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How many fond memories I have of thee. It all began the first time I walked around the quad with my fellow bewildered classmates to the sound of those obnoxious bagpipes. Since then I have made a fool of myself in the Miss Ely pageant, twice, I have gone on multiple mission trips and come back to campus singing the alma mater at the top of my lungs, I have gone on concert choir tours and sung in the most grandiose cathedrals that are mentioned in my ten pound art history book, and I even enjoyed sledding and slip and sliding on Browning Bowl before the ominous signs were put up banning those wonderful traditions. On a more academic note, Jewell has prepared me to be a critical thinker who queries the most pressing matters of the day, such as “Is there anything good in the cafeteria? Wait, it’s corndog day?”
In all actuality, Jewell has been instrumental in transforming me from a meagerly first-year student to a confident senior. I know more about the subjects of art and education now than when I first entered college, and I feel ready and prepared to enter a classroom and share my knowledge with students ages K-12. But more importantly Jewell has taught me about subjects that are not as academic. At Jewell, I have learned more about myself, and I have learned more about who God has called me to be. It is on these subjects, and specifically 2 ideas, that I would like to dwell for a few moments.
At Jewell, I have come to realize that God made us to be relational beings. More specifically, God has designed us to be in relationship with each other and to be in relationship with Him. What does this look like? Well, it looks like Jewell students playing games in the Jewell van on the way to New Orleans for hurricane cleanup. It looks like the grateful faces of those New Orleans residents who were thankful that strangers from Missouri came to help them. It looks like a group of students coming together to create a unified song that is greater than any one voice. It looks like professors and students participating in class discussions to create meaning. It even looks like Ely residents making fools of themselves in a pageant so that they’re dormmates can get a good laugh. When we’re in relationship with each other, in manners such as these or in other ways, we are in effect experiencing and appreciating God’s creation. If we choose to isolate ourselves, we lose out on these things. As a true introvert, I would generally tend towards isolation. But I know through experience that there is fullness in community with others.
In addition to learning that God has called us to be relational beings, I have also learned that God calls us to love one another. I know this sounds like an elementary idea, and maybe you question the fact that I learned this concept in college. However, because God calls us to be in relation with another, we are bound to be in relation with people who disagree with us. In college I’ve found people who question my religious beliefs, and even more frightening, those who question my intelligence. Am I supposed to hate these people when they tell me that I’m wrong? Of course not. I’m supposed to use my critical thinking and inquiry skills to see their differences, try to learn why that person believes what they do, and then love them anyway. If they were right, then I’ve learned to say, “You were right, I was wrong.” When we can achieve this point where we don’t judge, and where we don’t gossip, we are getting a glimpse of what God envisioned when he asked us to love our neighbor.
So, I guess my words of encouragement for all Jewell students after four years of being on the hill is to be in community with each other and with God and love each other, as corny as it may sound. Jewell presents a great environment in which to do that, so take advantage of it. As for those of us who are leaving, let us continue the journey that we started at Jewell. Let us be in community with each other by facebooking each other and meeting for coffee after May 3 has come and gone. And let us show love by encouraging each other in whatever steps we will take after college. In all of these things, let us remember to give thanks to the people who helped us along our journey. And also, let us give thanks to the God who made us to love Him and to love our neighbor. Thank you.
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