Pause

Early in my academic career, I didn’t appreciate graduation as much as I do now. For me, it has become a moment to pause and reflect on the impact we make. At graduation, our students transition from their student life to the next stage of their lives. For many, it’s a career. For others, it’s graduate school. Either way, one chapter of their lives is ending and another beginning.

It’s the same for us. This semester is behind us. We are no longer in a position to impact this class of students. But we will have new opportunities in January. So, before you pause for the holidays, I encourage you to pause and reflect on the past semester. How were you able to make an impact? What went really well? What would you change? Take a moment and pat yourself on the back. You are in the business of changing lives, and it’s exciting to consider where their journeys might take them.

Also, pause and reflect on your graduation. What were you thinking? What were you feeling? What were your hopes? Your aspirations. I tell first-year students that there’s no way you could have predicted I’d be here in Charleston when I started college. And there’s no way I could have expected it when I graduated college. Yet, college was an essential step in my journey.

YOU really do make a difference.

Ponder this ….