Happy New Year!

I love summer.  It is a time to relax and slow down, sleep in, catch up on reading, renew ourselves with family and friends.  I love the lazy days of summer, sitting on my porch in the sun with a book and a cup of iced tea, watching the world go by, or strolling one of the beautiful beaches nearby. 

But I also love September.  It’s actually a little bit of a relief to return to a routine, to feel the renewed energy that the students bring to our little town, and to be a part of the hustle and bustle of university town life.

For those of us who live in small university towns, this is the last weekend of summer, and in some ways, the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one.  Although there are many other facets to our town, because our population increases by 50% each September, our town’s heart beats largely to the rhythm of the academic year.  Varsity athletes and international students arrived on campus at the beginning of last week, first year students arrived on Thursday, and by Tuesday, the first day of classes, the returning students will be back on campus and in town.  And thus, another cycle begins.

At our university, we have several days of orientation activities for first year students, the “frosh.”  One of the highlights is the Commencement Service.  It is a service which introduces the frosh to some of the traditions of our university, and also blesses their time and activities at university.  When I look around at the assembled faces, I always wonder what the next four or five years will hold for these students.  Which courses and professors will inspire them?  Which students will emerge as the leaders on campus, in their clubs, on the sports fields, in student politics?  Which students will make a difference through their quiet inspiration?  And will they leave the university with the same life goals that they had when they entered, or will they undergo a transformative experience that will flip their life plans upside down?

The frosh students are easy to pick out.  They are a little bit nervous, slightly terrified, and really excited.  Some of them arrive alone, others with parents and other family members in town.  When it’s time for the parents to leave, sometimes there are tears, sometimes smiles and laughter, but always there is great anticipation mixed with equally great anxiety.  Four years from now, when these same students graduate, we will experience similar emotions, but instead of welcoming them into our community, we will be watching them leave, and, as Jane Siberry writes, “wondering what in the world will the world bring.”   

I’ve been at both ends of this spectrum as a parent, with two children who have attended Commencement as frosh, one of whom has also graduated and left home.  Letting my kids go has been paradoxically one of the most difficult experiences of my life, and one of the most fulfilling.  After all, isn’t this the goal that we have set as parents – to raise children who are self-confident enough to leave home, and capable enough to make their own way in the world and meet their challenges head-on, and well-adjusted enough to be happy and fulfilled wherever they are?  Yes, I worry about them and where their lives will take them and all of the possible obstacles they will face, but I am more excited by the possibilities and adventures that are ahead of them.

We’ve seen a lot of amazing people come through our small campus over the past twenty years.  They have become professional athletes, doctors, lawyers, clergy, entrepreneurs, moms and dads, teachers, actors, journalists, politicians, and live all over the world.  It is humbling and inspiring to witness their accomplishments as professionals and as people.  It’s even more humbling and inspiring to witness the lives of my own amazing children as they unfold.

So here’s to another year of beginnings, of as-yet untapped potential, of experiences beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, with lots of learning and exploring, new relationships being made and old ones strengthened.  Here’s to another cycle of football, hockey and basketball games, recitals, plays and exhibits, special presentations and speakers, and lectures, assignments, and exams.  I can’t wait to see what this crop of students will achieve in our town and beyond!