today I want to share a story with you
guys I want to share a story that served
as a very humbling experience for me and
made me really evaluate what it is I’m
really doing as an administrator and so
we’re gonna set that up with a few
slides and wrap this up into a story and
ultimately hopefully people can learn
from it and we’ll evaluate and reflect
in the mirror themselves of what it is
they’re doing in their daily work so
many moons ago the great philosopher
Snoopy was taking time to evaluate why
it is that students leave college and
we’ve heard a lot of things of all the
factors in regards to being first time
in college financial issues family
challenges and things of that nature but
something Snoopy wanted to figure out
exactly was what is it about the
environment that we present to students
and is it good enough to keep them at
the institution are we writing a
welcoming institution or welcoming
environment excuse me are we writing a
situation that makes them feel
successful and so with that the question
became how can we figure that out
because after all we’re not students
we’re administrators or faculty we’re
staff and if we’re not walking in our
students shoes do we really understand
their challenges and what they’re going
through so when is the last time as a
faculty staff or administrator they
maybe you felt confused lost or even
angry on your campus maybe it’s
happening more times than I’m giving it
credit for but from a student’s
perspective their confusion loss anarion
can be totally different than ours and
so that’s when I realized and this is
where the story kicks in that I was felt
these emotions and it changed my
perspective and what I need to make sure
I was doing as an administrator to help
our students so the day was July 21st
2010 it was a Wednesday specifically as
the document states
I was 33 years old actually I just
turned 33 about two days earlier and it
was a very exciting day for me because I
was about to go back to school so after
years of being in that faculty staff or
administrator role I was about to be
back on the student side of things I’ve
been out of school over seven years at
this time so I was very excited for that
opportunity to go back to school however
there were some challenges that were
going to impact this day and it first
started with transportation issues so as
I got up that morning I realized I was
gonna need to take my car to the shop
and what I was anticipating to be a
short quick fix turned into they’re
gonna need to keep the car which if
we’ve ever had to take our car to shop
it seems that always happens right but
there was even more to it than that
the next thing I had was my two-year-old
son was with me so now we have some
family challenges that were working with
as well and so loading up his stroller
and what again thought would be a quick
trip let’s go down to campus get
everything we need to get done and then
we’ll go home maybe we’ll go to the zoo
well well me and the boy are out it’ll
just have us a good day right and then
of course it’s July 21st 2010 so it was
approximately 137 degrees in Houston
that Wednesday and it will be this July
and the drill after that would July
after that but despite the situation’s
despite these you know hurdles so to
speak I got on the road I trekked on
because again I was excited time to get
back in school it’s time to become a
student again and get where I wanted to
get and reach my ultimate academic goal
but again let’s go back to those
emotions because ultimately I did arrive
at campus and so that first emotion I
felt was I was lost because even though
I knew how to get to the campus I didn’t
really know my way around the campus I
only knew where one building was
actually and that was the College of
Education because I had met when it
adviser there at the time
so that’s why I parked about the College
of Education it’s the only place I knew
to go and it turned out the College of
Education was approximately 87 miles
from where I needed to be to get my
enrollment information completed now
that now that confusion kicks in because
having my two-year-old son in a stroller
going 87 miles across campus I’m now in
the enrollment area and that turn to go
to this area
no mr. wage you need to go to this area
no mr. wage you need to go to this area
so that led to my confusion
now this last emotion and my wife was in
the crowd today she definitely knows the
anger can kick in at times that said
honey I didn’t cause the scene I didn’t
do anything wrong didn’t do anything
crazy but this is where the anger really
kicked in the one thing I really needed
that day was a verification of
enrollment form it’s the main thing I
needed the reason I needed that
verification of enrollment form because
I needed my financial aid they could not
give me the form I was told I was gonna
have to return the 12th class day now
obviously in my mind I probably knew
that working in education I probably
knew that was going to be the case but a
part of me was also like who’s just
gonna dip out with grad school like that
I didn’t really think about it like that
I knew I wasn’t going to but that’s kind
of how I thought so I would do anything
like that so why can’t they give me the
form but they wouldn’t give me the form
so after dealing with that situation and
not getting the form I actually needed
that sort of review of where we’re at at
this time we’ve had car problems
transportation issues we have a
situation with family where we have
family challenges as well then we
actually get to the campus and we’re
lost we get to the campus we’re confused
and then we get to the campus we don’t
actually get what it is we really want
and so at this time after dealing with
all that I was done I said to myself you
know what this has been a horrible day
so far and it’s 137 degrees so I don’t
really want to be here
and I’m not coming back in 12 days to
get this piece of paper I’m not coming
back August 25th for the first day of
class that’s how I felt
got my stuff started my 87 mile hike
back to my car and I was done I was good
to go I wasn’t worried about it now
during that 87 mile hike it hit me how
many times have I heard our students
come to campus with a transportation
issue with family challenges couldn’t
get their financial aid they had a
financial issue we’re stealing with
being lost and confused on campus didn’t
know where to go didn’t have anybody
they felt could help them and ultimately
what they did was they didn’t they quit
they didn’t come back and it hit me that
Here I am as a 33 year old man who had
two degrees got a wife kid house home
all these things know the importance of
education stressed the importance of
education to students Carol was ready to
do the exact same thing so many of our
students do and that was the
disappointing humbling experience about
that situation and about the day was
that in that brief time that I walked in
my student shoes I acted exactly like
they did no matter how many times I’ve
told them to be better than that and so
the only difference between so many of
our students that we lose and me
personally what was the fact I do what I
do
so obviously during the 87 miles there’s
plenty of time to calm down realize
you’re going to go back to school you’re
gonna finish this you’re gonna go back
in 12 days you’re gonna get that form
you’re going to enroll you’re gonna do
everything you need to do but also
because of where I was at that point in
my life and the support system I had
around me that’s how I was able to
rationalize that decision I mean if our
students don’t have that support system
around them don’t have that experience
don’t have anybody to help them
rationalize that decision properly and
then it occurred to me after this
experience after being humbled after
being totally kicked in the gut and
realizing I was very hard on myself so
in my mind I guess like maybe I’m not as
good as my
I thought I was that was my initial
reaction but maybe that’s was the fact
of it at the time that day period but I
said I got to make this I’m gonna have
to make this personal responsibility and
a personal accountability for myself to
make sure I can do everything I can to
help students be as successful as
possible anything I can personally do to
make sure they know I’m there to help
them and so this day served as that
reminder for me to make sure that I’m
doing those things and from that day
forward I found opportunities and any
opportunity I could to make sure a
student knew my face not just not just
my title but they actually knew my face
they actually knew my name actually knew
where my office was actually knew where
to find me and so the whole point of all
this is what I encourage all faculty
staff and administrators don’t get in a
situation where necessarily have to walk
in your students shoes because they can
be humbling you might learn something
about yourself you didn’t want to learn
about yourself instead maybe take this
story maybe take this experience and
make sure you can be a part of a
mentoring program or make sure you can
be part of anything and help uplift
student success and find that time out
of your day and add your schedule to do
so thank you very much [Applause]
guys I want to share a story that served
as a very humbling experience for me and
made me really evaluate what it is I’m
really doing as an administrator and so
we’re gonna set that up with a few
slides and wrap this up into a story and
ultimately hopefully people can learn
from it and we’ll evaluate and reflect
in the mirror themselves of what it is
they’re doing in their daily work so
many moons ago the great philosopher
Snoopy was taking time to evaluate why
it is that students leave college and
we’ve heard a lot of things of all the
factors in regards to being first time
in college financial issues family
challenges and things of that nature but
something Snoopy wanted to figure out
exactly was what is it about the
environment that we present to students
and is it good enough to keep them at
the institution are we writing a
welcoming institution or welcoming
environment excuse me are we writing a
situation that makes them feel
successful and so with that the question
became how can we figure that out
because after all we’re not students
we’re administrators or faculty we’re
staff and if we’re not walking in our
students shoes do we really understand
their challenges and what they’re going
through so when is the last time as a
faculty staff or administrator they
maybe you felt confused lost or even
angry on your campus maybe it’s
happening more times than I’m giving it
credit for but from a student’s
perspective their confusion loss anarion
can be totally different than ours and
so that’s when I realized and this is
where the story kicks in that I was felt
these emotions and it changed my
perspective and what I need to make sure
I was doing as an administrator to help
our students so the day was July 21st
2010 it was a Wednesday specifically as
the document states
I was 33 years old actually I just
turned 33 about two days earlier and it
was a very exciting day for me because I
was about to go back to school so after
years of being in that faculty staff or
administrator role I was about to be
back on the student side of things I’ve
been out of school over seven years at
this time so I was very excited for that
opportunity to go back to school however
there were some challenges that were
going to impact this day and it first
started with transportation issues so as
I got up that morning I realized I was
gonna need to take my car to the shop
and what I was anticipating to be a
short quick fix turned into they’re
gonna need to keep the car which if
we’ve ever had to take our car to shop
it seems that always happens right but
there was even more to it than that
the next thing I had was my two-year-old
son was with me so now we have some
family challenges that were working with
as well and so loading up his stroller
and what again thought would be a quick
trip let’s go down to campus get
everything we need to get done and then
we’ll go home maybe we’ll go to the zoo
well well me and the boy are out it’ll
just have us a good day right and then
of course it’s July 21st 2010 so it was
approximately 137 degrees in Houston
that Wednesday and it will be this July
and the drill after that would July
after that but despite the situation’s
despite these you know hurdles so to
speak I got on the road I trekked on
because again I was excited time to get
back in school it’s time to become a
student again and get where I wanted to
get and reach my ultimate academic goal
but again let’s go back to those
emotions because ultimately I did arrive
at campus and so that first emotion I
felt was I was lost because even though
I knew how to get to the campus I didn’t
really know my way around the campus I
only knew where one building was
actually and that was the College of
Education because I had met when it
adviser there at the time
so that’s why I parked about the College
of Education it’s the only place I knew
to go and it turned out the College of
Education was approximately 87 miles
from where I needed to be to get my
enrollment information completed now
that now that confusion kicks in because
having my two-year-old son in a stroller
going 87 miles across campus I’m now in
the enrollment area and that turn to go
to this area
no mr. wage you need to go to this area
no mr. wage you need to go to this area
so that led to my confusion
now this last emotion and my wife was in
the crowd today she definitely knows the
anger can kick in at times that said
honey I didn’t cause the scene I didn’t
do anything wrong didn’t do anything
crazy but this is where the anger really
kicked in the one thing I really needed
that day was a verification of
enrollment form it’s the main thing I
needed the reason I needed that
verification of enrollment form because
I needed my financial aid they could not
give me the form I was told I was gonna
have to return the 12th class day now
obviously in my mind I probably knew
that working in education I probably
knew that was going to be the case but a
part of me was also like who’s just
gonna dip out with grad school like that
I didn’t really think about it like that
I knew I wasn’t going to but that’s kind
of how I thought so I would do anything
like that so why can’t they give me the
form but they wouldn’t give me the form
so after dealing with that situation and
not getting the form I actually needed
that sort of review of where we’re at at
this time we’ve had car problems
transportation issues we have a
situation with family where we have
family challenges as well then we
actually get to the campus and we’re
lost we get to the campus we’re confused
and then we get to the campus we don’t
actually get what it is we really want
and so at this time after dealing with
all that I was done I said to myself you
know what this has been a horrible day
so far and it’s 137 degrees so I don’t
really want to be here
and I’m not coming back in 12 days to
get this piece of paper I’m not coming
back August 25th for the first day of
class that’s how I felt
got my stuff started my 87 mile hike
back to my car and I was done I was good
to go I wasn’t worried about it now
during that 87 mile hike it hit me how
many times have I heard our students
come to campus with a transportation
issue with family challenges couldn’t
get their financial aid they had a
financial issue we’re stealing with
being lost and confused on campus didn’t
know where to go didn’t have anybody
they felt could help them and ultimately
what they did was they didn’t they quit
they didn’t come back and it hit me that
Here I am as a 33 year old man who had
two degrees got a wife kid house home
all these things know the importance of
education stressed the importance of
education to students Carol was ready to
do the exact same thing so many of our
students do and that was the
disappointing humbling experience about
that situation and about the day was
that in that brief time that I walked in
my student shoes I acted exactly like
they did no matter how many times I’ve
told them to be better than that and so
the only difference between so many of
our students that we lose and me
personally what was the fact I do what I
do
so obviously during the 87 miles there’s
plenty of time to calm down realize
you’re going to go back to school you’re
gonna finish this you’re gonna go back
in 12 days you’re gonna get that form
you’re going to enroll you’re gonna do
everything you need to do but also
because of where I was at that point in
my life and the support system I had
around me that’s how I was able to
rationalize that decision I mean if our
students don’t have that support system
around them don’t have that experience
don’t have anybody to help them
rationalize that decision properly and
then it occurred to me after this
experience after being humbled after
being totally kicked in the gut and
realizing I was very hard on myself so
in my mind I guess like maybe I’m not as
good as my
I thought I was that was my initial
reaction but maybe that’s was the fact
of it at the time that day period but I
said I got to make this I’m gonna have
to make this personal responsibility and
a personal accountability for myself to
make sure I can do everything I can to
help students be as successful as
possible anything I can personally do to
make sure they know I’m there to help
them and so this day served as that
reminder for me to make sure that I’m
doing those things and from that day
forward I found opportunities and any
opportunity I could to make sure a
student knew my face not just not just
my title but they actually knew my face
they actually knew my name actually knew
where my office was actually knew where
to find me and so the whole point of all
this is what I encourage all faculty
staff and administrators don’t get in a
situation where necessarily have to walk
in your students shoes because they can
be humbling you might learn something
about yourself you didn’t want to learn
about yourself instead maybe take this
story maybe take this experience and
make sure you can be a part of a
mentoring program or make sure you can
be part of anything and help uplift
student success and find that time out
of your day and add your schedule to do
so thank you very much [Applause]
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