Lakeland College

Whoa
Posted on 7/22/2008 3:50:05 PM

Yikes, it's been a long time.  You know you're in trouble when the webmaster has to ask you to update your blog.  So, what am I to write about....

I think I'll talk about something sort of different.  As you may know, I'm the Director of the Kellett School of Adult Education, which means that I don't intersect much with the traditional day students here on our main campus.  Today was different.  If you read my blog from December 5, 2005 (yeah, 2005!), I wrote about being a geek and referenced my nephew.  Garrett is a great kid whose qualities don't quite measure up to the expectations of other teenaged boys.  He is nice - that's one strike against him - and kind, and considerate, and cares very much about what people think.  Oh, and he's been bullied throughout his school years.

Today, Garrett came to campus for his orientation.  He will be a freshman at Lakeland College in the fall.  He is full of hope that this experience will be different for him, and so far, everything that he has seen and experienced has reinforced that it will, indeed, be different.  He has longed for the day when other kids like him for who he is.  Garrett made some connections today with Dartanian and Dale, and I will be forever grateful to those two young men, and everyone else who gives him a chance.  Garrett has an opportunity to start over and be the person who he truly is - and have that be o.k.  I'm so incredibly excited for him, and excited to see the person he becomes.

I like to take life's little situations and give them meaning as I go through my life.  I'm as guilty of judgment as the next person, and knowing Garrett's experiences stops me short.  I would like to be the person who gives someone a chance - someone who has come to the conclusion that there really is no place where he or she fits - and prove him/her wrong.  I'm proud to work at a place where Garrett fits and can't wait to see him blossom as a result.