Staff Story Archives

A Taste of Change: Students Return Home

There’s something about a good cup of coffee. For me, it’s a "grande drip with room” at Starbucks or Tully’s.

As I write this, I'm sitting at my favorite Starbucks. And I can’t help but think about an upcoming trip back “home” to visit my parents in South Jersey. I’m anticipating how different my mornings will be.

You see, in place of Starbucks or Tully’s, each morning Mom will have a pot of Folgers on — the coffee of choice in the Jordan household for more than 50 years. And I’ll dutifully drink a cup or two while my taste buds long for the acquired taste of Northwest coffee.

Many of you have probably experienced this same process. You tried new things, your taste buds changed, and you acquired different tastes. And in some sense, this is what is happening for your student at SPU.

During the past three months, your student has set his or her own alarm clock, chosen what to eat in Gwinn Commons, and made decisions about when to read or finish a project. And your student has been challenged to think critically about personal assumptions and about issues impacting the world.

In essence, your student is coming home changed.

In addition to shifting tastes, rules and roles are also changing. As your student comes home this Christmas season, take the opportunity to explore and build a new foundation together.

Here are four ways to start:

• Life questions. Ask a question or two about what he or she is learning in and out of the classroom. What topics are interesting? What has changed, if anything, about why your student enrolled at SPU?

• Learning curves. Ask about the people with whom he or she is learning. What types of activities are meaningful or fun? Who has been a favorite professor?

• Laugh. Lots. Find something that you can do with your student that is fun. Go out for a cup of coffee or tea. Go to a movie or take a walk. Make it an enjoyable time.

• Listen — and hear. Savor your time, and try to understand the new experiences and insights that are being acquired.

May God bless you as you experience new tastes this Christmas.

Jeff Jordan, Ed.D.
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
and Dean of Student Life

Past faculty story: Meet the Dean Douglas Strong, Ph.D.

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