It's a Great Week to be a Bear!

After almost twenty years at Bridgewater, I have seen a lot of wonderful changes that improve the quality of student life and learning.  I sometimes think I am impervious to much new, but this week a long awaited addition to campus opened and I was surprise to find that the experience actually gave me chills...not once, but twice! 

All summer long I watched the construction unfold from the treadmill in the fitness center. First they tore up the track that was so decimated our track team hasn't been able to hold a home meet in years. Then they ripped out the tired old football field, and finally down came the stands and press box - maybe a week or so before they would surely have been condemned!  Slowly, the whole complex was rebuilt - with a few challenges that put the project behind schedule. But finally, the new Swenson Field Complex opened this week, serving as the site for the annual Homecoming football game this past Saturday.

As I arrived for the game and walked into the complex, moving through the turnstile and entering the walkway under the bleachers, I actually got chills!  It felt like a "real" football stadium - packed with students, alumni, and guests ready to enjoy a Homecoming victory!  So cool! I KNOW how long our athletics staff, especially AD John Harper, has been waiting and advocating for a complex worthy of the effort our athletes put out every year. Finally, that complex is here and  I don't think John stopped smiling all day!

 While Saturday's experience was exciting, I think the scene tonight - and the chills and pride it elicited in this "jaded" administrator- may have been even more moving and meaningful.  As I drove by the field after the Student Leader Council dinner meeting, my car drove itself into the lot so I could just stare.  There was the beautiful artificial surface field -  lights blazing (we have never had lights before!)-  and it was filled with women athletes!  Our field hockey team was hosting one of its conference rivals on this new "football" field which is actually a multi-purpose field designed to enable all our teams - men's and women's - and our intramural program -to benefit from this investment.  Add the fact that our track team can now practice on its own track and actually host home games, and the impact of this field to our athletic program is just incredible!  The excitement among our athletes is almost tangible!

But it is also an important statement about what athletics is all about at BSU.  You see, Bridgewater is a division III athletic program and we are committed to providing quality experiences to the athletes on all 19 of our sports teams.  We believe they deserve this because in DIII, the athletes play purely for the love of their sport and nothing else. No scholarships & no special treatment of any kind - that would be an NCAA violation for DIII athletes.  Our over 400 student athletes all have to fundraise to support their teams' programs, most also work (like the rest of our students), and above all, they are students first. Good students too, if you consider over 25% earned conference scholar athlete honors last year with GPAs of 3.3 and above!

And this week these student-athletes got a gift - our entire campus got a gift really! It's a sports complex that makes BSU feel more like the University it became this summer.  Maybe I will eventually drive by in the dark and not even notice the lights and action, but I hope that doesn't happen too soon because, while it's always a good day to be Bear, it feels even more special this week!

In Appreciation of #sachat and Debra & Tom

I haven't participated in #sachat for all that long - I think I started in late spring - and have to say that in the beginning I didn't get this "Twitter thing." For the first few chats I couldn't even FIND the questions everyone was answering never mind being able to READ the tweets before another dozen popped up!  But once my head stopped spinning, I found the conversations fascinating and very informative. Before long I was joining in and retweeting and now look forward to #sachat each week - when the job doesn't get in the way! 

As a new participant, I marveled at this seemingly tight knit community of people, many of whom haven't even met face to face yet, and the collective wisdom everyone so readily shared. At first #sachat offered professional development and a wealth of resources, but after a few non-chat evenings of conversation it was clear that #sachat was so much more - humor, support, encouragement, comardie in my doctoral journey, motivation to stay healthy, recipes, and the opportunity to make the world of student affairs a bit smaller and more intimate across the miles.  In the third year of no conference travel for my institution, this community is truly a welcome haven  and fantastic resource!  

I marveled at the idea that someone had the kind of imagination to think something like this up, wondering how it got started, and only recently discovered that this was the brainchild of  Debra Sanborn and Tom Krieglstein, to whom this blog is dedicated today. Thank you both for creating such a wonderful resource and student affairs community!  I am honored to be a part of it and learn from so many great professionals who bring a wealth of ideas and perspectives to the "deck" every day. I really get this "Twitter thing" now!

For all you do for all of us - Thanks Deb!  Thanks Tom!

With much appreciation,

Cathy

Last Day of the Season

Today fall really hit - we fought it until late afternoon, but finally had to turn the heat on when the house dipped to 64 degrees. I love the fall and won't miss the summer heat, so I greeted this weather with a cheer today. 

But, one sad aspect of this time of year is game # 162 - last game of the season for the Red Sox who sadly won't be in the post season this year.  I think I knew this would be the case in July when the injury bug hit.  This isn't the year.  But still, small satisfaction today to knock the Yankees out of the division title!  In your face NY - you are going nowhere this year either!  A team that loses 4 out of 6 over the last two weeks to the Pawtucket Red Sox?  Nah, not your year either.  Prediction: my first team, the Phillies, will take it all! Maybe I will watch the post season after all! Or maybe not...

Very sad to see some guys go.  Mikey Lowell.... I hated it when Billy Mueller left and this new guy came in to take third but it didn't take long to jump on the bandwagon. Love  the guy! Ultimate professional who proved his critics wrong,; an oxymoron - an athlete who is really intelligent and humble; and a good family guy.  Glad he is retiring a Sox!  And then there is Tek - another true professional who spent his entire career as a Sox. Love to think he will be back but I doubt it.  And Papi - can't imagine the Sox without him - surely they will pick up his option - or renegotiate a new deal?  Won't be the same Sox next year, but they will still be my Sox.

So while I love the fact that fall is here, I will miss my favorite sport.  Cheers to you Sox - a year of promise that didn't materilize but I loved to watch you anyway!

Kids Moving Out

Dee Davila got me musing on parenting college age kids.  Today my youngest adult child, a 21 year old college junior, moved into an apartment near campus (on my dime of course!).  Was it necessary?  Not really - I make the 25 minute commute on back roads quite easily each day - but after 5 semesters living 200 miles away on another campus, she just can't fathom college from home.  So how do I feel about this? Honestly, money aside, IB am glad to be getting part of my house back again!  We got used to no girls at home, and in a one bathroom house, having two of them back again is a shock to system (have to say one reason I workout in the early AM is to have a huge faculty locker room to get showered and dressed in when I am done!).

Beth has been home since February, joining her older sister who fortunately has had full-time employment since graduating in January 09, but is waiting to buy a house she should hear on any day now.  Now I love my daughters - more as they get older - but does it make me a bad parent that I have been counting the days until Beth's apartment became available and Katie's house comes through?  I want my house back - I want an office for my dissertaion work so I can stop working in a 2 by 2 corner of the bedroom.  I want all the JUNK where I want it - not where they throw it!  I want to make what we want for dinner and not worry about who won't eat chicken and who won't eat steak (this week anyway!).  I want to clean out the basement and do some home improvements.... does all this make me a bad parent?  I hope not!  I like to think that I am practicing what I preach to our parents - that what we hope our children gain while in college is more than just an education.  We want them to grow into independent, self-sufficient adults who build their own lives, and new relationships with their parents that are parallel lines with frequent intersections, but no longer interlocking.  I personally find that comforting and affirming of the job we did as parents!

So, maybe this might shock or mystify some parents, but my daughter moved out today and I was happy to help her pack, with all my love!

Reflections on a camping vacation

I don't know what it is about a week in the woods at Sebago, but it's always rejuvenating and I come back feeling ready to begin another year. This year's trip was different - no mad family mob like usual- just a few of us this time, but the week was surprisingly enjoyable anyway. The weather was great - a few really cool nights (campfire and quilts in the tent a definite must!) and some great sunny days at the beach! We didn't do a lot, except for the day trip to Portland to look at lighthouses, and that was just fine with me! Time to read (3 books!) and surprisingly I didn't miss the computer and internet at all! Okay, maybe having the Blackberry for email access made that easier, but I really did stick to my plan not to actually respond to mail - just staying on top of it so there are no surprises!

Anyway, living outside in the woods in a tent for a week is good for the soul! I couldn't help but notice the simple things - how clean the air is, amazing night skies with a kazillion stars, the way the tree tops sway when the wind blows - and in doing so realized that these simple things are around all the time but I let life get too complicated to notice or enjoy them. Maybe the best thing I can bring back from this trip is to remember this throughout the year and take time out to reflect on the simple things I enjoy.