, a fuzzy anchor connecting people who often meet only on screens after long workdays.

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As Attkisson describes it, Cash brings out stories and conversations that don’t always fit into a Zoom call. “It’s really become a fun way for us to share our lives in a way that just chatting before class doesn’t really allow,” she said.

Despite his soft appearance, Cash has become something of a serious scholar. He attends classes, “studies” case materials, and fuels himself on what students jokingly describe as tea, coffee, and dense reading assignments. Since August, he has toured an impressive set of locations: sipping tea under bright Pasadena skies, wandering the sidewalks of New York’s Greenwich Village, exploring peaceful forests in Pennsylvania, and staring at the wide agricultural stretches of Nebraska.

Cash’s origin story comes from a place far more formal than one might expect. His creator, Matt McCloskey, is a student in the cohort and a construction industry professional from Nebraska. McCloskey previously served 23 years in the Canadian Special Forces and spent his final years at the Pentagon, working within a multinational planning group. In one of those conference rooms, a Danish officer left behind a Viking-themed plush toy—an item that unexpectedly became a morale booster for the team. It soon appeared in photos at high-level NATO gatherings, turning into a shared symbol of levity amid the seriousness.

That memory resurfaced when McCloskey joined RIT’s EMBA program. Seeing his new classmates facing long nights, tight schedules, and demanding assignments, he recognized the need for a simple, shared spark. “I thought it would be a good idea to boost morale, as we’re all probably in our basements late at night trying to get through some of this stuff,” he said.

Cash got his name thanks to classmate Bianca Shah ’15 MS (management), who now works as chief marketing officer for Chado Tea. With Cash spending a month perched in her home office, the name emerged during a moment of academic humor. “I came up with the name Cashmere because we were in our accounting class going through cash flow statements,” she said.

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Shah entered the EMBA after a decade in corporate life, hoping to challenge herself. She says the experience has helped her rebuild confidence, especially while sharing space with classmates who come from wildly different industries. “It’s taught me to be more insistent,” she said. “I’ve learned that I’m still capable of so much, and that’s really powerful at this stage of my career.”

Attkisson shares a similar sentiment. After more than twenty years in publishing, she returned to college and quickly realized that being a student in the digital era was its own learning curve. But she found that conversations with classmates—people working in fields she had barely encountered—kept her motivated. “I get an inside look at some industries where other people work, and it’s really interesting,” she said. “You start to realize how much you can learn by just leaning on each other’s expertise in different areas.”

Right now, Cash is spending time in Rochester with graduate student Patrick Ryan. He will tour the RIT campus, enjoy the holiday decorations, and eventually move on to the next location as he continues his journey across the U.S. over the next 13 months. The tiger’s path is already mapped out loosely in the cohort’s Slack channel, where students eagerly watch for updates.

For McCloskey, Cash is more than a toy—he’s a reminder that even in an online program, community doesn’t have to feel distant. “Online programs can be solitary,” he said. “But there’s always someone going through the same thing. You just have to reach out.”

And through one small striped traveler, this group continues to do exactly that.