Professor thanks students
I can’t express enough how fun it is being a professor when students engage in the classroom, challenge themselves outside of it and I especially love it when they seek out a five-minute chat to make sure they’re on the right track.
At a faculty dinner last week, I told virtually every colleague who happened to make eye contact with me about how much fun I’m having this semester. I had just met with a student working on a story about the local farmers market. This is a student who in years past said he couldn’t write well and although he did well, he wasn’t killing himself with effort. And here he is, texting me to meet to discuss my edit of his story.
One of his storytelling lines in the story when detailing a tent that sells tie-dyes at the market read: “Almost like fingerprints, each item of clothing has a different pattern making each one unique.” He likened tie-dyes to fingerprints, and I LOVE it. He can write and I think now he knows it.
But it’s not just him.
First news story assignments from two different classes seemed more creative, the discussions in ethics class seem more spirited and the crew working on the Spartan seems like a professional news staff.
The design is snappy, and the content isn’t all fluff. This alone deals with racism of the Confederate flag, a student who saved a cancer patient with her bone marrow, a critical look at tenure and a two-story package with photos of Project 240 and the republican debate.
Add in a call from the Rutland Herald editors seeking permission to use yet another student story from The Spartan and, well you probably get the picture.
Some semesters are more challenging than others, for sure, but I just want to reiterate how much fun I’m having right now and how inspired I am. The thanks goes to the students.
So, thanks.
-David Blow
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