But to Minister...

“Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” - Mark 10:42 (& Martha Berry)

It’s graduation day. !!!

A little over four years ago, before I was even a Berry student, I had to write a scholarship essay on the importance of an integrated education of the head, the heart, and the hands, and then I had to choose the most critical one. I’m pretty sure I used every buzz word in the book (e.g. - passion, character, integrity, commitment. Blah.), and afterward I remember gathering in the hallway of the Cook building with other prospective students. We all came to the obvious conclusion that if you didn’t choose the heart as the most important, then you were surely out of consideration for the scholarship.

Well, today, four years later, I’m fully bought-in to the concept of the head, the heart, and the hands. And today it’s only appropriate for me to respond to that same scholarship essay prompt, except this isn’t an essay because that’s boring and repetitive and you didn’t sign up to read an essay here. So here’s a small taste of the big impact this school continues to have on me.

The Head

You’d think this one is pretty self-explanatory. Wrong. Very wrong, especially if you go to a private liberal arts college that believes in a well-rounded education. That entails taking classes like Intro to Agricultural Science, Hispanic Literary Analysis, and Theatre, in which I made a B+, but that’s not the point of this story (okay but really, who makes a B+ in theatre?).

One of my favorite parts about Berry is that it connects students to some very important people. By the grace of God (and only the grace of God) I found myself sitting on committees with athletic directors, faculty liaisons, chiefs of staffs, and university presidents. I found myself at the NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis, an entrepreneurship conference in Chattanooga, and on seemingly every corner of our 27,000 acre campus.

What do all these things have in common? They made me think. And think hard. And think from perspectives I’d never thought about. The chance to learn from these people and in these places is absolutely humbling. It’s also very intimidating, and really taught me how to hold back tears sitting in a board room—still working on that one, though!

The Heart

Part of the reason I love Berry is because I love the people (and dog!!) I lived with. The four of us—Eveline, Emma, Jetta, and myself—spent our senior year in one suite in Thomas Berry Hall (despite sharing our entire lives with each other, we don’t have a single picture together).

Eveline and I were randomly assigned freshman year, when the first communication we had was on move-in day when I looked in her van and said “Um, I think you’re my roommate!” We’ve been inseparable ever since, taking day trips to Whole Foods and road trips to Charleston, with many more places left to visit on our bucket list. I still can’t believe I survived 4 years living with a Michigan fan (go bucks) who blends spinach in her smoothies (our only two disagreements ever).

Emma lived across the hall from us freshman year, and Jetta came along sophomore year. We were all fast friends who stayed friends and then joined up again senior year. Emma brings a spunkiness to life that I didn’t know I needed, but now I can’t live without. And Jetta brings lots of reasons for study breaks and trips to the freezer for her favorite ice cube snack, or “crunch water”.

They say you are who you hang out with, and if I’m half the woman these two are, then Berry did it’s job working on my heart.

The Hands

Berry is built on the philosophy of servant leadership (AKA the only type of leadership). I’ll just be honest, I’m a really bad servant leader. You can ask any individual in the picture above, and they can probably confirm that, because I just really like taking care of me! I mean, who doesn’t?

HOWEVER, I’m learning! I’m learning the impact of a leader taking on work for the good of the team; how a leader should never ask anything of her followers that she wouldn’t do herself. The golf team could also confirm this, as they were my guinea pigs for DiSC testing, Myers-Briggs personality assessing, and core values activities (shoutout to y’all for putting up with that).

My college golf team gave me a chance to learn from, lead, and lift others through service. This team is also probably ready to get rid of me after four years of nonstop enthusiasm and tone-deaf bus singing, but not so fast…

…because in the fall I’m headed back to Berry!

I’m under the impression that God knew exactly what I needed—He knew I wasn’t ready to say a virtual goodbye to the place that now lives in my head, my heart, and my hands. So he gave me a graduate assistantship in the Campbell School of Business. !!!

I am blessed beyond measure, for the four years that end today and the next two that start.

Now let me tell you about this cake!

This cake was one of the most challenging cakes I’ve ever made. Not because anything was terribly difficult to create, but because it’s a cake that should be shared with friends and family, should be the centerpiece of the cake table I’ve dreamt about, and should be celebrating one of the happiest milestones life has to offer.

But instead, all 14.4 pounds of it are sitting in my family’s fridge (and we can’t complain, because we get to have a piece of cake every day!). What makes this cake so special is the four years it took to make it: living under the Ford building skyline, living by the motto, competing for our institutional and athletic logos, and, of course, constantly yielding to the masses of deer across campus. Let’s be honest, they really run this place.

Friends, I’m thinking of you all as I’m digging into this cake. Happy graduation day, class of 2020!