Moving in and moving forward

Greetings from Valley City State University!

What an exciting and energizing week we had last week at VCSU! We began by welcoming new faculty and staff to campus and introducing them to our campus community. This annual Welcome Week provides an opportunity for new faculty and staff to learn more about the institution and their colleagues, and to begin to learn what “We All Row” means.

Keynote speakers for this year’s event were Sara Schairer and Burrell Poe from Compassion It. They shared an important and well-timed message that compassion can be an action verb and talked us through how to make that happen. Some of their examples of compassionate activities included the following:

• Smiling at a stranger
• Giving someone the benefit of the doubt
• Sending a “thinking of you” message to a friend going through a difficult time
• Having self-compassion and not beating yourself up for imperfection
• Simply being fully present with a friend

It’s clear that patience, kindness and compassion exhibited to ourselves, family, and colleagues will help us manage these unique and stressful times as we reopen our university and schools.

As new students began arriving for move-in day, carting belongings to residence hall rooms, and trying to get settled, excitement and anticipation filled the air. But parents, perhaps feeling a bit unsettled in dropping off their sons and daughters as they start a new chapter here at VCSU, experienced a whole range of emotions.

I vividly recall the feeling of anticipation, excitement, and even sadness when dropping off my own two daughters as they began their university studies. All parents want their children, now college-aged young adults, to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted, and successful. Imagine how much more powerful these emotions are in the age of COVID-19.

Parents are placing their trust in their children as they transition to adulthood. They’re also placing their trust in us at VCSU to provide not only an education but an experience, and to protect and keep their young adults — our students — safe and well as they learn and grow. Our work is always vital and important, but you can imagine the responsibility we feel now, and how organized, prepared and careful we must be moving forward.

Months of planning and preparation have gone into where we are today. While we can’t predict what the future will hold, we know that we’ve tried our best to enable us to serve our mission. The motto we’ve used to start the fall is that we are “Better Together,” and we will have many opportunities in the days ahead to fulfill this belief.

You can feel the excitement, energy and emotion — it’s palpable and emanates from our students, our faculty, and our staff. Our folks have been putting in long hours and have been doing everything in their power to get ready and prepare for a successful semester. They’re concerned about the uncertainty COVID presents, but they’re also strongly committed to this university.

To our new and returning students, we say, “Welcome Vikings!” We pledge to do everything we can to ensure our students’ success, and we’re confident we’ll succeed this semester, this year, and in the future as we move forward together.

Go Vikings!