Post-College: Five Years

In the various posts on this blog, I reflect on what's happening in my life and in the world around me.  In that spirit, I reflect on the state of my life on this day that marks 5 years since my graduation from Valparaiso University, the event that inspired the launch of this blog.

While back on campus last month, on April 6, I asked my great friend Richard to take this photo of me as a way to mark the 5-year anniversary of my graduation.

As I mark this occasion, I think back to my most recent visit to Valparaiso University (ValpU):  During the first week of April, I got an alumni e-mail newsletter, which listed a number of upcoming events, including a gathering hosted by the Career Center at which students and alumni would have conversations about careers.  I participated in such an event as a student, and I felt this would be a great opportunity, now that I've established myself in a career, to offer insights from my own experiences to current students who are now in the process of establishing themselves in careers.  So I gladly registered.

And just a matter of days later, I went to ValpU.  I met with several students over the course of an hour or so, with each conversation lasting about 5 minutes before it was time to move on in "lightning round" kind of fashion.  As I introduced myself, I started by noting my upcoming 5-year anniversary.  The students had great questions for me about my career experiences, and I offered them plenty of tips.  I enjoyed my time at this gathering, which was made all the more special by the forthcoming 5-year anniversary, as it was a chance to take stock of where I've progressed in my life, and to give back by sharing about what I've learned through experience in the time since graduation.  And I was able to reconnect in a physical way with the place that played a significant role in my young adult life, and even visit with people I know there.

Toward the end of April, I received another e-mail, this time with a message from Christ College Interim Dean Jennifer Prough announcing the retirement of Associate Dean Margaret Franson.  After Dean Prough talked about Dean Franson's many contributions to the communities of Christ College and the campus at large, the message quoted from a homily she gave in October 2012 at a chapel service.  Reading those words triggered my memory a little bit, for I would have been present for that homily, which was during my senior year.  Throughout the 2012-2013 school year, various members of the faculty from across campus shared reflections on passionate living.

Dean Franson talked about how she's lived passionately by helping shape a sense of place at ValpU, through her involvement on various committees for projects like the addition to the Chapel and strategic planning for the whole campus.  She mentioned how she is deeply drawn into the sense of place, and how it touches her deepest feelings.

There's something about college that triggers feelings of passion.  I think about my cousin Mark, who, upon graduating from college around the time I did, collaborated with two friends to start an apparel company, Belong Designs.  In a video sharing the story of their brand, they talk about how they wanted to be mission-driven, which led to apparel.  Their slogan is all about following your passion, and finding where you belong.

As I reflect on this 5-year anniversary of mine, I think about how my time at ValpU helped ignite in me a strong sense of passionate living. 

I felt a sense of passionate living one year ago today while on a trip to the Pacific Northwest to visit my great friend Roy, with much of my traveling between cities onboard Amtrak.  Train travel is a true passion of mine.

Throughout my four years at college, I engaged passionately with what I was studying, as well as with my other interests in events outside of class, in service (especially with Compass Educational Program), and my faith.  Indeed, one of the most important aspects of my college years was how I grew so abundantly in faith.  I left college riding a wave, with a very vibrant spiritual life.  I was ripe for opportunities to channel my newfound zeal for faith.  I got involved in additional ministries at church, and in following my passions, I found where I belong, in the community of the Church.

One of the most significant ministry involvements I've had is in Religious Education.  During that summer 2013, when I saw a notice in the church bulletin seeking new catechists, I felt like it would be a good thing to do, so I contacted the Director of RE and got set up for the coming year.

And I know that it's no accident that I have taught Religious Education in each of the 5 years since my ValpU graduation--it's a reality that speaks to how I've lived passionately in putting my gifts to use--most especially putting the great gift of faith into action.  Over those five years, my zeal for teaching has intensified, with my faith abounding even more, as I live even more passionately.  My students mean so much to me:  They have made me a better person as I learn to model Christ's example by pouring myself out for them, so that they grow in faith for themselves.  At the Mass held to mark the close of the recent 2017-18 RE year, Father Hurlbert, in his homily, addressed the students directly in remarking that the catechists model for them how to live out a relationship with Jesus in life at large, which speaks directly to my experience.

Being a catechist gives me a channel for talking about faith.  Even though I only spend an hour a week with each of my classes, I think about them all the time, even now after the recent conclusion of the RE year, and I'm so eager to talk about my classes with coworkers and other people I interact with, because it's such a worthwhile way I spend my time.  And I keep coming back to teach, because of the importance I sense in the work of handing on the faith to others.

Teaching middle schoolers also reconnects me with today's middle schoolers, and reminds me of my own middle school years, so significant in my life, in part because it was a time when I was discovering and living my passions.  I have seen how my students are engaging in passionate living.  One of the strongest examples of this passion is in those students who are part of the BRAVO performing arts program at Brooks Middle School.  I've attended a number of the performances they put since Mary Poppins back in the spring 2015.  Watching these musicals, it's almost easy to forget that the actors on stage are middle school students, because they have achieved such a stellar, professional-level quality of acting.  BRAVO has even sent student groups to perform at a competition called Junior Theater Festival, attended by groups from throughout the United States, and the BRAVO group has won many awards there over the years.  If you ever have the chance to attend a BRAVO show in the future, it is well worth your time--and it's also great family-friendly entertainment.

And being the catechist of some of these students, I sense how much they put into what they do:  From time to time, they talk about all the long hours of rehearsal they put in, even spending hours practicing just one song.  Some of the BRAVO students who are in my Tuesday evening classes have shown up with their dinners because they come straight from rehearsal.  They truly throw themselves passionately into their acting.  And their passion really shines through when it comes time to get up on the stage and perform.

Earlier this month, I attended the final performance of Sister Act, Jr., with five of my 8th grade students in the show.  (Notably, BRAVO had the honor of piloting the Junior version of the Sister Act musical based on the 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg).  After it ended and the actors took their bows, they remained gathered on stage, while a BRAVO staff person recognized various students, most especially the 8th graders.  I clapped and cheered with extra delight when I heard the names of the students I know being called out.  It was truly a special experience to be there and take part in this celebratory occasion of recognition for my students.  They performed their hearts out in throwing themselves into the performance.  As stellar as the quality of their acting is, it's so meaningful to attend these shows because I can see how they act with passion.  I'm sure they're going to exit middle school with a deep sense of satisfaction for taking advantage of the opportunity to live passionately through participating in BRAVO performances.  I was eager to share this performance, and so I invited my Grandma and her friend, who both enjoyed themselves.  As we headed to dinner afterward, I expressed to my Grandma how special it was for me to be there, and how I was proud of my students, because of the connection I've made with them.  Being at that performance reminded me of the sense of joy I encountered while teaching, even in the midst of challenges:  It is a joy that is a foretaste of Heaven.

As I reflect on this recent RE year, and the other years before it, I realize that I've invested so much in the lives of my students as their catechist.  And I gladly pour myself out for them, because I desire for them to grow in faith, and want nothing less than for them to reach Heaven, where we will all gather before the presence of the God Who loves us so much and worship Him ceaselessly.  Indeed, I know that all that the investment I make in them has eternal implications, because as they grow in faith, they draw ever closer in relationship to God, with its culmination point in reaching the throne of God in Heaven itself.  Truly I sense what Jesus said when He talks about laying down one's life for one's friends, fellow members of the Body of Christ, and His quotation by St. Paul in Acts, saying it is more blessed to give than to receive.  I've come to understand the meaning of true love, which is about giving of myself, and not to gain anything in equal measure back, but to give of myself to express my relationship with God Who poured out Himself for me in Christ.

Even though the year has ended, I still greatly care about my students, because my heart is filled with passion to live for God, which has driven me to do my part to inspire my students with that same kind of passion, a blazing fire in their hearts for God's glory.  And I continue to pray for them:  By faith, I have confidence in what God will accomplish in them in the future, even if I'm not there to see it, because of the foundation of faith already laid in their lives, which I am blessed I had a part in laying.

It was a wonderful coincidence that my graduation fell on Pentecost Sunday 2013, and it is equally marvelous that I mark this anniversary on Pentecost weekend this year.  As a sign of the continued Presence of the Risen Lord in His people, He poured out the Holy Spirit to ignite His people to be Church, living passionately for His Glory by making Him known.  And from the formation I received during college years, I have put my faith into action with a passion for service to others and for the glory of God.

Five years ago, at the Baccalaureate service held in the Chapel in the morning before the afternoon graduation ceremony, toward the end, the student choir sang "Baba Yetu", the Our Father prayer in Swahili.  In what I sense as a divinely-ordained arrangement of circumstances, I stumbled, like I sometimes do, on a video of the song "Baba Yetu" on YouTube just days ago.

Please feel free to pick whichever version of this song you'd like:

Here is a music video version of the song.

This video shows the Swahili lyrics and the English translation.

This video has the phonetic lyrics of the Swahili words.

I'm not sure if this was the same rhythm and such that the choir sang that day, but hearing this prayer sung reminds me of the spirited prayerful singing that was offered up that morning.  And it evokes in me a strong sense of the spirit of celebration I feel within me this day because of how I've lived passionately over these five years.

All Glory to God.

P.S. Here you can check out the blog posts on my graduation, and my reflections for One Year, Two Years, Three Years, and Four Years.