Oh, and I forgot...

...the absolute best moment of the day!

In Advisement, a young woman came to get some advice about courses to take next semester. She seemed very glum and unhappy about the whole thing, mostly was concerned that she take classes only in the morning, as she just got a job with a fire house and wanted to focus on that. I explained that she'd make her own schedule; I'd just recommend courses. But I told her we have an A.S. degree in Fire Science, asked if she'd be interested. I let her read the degree description--and she started to perk up. So I began advising her on that, but after I stepped away for a moment to collect something from the printer and then came back, she told me she's really more interested in getting into the police force or criminal justice. Oh, well, we have an A.S. degree in that too, I said. So I advised her about classes she could take that would satisfy both general liberal arts requirements and the CRJ degree requirements. She only wanted to go part time, but we got to about 10 credits, so I told her she might do better to go ahead and go full time (12 credits), as it might be cheaper--though of course she should keep her schedule and time constraints in mind. OK, she said, and as she was gathering up her stuff to leave, she muttered something about being very nervous. Oh? I said. Why? She said she was nervous about summer classes. I said, "Well, we should talk about that." She never went to summer school, didn't know what to expect. So I told her a little about how summer classes work and said she could either think, "I'm going to take on something that I need to focus all my attention on, no other class material to get in the way," or she could think, "I'm going to take something that's just fun, no worries--fulfills credits but is for me, not anything mentally challenging"--like some of our PE classes.

The whole time I was talking, her face kept getting brighter and brighter; she started to smile, even to laugh a little. When I finished talking about some of the PE class options (adventure activities, sailing), she looked at me, astonished, and said, "You are awesome."

I need to put that on repeat play. I thanked her, of course, and told her we all try to be--but ... well, there you go. I made college feel a little less of a prison, a little more like an adventure. She left Advisement with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.

I'm taking that to the bank.