I was at my desk this morning and heard the calls to the switchboard start to pick up. So, I threw on my headset, logged in, and took a couple calls to help them catch up.<\/p>\n
One of those started out simply enough. A woman said she had a couple of questions and asked if I could help her. I said I could and the first was an easy one – “how did she get her transcripts?” The answer: The Office of the Registrar – and I gave her the number without having to look it up – (330-972-8300).<\/p>\n
The second was about the commencement videos from 2016. While I was looking this up on the website, she explained that 2016 was when her son graduated UA – and that he died four days later. She said that she had been meaning to find the commencement video for a while and she had the pictures, but… And she trailed off.<\/p>\n
I teared up immediately and told her that I was so very sorry for her loss. I managed to locate the site and gave her the address and how to order a DVD.<\/p>\n
She thanked me for my help and we ended the call. I logged off and sat quietly for a moment.<\/p>\n
All that effort. All the work and sacrifice. All the potential. A kid who had just gotten through college and now… just gone.<\/p>\n
I can’t even imagine what she had gone through and what she was still going through.<\/p>\n
I’ve met only a small fraction of the students that have attended UA in the 20 years I’ve been here. And the ones I’ve met, I rarely get to know very well.<\/p>\n
And yet, they are ours. Our students. We guide them, we teach them, we help them. They matter – they all matter.<\/p>\n
And there’s a feeling of a job well done as each new group walks across the graduation stage and out into the world. Having just recently helped with a ceremony, well, it hit me pretty hard to hear about her son.<\/p>\n
I helped her as best I could, with deeply sincere sympathy, and I hope that she gets something positive out of that video – and that it doesn’t hurt her more than she’s already been hurt.<\/p>\n
It clouded my day today and I’m going to keep thinking about her and her son.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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