End of the beginning for the class of 2010

We know it's coming. The signs are everywhere. Excitement. Stress. Anxiety. Exhaustion. The clock is ticking down the last six weeks and we Forum scholars are left wishing we could squeeze just a few more hours into the day, a few more days into the week.

I knew it was coming when talk of the 'j' word (job) crept into seminars, discussions and to-do lists. Preparations for life after Forum and our Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development began with a fantastic career session: a professional life coach helped us identify the necessary ingredients for personal success and how to plot the journey ahead of us. CV sessions and job advice have since followed, and now it's down to us.

I knew it was coming when, despite having only just settled into a manic and creative month on The Guardian Environment Desk, I was already walking away from the final placement of the year. But what a year of placement experiences: from food self-sufficiency in Middlesbrough Borough Council, to sustainable planning in the Environment Agency, to the plight of hill sheep farmers' at Friends of the Earth, and sustainable food chains behind Sainsbury's, I have learned an incredible amount. When you add my five placements to those of the other eleven scholars, we have generated 60 months of shared experience, invaluable knowledge and lifelong learning.

I knew it was coming when the evenings and weekends started to disappear. It is June, which is crunch time for delivering our completed sustainable business plans. Combined with a personal leadership analysis and reflection on our year's learning, these form the equivalent of a masters dissertation and, I would argue, are more valuable. Each business plan aims to tackle society’s sustainability woes (or improve a few of them at least!) And, to top it all off, just a few days before we graduate we'll present these business plans before a 'dragon's den'!

I knew it was coming as we waved goodbye to our tutors at the end of our second and final teaching module at the Leadership Trust. Six of the most enlightening and enjoyable days of the course were spent at this centre for leadership excellence in Ross on Wye; practising, studying, and reflecting upon our personal leadership development. And the experience helped us scholars bond as a team.

I knew it was coming this side of Easter when one big test could be ticked off. It was my turn, with fellow scholar Sol, to plan the post-placement event after a month working within in the business sector. Drawing together sustainability professionals from Unilever, BP, Bupa, BT, Sainsbury's and others, the event focused on how sustainable goods and services could be consumed by the mainstream citizen, and in particular, how reusable water bottles and car club memberships could move from a niche to a mainstream market.

I knew it was coming when the final schedule arrived, and time no longer seemed indefinite. Core seminars in science and technology, ethics and values, people and community, and economics, are tailing off. Our ever impressive list of speakers, from social entrepreneurs to political experts, continues, but not for long. A new addition to the timetable has arrived; graduation.

I knew it was coming when it felt like I'd been here before; next year’s applicants have been welcomed, the interviews conducted and our successors announced.

So, we know it's coming. We're very aware. But it's not quite over yet. Ahead lie hours of business planning, big discussions on sustainability, even bigger debates on leadership, one or two essays, a few thousand words, plenty of reflections, an inevitable panic and certainly one large celebration.

We can see the end but the journey is far from over. In fact, come July, the real journey we have been preparing for will finally begin.