2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Students must help community, expand horizons
T. Davina McClain
Issue date: 1/13/06 Section: Editorial
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The city in particular now presents new challenges and new opportunities. So what are you going to do? How are you going to be part of the resurrection of the city and the university?
Maybe you have just arrived, maybe you are coming back for your second, third or last year - in any of these cases, it is vital for you to think about why you are here, what you want to get out of your undergraduate education, and where you want to be after you graduate from Loyola University New Orleans.
One hopes that you have done your best work in your classes, but equally important are the range of opportunities that this Jesuit university and this city offer for students to challenge themselves as leaders, as volunteers, as individuals committed to others.
Not only should you take risks in the classroom, but you should also take risks outside the classroom by getting involved in student government, in LUCAP, in Big Brothers-Big Sisters, in any of the organizations that ask you to think about someone else, that ask you to leave that comfort zone and try something you are not sure you can do.
It isn't that the grades don't matter - they do. Your grades are a reflection of your ability to meet the demands placed before you and of your understanding that learning is your responsibility. Your course work demonstrates your commitment to intellectual exploration and diversity, and your grades are evidence that you have taken your education seriously.
Working with and for others, however, gives your education a context that is not as much about what you have achieved, as it is about what you can do with what you have learned, about who you are and about who you want to be. And the more that you have to articulate the "why" of your choices - educational, volunteer, leadership - the more you have to understand those very choices.
So what does this have to do with applying for things like the Rhodes, the Marshall, the Goldwater, the Coro, the Truman, the Soros, the Javits, the Jack Kent Cooke, the NIH scholarships and all of the other prestigious, competitive awards these various foundations and organizations offer? All of these awards, which can finance your undergraduate and your post-graduate education, recognize leadership, look for students who have taken risks, volunteered time, are dedicated to others, and can articulate their purpose for what they have done and what they will do.
