Warm Weather Happiness!

My hands are probably going to be died greenish-blue for the next few days, but it was well worth the strangely discolored cuticles!

Why?

My students make my life.

Today, the Area Council that I advise (a student organization that programs and builds community in the residence halls) put on a great event which included a volleyball tournament, T-Shirts, and tie-dying [[tie-dying = why my hands are colored...]]

When this group formed in the Fall, we struggled for membership, to have effective meetings and to have attendance at events. Today, the group itself is over 20 members strong, and over 150 students stopped by to partake in the festivities.

I tried to find the words of my appreciation, or why today was meaningful, but I've been struggling. So I'll say one thing, and I'll let one of my students say the rest.

I wrote "when this group formed in the fall, we struggled..." Up until the last few weeks, I would have said "they struggled." But their causes and struggles became mine (in a good way), because we laughed together and stressed together. Sure, it's arguably unhealthy to take on some of that weight, but when you get invested in people, it's hard not to. As an advisor, I was the one who had signatory authority on purchase orders, or who had the authority to determine particular waivers or liability pieces...but past that, my "authority" was not authoritative at all; as an advisor, it was about letting them do their thing, and giving them space to learn, debrief, try again, succeed, fail, realize on their own something could be approached differently...As an advisor, I had to take on their cause because I was part of their development. Being me, it just so happened that it hit me on my heart. :)

Now that I've gushed, I'll leave you with this, written by the President of my Area Council. He asked me to forward the note below to the students mentioned since he doesn't have the complete list of participants:

"Hello everyone! I wanted to personally thank you on behalf of the Area Council and myself for all your help and hard work in making [event name redacted] a successful event. All of you are an integral part of not only Area Council but to our college experience. You are all leaders, mentors, but most importantly friends to all of us. We really value all that you do. I am really glad to have met so many of you and hope to meet all of you at some point. You have impacted my life in so many positve ways and I know that I will forever cherish the memories that I have made with many of you. To all the seniors I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. You will be missed very much. To all the other RAs keep being great and I look forward to another great year with you. Thank you again for everything." 

RA= Resident Assistant 



Two words: Super. Proud.