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A tribute to the SLU family
Dear Colleague:
While completely living up to its promise as a fun, relaxing event, Saint Louis University's recent Family Weekend also overwhelmed me.
The level of commitment and concern that parents have for their children really struck me during Family Weekend. The sacrifices parents make often are overlooked. But make no mistake. As many of you know, being a parent involves selflessness like no other relationship in life. Parents will go to great lengths -- often at considerable inconvenience, pain and sacrifice -- to make life better for their children.
Parents often turn to higher education to ensure a bright future for their children. But parents sending their children to SLU expect -- and receive -- much more. Professional prep-aration in a nurturing environment is only the beginning. During these formative college years, our students walk a path that will shape their lives. SLU provides them a meaningful roadmap in an environment that embraces them as members of a new family.
Our students' parents give us their greatest gift -- trust. That's why mentors in our SLU family, whether faculty or staff, go to great lengths to make life better for our students. We cannot forget the immense responsibility of continually renewing this trust. At our Jesuit institution, our approach should involve more than delivering lectures and providing course syllabi and reading lists. Yes, it's gratifying to direct young minds in a higher educational environment. However, the best lessons we can impart aren't those easily written on a blackboard.
We must transform our professional lives into our personal lives by always remembering that students are the most significant part of our SLU family. Even though it is not our place to determine each student's path, we act as guides. We help each student as a whole, continuing the work that parents have started. We motivate our students to fulfill their God-given abilities and talents so they contribute their gifts to society in unique ways. We foster the concept of acceptance and cooperation among all the members of our family. We lead by example, teaching those on our campus that the greatest reward is helping others in the family realize their potential.
Our extra effort has shown through the actions and ambitions of our students. The Templeton Guide: Colleges That Encourage Character Development, a guidebook recently released nationally, cited several programs at Saint Louis University for leadership in the field of character development. It is wonderful to receive this recognition, but it does not mean we have achieved all of our goals. We all must accept the challenge of our mission and embrace its demands by thinking more like parents and less like educators. Working at SLU means big sacrifices and big rewards. It's all part of being a family.
Lawrence Biondi, SJ
University President
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