identitySPECIALIST

I got a great message from a former student tonight. It got me thinking – when does a former student become a friend? Do all my former students become friends at some point? What makes a former student a friend?
I’m sure some current students might read this post and this does not mean that we aren’t friends. You are my current student though. I’m not sure it means that all of my former students are friends either.
As I thought more about it-I realize that it is such an honor and a joy for me to have former students that I can now call friends. I quite enjoy the interaction of former students that are now friends. I don’t expect all of my former students to like me or want to be my friends. I know that there are those out there that don’t care for me.
I am blessed though with those that I have challenged somehow in some way. The best encouragement comes when former students come back and either challenge me or share with me how something that I did or said in class has really sparked a passion or redirect their career trajectory. Many times, former students have come back and thanked me for a word or phrase or idea that challenged them. It makes all the work and grading worth it.
I don’t take credit for any of it. Most of the time, it’s just a lay away plan that in some way triggers later in life and the return on investment is realized. The message I got tonight was from a “friend” who took one of my classes that was so hard ot teach. There were so many people from varying backgrounds and majors in this course – it was a course that was required of many majors. Since then, he’s had tons of experience in the field – practical experience. He told me tonight that he wants to go to grad school to learn more. I definitely don’t take credit for that, but the investment was totally worth it. Sometimes it takes a few years for students to realize. Sometimes, it takes me a few years to as well.
You may never know how much you have impacted a person, but no one can be impacted if you’re not doing anything.
To my former students – thanks for being my friend.