their work on questions relevant to the
humanities when they’re still struggling
with composition. So this class has
reminded me that when traditional
students opt out of developmental
courses and plunge straight into college
work, the impact is bound to be felt
across the curriculum. I wish I had
done a better job on the first day of the
semester sharing information about
expectations for college-level writing,
which might have saved some students
(and me) quite a lot of work. Helping
students make good decisions about
class selection and their academic plan
is an area where advisors and the
academic departments need to
continue working together.
crack-of-dawn delivery route. And
those are just the students who cared
to share their stories with me. I know
almost all of you hear those kinds of
stories every day and do everything you
can to support students who are
sometimes in very dire situations. For
all your work, support, patience, and
advocacy for our students—thank you!
The best thing I took away from this
semester, and the thing that continues
to encourage and inspire me, is that
despite those hardships, despite
miscues and difficulties, our students
still choose to be in college. They want
to be here. Almost all of them have
identified academic and personal goals,
and even though those goals may well
Finally, this semester has reminded me change, the students can envision
that for so many students, life
themselves working their way through
happens. Sometimes we talk of
Santa Fe and moving on to better
student retention and success as if
things. That’s a powerful motivator for
students' lives are entirely within our
most of them, and it’s been powerful
control. A little tutoring here, some
for me too. It’s been great to reconnect
support services there, sprinkle in a few with students, to experience their
office hours, and voila--how could
energy and enthusiasm, and even to get
students not successfully finish up the
some humanities back into my
semester? Well, in my single 32-seat
head! Putting the Wednesday
section this semester, I had students
Message on hiatus was a small price to
who had the flu, who had a death in
pay!
the family, who couldn’t pay rent and
were thrown out of their apartment,
who had a surprise pregnancy, who are
dealing with a child custody battle, and
who had to cover their sick father's