Recently I have had the opportunity to visit with seniors as they reflect on their Jewell experiences. It is a delightful thing to do; it reminds us why we are all here; it reminds us of the power of possibility; it reminds us of how this education business works. The work is both exhilarating and humbling, as we think about how our work and God’s work interact in the lives of students.

This year, I have said in numerous settings that a great undergraduate education will “move students from competence to commitment, with confidence.” I borrowed some of that phrase from the late Ernest Boyer, one of the great thinkers about higher education in his role of leading the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

This is what we hear from students: they are leaving here not just competent to succeed in work or in graduate school, but they have also developed a sense of their commitment to the greater community, and they are confident in their ability to make a significant contribution to that community.

Recently, a senior student having dinner in our home reflected on her journey at Jewell by saying that she had come here intending to pursue a particular major and perhaps travel a bit. As is so often the case with our students, she did much more and is convinced that her future holds great promise because her advisor and other faculty members believed in her and saw her potential before she did. They encouraged her to do and be more than she thought possible. She will leave Jewell this spring prepared far beyond competence, committed to making a difference, and confident that she will. She is not limited to thinking small thoughts because Jewell’s faculty opened the world of possibilities for her. That world is not limited to academic excellence or technical competence. The beauty of a Jewell education is that it fully encapsulates the spiritual with the academic. We educate whole people, not parts of people and, because we are a Christian college, the spiritual is as much in our realm of education as is the academic.

Another student’s senior reflection in chapel said it well. He reflected on his spiritual growth experience this way:

“I have professors who have gone before me and who reveal to me how their faith plays out in their lives. Professors like Dr. Epley, who has shown me, through the language of music, the heart-wrenching beauty of Magnum Mysterium. Professors like Dr. Chance, who has shown me a passion for theology, for the possibilities of God. Professors like Dr. Paul Klawinksi, who has shown me a passion for caring for the earth, and Dr. Lois Anne Harris, who has shown me a ‘love for the least of these’.”

Jewell is a terrific place that helps young people mature—intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally—into wonderful young adults who will make a difference in the world. Moving students from competence to commitment, with confidence. It is happening every day at Jewell. To all of you who went before us, to all of you who help fund this enterprise, and to all of you who pray for us daily, thank you for helping Jewell to be a difference-maker.