A thought that often keeps me up at night is the idea that from a very early age doors of opportunity that are open to us start closing, without us ever knowing they existed.
When Elton John was seven years old, he discovered his grandmother’s piano and started picking music up by ear. Due to the fortunate luck of being born in London, he won a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music when he was only 11. But Elton grew up in a poor family. There was no certainty that his grandmother or anyone else would own a piano and there was no certainty that he would grow up in London. Had those doors never opened to him and had he not chosen to walk through, he may have never become one of the greatest piano players and songwriters of our age.
A door opened. A door seen. A door walked through.
But what about a hypothetical current student who at age 11 found herself fascinated by airplanes and even dreamed of flying a plane one day. Maybe the student even lived near a college that ran an aviation summer camp for middle schoolers. For whatever reason though, she never learned about the program and so never attended. Perhaps a few years later when looking at colleges, she saw that Geneva had an aviation program and decided to attend. Soon after, a well-meaning adult let her know how expensive it was to pursue a pilot’s license in addition to the cost of a degree. Deterred by the cost and not knowing the true ROI of a pilot’s license (roughly 50 dollars to one), she opts instead to study a major that is only mildly interesting to her, hoping that it will later pan out into something worth her time.
A door opened. A door almost seen. But not walked through.
By the time a student arrives at Geneva, we know more than they do that the doors of opportunity have already started closing.
A student with their hopes set on medical school who shows up and for whatever reason, falls flat during their first semester will have nearly (but not all) every possible door that can lead to medical school closed to them before they even begin their second semester. Unfortunately, being accepted into medical school with anything less than a 3.5 is like climbing a mountain with one hand tied behind your back.
Is it possible? Sure. But will it require a tremendous amount of additional effort. Absolutely yes.
This keeps me up at night.
We have hundreds of students coming to us every year and we have hundreds of opportunities for students coming across our desks every week. Our job is to work with students and to work with the people creating these opportunities and somehow start connecting the dots.
Of course, some students will be like one of our current freshmen, who said to me at summer orientation, “I want to do marketing in the fashion industry, and I don’t want to live in New York City and I don’t want to live in L.A. How do I make it happen?” For this student, we can start helping her connect the dots and opening any doors that we know of so that she can choose to walk through them if she wants.
But most students, and rightfully so, will come to us without a thought yet about what they find intriguing about the world and how they might want to contribute. This idea that doors are already closing on them is a weight we carry.
Day in and day out, we are trying to open students’ eyes up to the doors that are in front of them so they get to choose if they say yes or no, before the door closes on them without their knowledge of its prior existence.
What we are working on now and have been for a while is building systems that allow the maximum number of students to know about the maximum number of opportunities so they can know which doors are open to them before they close.
Thankfully, we are faith-based people who work at a faith-based institution, and we know and trust that the Lord can work far beyond our efforts to get students to walk through these doors.
Such as recently when a student walked into my office to borrow a stapler and in casual conversation, I learned that she was interested in pursuing a Fellows program in Atlanta after graduation, 10 minutes after I got off the phone with a Fellows Program Director in Atlanta who was coming to campus the next week. We can’t plan these moments.
At the same time, there is sin in the world that manifests through poverty, abuse, racism, and other brokenness and injustice that prevent students from seeing and living in the fullness of who God has created them to be.
We also know that students choose who they listen to, they don’t love emails, and they don’t always read signs, but when someone they know taps them on the shoulder and says, “You should consider this,” they almost always do. Because of this, we’re building relation-based systems that will allow for this to happen more often and Geneva is uniquely designed for this.
I’ve often heard it said that the currency of Geneva is relationships. It is a deep value here.
I was having lunch with a first-semester student earlier this week and she was telling me about deciding between Geneva and another regional school. When she visited the other school, it was fine, but she felt a little like an inconvenience. When she visited Geneva, everyone, even random students on the sidewalk, acknowledged her and her family. That’s what made the difference for her.
Relationships are the way we move here, which makes it challenging for a student to come to Geneva and not be known by at least a couple of people who work here.
That relational foundation is allowing us to build some less than conventional systems where we aren’t only relying on myself and others who work in our Center for Calling and Career, but instead, the avenues of relationships across campus so that a student is much more likely to be tapped on the shoulder by someone they know saying, “Hey, you would be really good at this.”
Our prayer in all of this is…Doors opened. Doors well-known. And doors worn down from all the walking through.
-Krista Autrey, Director of the Center for Calling & Career
Opinions expressed in the Geneva Blog are those of its contributors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official position of the College. The Geneva Blog is a place for faculty and contributing writers to express points of view, academic insights, and contribute to national conversations to spark thought, conversation, and the pursuit of truth, in line with our philosophy as a Christian, liberal arts institution.
Oct 18, 2023
Whether you have already experienced the journey of having a child graduate from college or this is the first time, it is important to remember that just like every child is different, every post-graduation path will also look different.
Regardless of where your student finds themselves in their academic journey, you might observe your student shifting towards independence, especially this time of year, and becoming less reliant on you.
One thing we value highly at Geneva College is getting students engaged outside of the classroom. It is a well agreed fact in Higher Education that typically, the more a student is invested in their college community, the better they perform in classes.
One of the most intimidating aspects of nearing graduation is understanding where to start in determining options and knowing what all the options are. One of the more often overlooked opportunities is a faith-based program called The Fellows Initiative (TFI).
You may not be taking exams or finishing up final papers and projects, but you can choose to have an active role in supporting your student through intense exam periods.
Homesickness is a common struggle for students and can typically last anywhere from 3 weeks to over a year. There are a few supportive steps parents, guardians, and caretakers can engage in when their student is missing home.
Jubilee is a 3-day conference (February 16-18, 2024) for students who want their college experience to mean more. Jesus Christ changes everything, discover how at Jubilee!
Talking to your student about grades and academic success can be challenging! Read some tips from our Director of Student Success about these conversations.
Often parents hear about the challenges and negatives of their student's experience, but getting the full picture can be difficult. Our Director of Residence Life offers some helpful tips to engage in meaningful conversation.
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