First Year Convocation

I sometimes (most of the time) balk when people say how lucky I am to live in Auburn! Don't get me wrong, this is one of my favorite places on earth, but it's not gameday 24-7 and the twenty-something single crowd is seriously lacking. Despite those things, I have come to realize I have a front row seat to some pretty amazing things happening in Auburn, not to mention I live in the "Loveliest Village."

For starters, I don't have to travel for football games or the sold out women's basketball game that brought in thousands. I am watching my brother grow in is walk with the Lord daily. Front. Row. Seat. I watched the Arena grow from the ground up and can eat Big Blue whenever I want it. There are definite pluses. One of the more recent experiences I was able to take part in was Freshman Convocation. I know, probably not anything you would be interested in, but I found it fascinating. We packed the arena with the largest and smartest freshman class to grace the University's doors and welcomed them formally into "The Auburn Family!" Cheesy, I know, but as a proud Auburn Alum and a faithful employee, it was so great.

To further my point, the hour event was started by Auburn's President Jay Gogue. Being my boss, and I am slightly biased, but I definitely learned something on Tuesday from his five minute speech. He shared with current students, faculty and staff on some pretty interesting statistics. A test was run on a random entering freshman college class. They encouraged their students to write down scholastic goals, lifetime achievements, and personal hurdles they would like to cross. Out of the entire class eight students took the advice. The study followed this class of students through the years of school, graduation and beyond. Not surprisingly those eight students, met a lot of their goals and far exceeded their peers in the career paths and life aspirations. Nothing life changing but I sure am more inclined to put some thoughtful soul searching time into writing out some tangible and not so tangible goals for my life. More importantly for this semester, I am hoping to prayerfully consider making goals for all aspects of my life - my walk with the Lord, my career, my roles in life (i.e. sister, daughter, friend, etc.). Maybe by December I will have met some of them? Just a thought for all those out there who still read this blog.

Well, the summer has been really good. June was slow and delightful and July and August have been a straight up marathon. I feel like we are running into fall. The days and weeks are seeming to fly by, and I am not sure I like it. However, I love that my life still revolves around semesters and that things are changing yet again. This change is fun and exciting. New small groups, more events, football season, fall weather and weekends that no longer involve a suitcase. Glad to be back in the blogging world... until next time, write those goals.