Staying Student-Centered
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving–a uniquely American holiday during which we pause to reflect and give thanks for all that we have. It also begins a season of holidays that will be celebrated by families of all backgrounds and creeds. No other time of the year can rival this for festivity.
For young people applying to college, it is also a time of applications and deadlines–a time of essays that need to be polished, new test results that could prove pivotal and report cards that carry extra meaning in the admission process. To be sure, this is a time of great anxiety and more than a little stress for those who see their futures hinging on the outcomes of their college applications.
As the clock ticks on the admission process, it is important to keep everything in perspective. After all, the admission process is not a test that determines value or attaches worth to a young person and, by fiat, his/her family. Rather, families should relish the opportunity to celebrate achievement and look forward to the new possibilities that are emerging in that person’s life. In a student-centered environment, this means putting the needs and accomplishments of the student–and not a particular destination–at the center of all future considerations.
So, as you head into the holiday season, make this a happy time for the young people in your life. Celebrate them for who they are and what they are becoming in life. And be thankful for the opportunities for personal and academic fulfillment they are about to discover as they move on to college–wherever it might be!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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