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!