When I was in college, I went rafting with some friends. We were coasting down a medium-size rapid when, all of a sudden, we dropped about four feet on a dip that we didn’t see coming.
Falling off my tube, I remember having to swim upstream to get back onto my float that had become lodged between a rock and a hard place.
Tired from the struggle, I remember wondering if the experience was worth it at all.
Friendship is a diminishing of distance between people. from Life p. 312
In my work with students, the two refrains I hear again and again go like this:
1) I want more friends
2) Community is hard
Who doesn’t want more friends? Certainly a major reason students attend school is to find connection, meet new people, and develop long lasting friendships.
But, community is hard. Most of the students I work with attend Boston University, which presents a unique environment. The school is embedded into Boston, stretching across two miles of the city, while running parallel to the Charles River.
Earlier this summer I had the chance to sit with Dr. Tim Clydesdale, author of The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens After High School.
His current project (which I think will be released sometime this summer or fall) is on college students collectively.
The research he conducted with high school grads (many of whom went to college), that was presented in his first book, was carried on and was the focus of our conversation.
I ran across this collection of statistics and wanted to make sure I shared with you — in case you hadn’t run across it in your own online reading.
There’s a lot here.
And the good folks at Gallup did a great job of covering a broad range of “moral” topics.
What we don’t know about those who were polled for this data is what religious affiliation (if any) the respondents claim. Likely, it’s a pretty accurate cross-section of the American population, and therefore, it would be safe to say that these are the dominant “beliefs” of American culture.
Do you have standards for your leaders?
You know, those people who mean so much to your ministry efforts — the ones who serve as extensions of you and the ministry you oversee. Those people that multiply your reach and effectiveness exponentially. Those individuals that magnify the effectiveness of your ministry because of the unique gifts, passions, and talents the bring to the table.
You know, those folks…
Do you have standards that might qualify (or disqualify) them for leadership within your ministry?
Stepping out, taking the risk to dive into this crazy world as an adult, as Miss Independent (cue Kelly Clarkson), can be totally scary.
We like to think we are self-sufficient and not at all apprehensive about living out on our own, out from under the wings of the grown-ups in our lives.
I remember when I moved into my first apartment post-college. It was a seven-hundred-square-foot space that was mine to decorate, leave messy, and clean up only if I felt like it.
Exciting . . . until it came time to pay rent for the first time. Yikes.
From going to class, balancing studying and socializing, maintaining relationships and dealing with financial burdens, today’s college student has a great deal on his or her mind. Take a look at just some of the issues college students may be concerned about on a daily basis.
Offered by: Muhammad Saleem
Fridays are for ‘Reclaiming Words!’
The intent of this series is to explore words that I think need to be introduced — or re-introduced — to this current generation of college students.
These words have lost their meaning… or have been mis-used or redefined in unhelpful ways… and therefore need to be reclaimed and redefined (again) so that they can be realized by our students!
Today’s word: PERSPECTIVE.
During a recent visit to our campus, Steve Garber engaged students in a series of dialogues designed to get them thinking about […]
Fridays are for ‘Reclaiming Words!’ The intent of this series is to explore words that I think need to be introduced — […]