Good Morning, Anne's College!
Good morning everyone, my name is Bret Staudt Willet, and I’m an Associate Professor in Educational Psychology and Learning Systems.
I’m also the Faculty Advisory Committee chair again this year, which means I serve as a liaison between our faculty and the dean’s office. So if and when anything comes up, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
One of the perks of this position is that I get to say good morning and welcome to all of you to kick off a new academic year.
So, good morning.
I also want to take a brief moment to situate what we’re doing here. This past summer, you may have heard there was a small soccer/futbol tournament hosted here in North America: the World Cup. For more than a month of games, there were heroes and controversies, epic stories and drama.
But the real highlight, any serious observer will tell you, were the fans from Scotland, The Tartan Army. Scotland won only a single game, but they took over Boston, and they got everyone’s attention.
What was so captivating? The singing? The chanting? The drinking? The kilts? My thesis is that we were captivated by their invitation to us to see the world differently. If you don’t know what I mean, the Scottish fans went around putting traffic cones on top of everything, Which is way more amusing than it sounds. They especially loved putting traffic cones on top of important and serious statues.
This was an invitation to us, to not take ourselves too seriously, to look at the familiar with different eyes. To put a cone on it.
There was also a new season of Ted Lasso this summer. Two years ago, when I stood up here, I shared Ted’s invitation with you:
“Be curious, not judgmental.”
Today, I’ll invite you to embrace Ted’s philosophy:
“For me, success is not about the wins and losses. It’s about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves on and off the field.”
So, think for a minute: What does success mean to you?
Back to the World Cup for a sec. Scotland, a country with a land area and population the size of South Carolina, competed against countries 10 times, 50 times its size. Did they have a realistic chance to win? Maybe, maybe not, But they could be the best version of themselves. They could capture the imagination of the world. They could inspire. They could bring joy.
So I would invite all of you, all of us, to take up this aim this year as well. How can we help our students become the best versions of themselves? How can our staff help our faculty be the best versions of themselves? (Good luck, by the way.) How can our mentors and managers help all our faculty and staff be the best versions of ourselves?
As we are overburdened, as we are tight on budget, as we are frustrated by the more and more constrictive policies we have to navigate seemingly every day…
How can we strive to become the best versions of ourselves?
And If you’re not sure, or you’re feeling stuck, or you’re feeling down, or you’re feeling angry…
Pause; take a minute.
Put a cone on it. Look with new eyes, and keep going, to becoming the best version of yourself, and helping others become the best versions of themselves.
