College Experience

Knowlton’s Notes: The College Experience
Submitted to the Trojan Times – November 29, 2008

As a “maturing” college president I often think back and reflect on my own “college experiences”. I sometimes try and relate those experiences to the kinds of reactions that students here at Dakota State University might have today. There are a few decades and a world of changes between then and now and so it is difficult to draw direct connections. I am currently reading a book titled “Racing Odysseus: A College President Becomes a Freshman Again”, by Roger Martin. Yes, President Martin was slightly older than me when he decided to take this adventure but I am finding his reactions and experiences to be very thought provoking.
Martin takes a semester off from his job to move to another city and enter a small liberal arts college as a freshman student. He doesn’t hide the fact that he is a president (at age 61 it would have been difficult for him) but he engages in all (well not all) activities that are a part of the first semester experience of the students. He lives off campus and not in the residence hall. From registration frustration, embarrassment at being late to a class, lack of physical stamina in an intramural athletic activity and academic performance anxiety he is able to examine his own reactions. He engages in conversations with fellow students about their homesickness, their doubts about having picked the right university, their family turmoil, and their personal self doubts. Throughout the experience he is energized and inspired by the students engagement in their attempts to understand the subject matter they are exposed to.
As I sat reading this recounting of Martin’s journey I drifted back to so many of my own experiences and my attempts to connect currently with students here at DSU. When new students appear here at DSU I know that they experience some of the same anxieties and doubts as well as excitement that are a part of this new experience of college. As I walk through the Trojan Center or engage students in the new coffee shop I often ask “how things are going” and can usually judge the students current state of mind based on their response. So often, I have wished that I could take away all the anxiety, self doubt and lack of confidence so that all students could engage in learning without this “painful” part of the process of becoming independent. I also get such a positive feeling when engaging with a student who has “found themselves” or is at the end of their college career and are ready to take on the world. It is a process, a journey, an adventure and a path that so many have taken.
It is almost the end of the Fall 08 Academic Year. This can be a time of significant worry about projects that are due or finals to be taken. It can also be a time for thinking back over the semester. I know for some this was their first semester and for others their last. I hope for all students it has been a time of growth and for self reflection.
On another level this book by President Martin has made me pause to think about my journey as President of DSU, my current college experience. While the experience is so often exhilarating and rewarding there are some things I wish I could do better or differently. While it is not quite time for new year’s resolutions this reading has helped me look to the future-next semester. I miss teaching! I hope some time in the not too distant future to be engaged with students in this most meaningful part of the college experience. While I have been on the road doing major fundraising, I have grown to feel less connected to the campus and to what is happening here at DSU. I am going to find times next semester to visit classrooms, sit in the new coffee shop, have more lunches with students. I am going to care less about whether our athletic teams win or lose and care more about their experiences as student athletes. I will talk more with students so I can understand the differences between their experiences and mine. Let me know about your experiences here at DSU by writing me or commenting on my blog. Thanks Doug