I have opportunity to visit with a lot of prospective students during the year. I always mention our mission and how it impacts us, mainly due to the size of the school.

We know each other.

It is hard to convey to people who are just looking for a good place to get an education what a difference it makes to be in an environment where people know you personally (not just your name) and care about you (not just your grades).

We just completed the first chapel of the semester. It is so encouraging to have students back and engaged in our lives.
We talked a bit about the world we live in and how it is increasingly negative, but that here, we can create an environment that is positive and supporting.

After chapel two young men approached me (separately). One indicated that he had encountered several deaths of loved ones during the summer and that he needed to be with family. He then clarified that, "I needed to be here with THIS family." The second young man said that he had been thinking about the same things and that he wanted to work together to make our culture and experience here positive and uplifting for everyone. What a great heart.

Last Friday we were blessed to feed one of the women's athletic teams at our house. At the end of the evening the coach asked the girls to share a hero, an inspiring moment and a hardship they had to endure. The hardships they shared were poignant and revealed the pain that this world is inflicting. I listened to stories of mental illness, abuse, loss of fathers and mothers, physical injuries and a host of other situations these young women have endured in their lives. Their courage and desire to find something better for the future became my inspiring moment.