I sent an email to the
college staff and faculty yesterday that simple said, “Don’t look now, but it’s only 3
months until CHRISTMAS!! Just thought
you would like a little forewarning.” One faculty replied
back that they had Christmas music on at the time they received the
email-ha! I had to chuckle. The early bird personalities will tell me
they already started their list and shopping, and the last minute
procrastinators tell me joyously they will be making gifts early Christmas
morning to finish in time.
However, the truth is, regardless
of personality type, the nature of the Administrative Assistant’s role
necessitates keeping an eye on the calendar and planning ahead, especially as
our student body grows.
For example, I am always in
the process of gathering travel plans as soon as parents will send them to me
for the next holiday or major break: Labor Day (Sept), Thanksgiving (Nov),
Christmas (Dec), Spring/Easter (Mar/Apr), Memorial Day (May), and Summer (June). It’s a year round vigil. In fact, I’ll
be sending the Fall Holiday Travel notice to parents any day now.
If the college plans to send
Christmas cards, the process begins in September, gathering ideas between our
office and the marketing department, and passing around the Christmas card list
in October-checking it twice, who’s been naughty or nice? (Just kidding-we love
you all!)
Graduation rattles around in the back of my head
almost all year, although my bosses are not ready to talk about it until
spring. By the first meeting in January
or February, there has already been plenty of planning in the works. To date, third year parents have already
confirmed their students’ names for graduation certificates with me, as well as
their height and weight for caps and gowns. I already have the student cap and
gown order ready to go as soon as they come back for the spring semester.
 |
| Planning for their big day in June! |
A rough draft of the commencement program is
already crafted, state flags are being ordered to represent the graduates home
states and countries, and on and on the behind-the-scenes preparations go.
The next
holiday, Thanksgiving, as you know, takes lots of planning. For many families, the meal alone seems to be
the center of attention with days of menu planning, shopping, baking, freezing,
and hours standing in the kitchen. What appalls
me is the enormous number of hours this one meal takes to prepare compared to
the speed with which it disappears--usually about 20 minutes in our house. Days of planning gone in minutes!
I have contemplated all this
and concluded life is a series of long preparations, highlighted here and there
with a grand event. Olympians train for 4 years or more to participate in some
races that last 10 seconds. 4 years for
10 seconds! Months are spent planning
weddings, and I’ve seen some ceremonies that last all of 15 minutes. It takes years of college and/or grad school
to land a job. I’ve decided I must try to
enjoy the preparation as much as the finale,
because the grand finale is merely the cherry on top of the icing on the
cake. The preparation is the meat of the
journey.
I think of
our students. Graduation is the crowning
glory, a ceremony as grand and God-glorifying as we can put on for all the
students and families, but what we are really celebrating is not the one hour
ceremony, but their 3-year journey. They came as frightened, shy, closed-off, first
year students and day-by-day, they opened up, walked, stumbled, cried, learned,
tried again, worked, prayed, rehearsed, interned, and plodded their way through
what we hope was the most challenging and rewarding experience of their life up
to this point. It’s the JOURNEY of preparation that is so exciting! That’s why we Tweet and Facebook and Blog
daily and weekly. We share with parents,
friends, donors, and prayer warriors, how God is preparing our students for the
most appropriate independence they can handle, beginning Day One after
graduation.
“Time to Fly” is about the journey. Have we prepared them well? We’re trying!
One step at a time. One day at a
time. Semester by semester. Year 1, Year 2, Year 3. . .we are, to the
best of our abilities, from the office to the classroom to after-school life,
redeeming the time. We are intentional
in making the best of every hour of every day, for their sakes and for God’s
glory.
We’ve got to get ready, be
prepared every day, redeeming the time, because the future is just around the
corner!
Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.
No comments:
Post a Comment