Today I spent about 5-6 hours working student registration and advising new students into the best possible schedule. I have to say it felt GREAT being back on campus–almost a sort of homecoming. The excited students (and even the nervous ones) exude an energy that is hard to describe. It’s also a good chance to see some of the other students who “woke up” and suddenly realized they’d graduated high school last June and are supposed to be “doing something” now that it’s fall. Despite being something of an introvert when it comes to socializing, I really do enjoy working with people in a professional capacity–be it colleague to colleague or professor to student. And it is fun to help set these students off into a new direction–who knows how some of them will turn out?!
Tomorrow is the faculty and staff convocation where we officially get welcomed back to campus and collectively usher in the new academic year. It will be good to see some of my coworkers again. Frankly, I feel like I was losing my mind a bit towards the mid-end of May as I was preparing to head off to IUP to take my Ph.D. candidacy exams and wrap up my doctoral coursework. So, I’m hoping they can get my back up to speed in time for the start of the year (Which computers did we have special programs installed in? Whatever happened to those grant requests? Where’s my office? lol)
I’ve decided to set a few goals for this semester and I hope they work out okay:
1. Be a good dad to Noah and the incoming little boy (whose name Lisa and I are not yet releasing).
2. Be a good husband.
–> I love my job but at some point, I will need to retire but my family will always be there (I hope!), so priorities are important.
3. Find 2-3 new ways to be a better teacher for my students.
4. Reach at least a couple students in each course I’m teaching. Help these students “get it” when they never “got it” before.
5. Strengthen the rest–help them be more confident in their abilities and see good in themselves.
6. Between new babies, teaching overloads, doctoral prep, and new additional responsibilities… I’m hoping I don’t lose my mind. But more important than that, I hope I have a lot of fun!
