Reflections

One of the most satisfying aspects of my job is the interaction I have with the students. 

This year, the kids suddenly saw me. They didn't see me very clearly last year--as if I was constantly under a cloak of invisibility even when I was attempting to interact with them--but this year I am suddenly visible to them, and I've made a huge effort to learn their names (as I have almost 700 names to put to faces, I'm still working on that). I have a whole little crowd of students who come and talk to me every day, a few of whom have used me as a bit of a sounding board/therapist on gospel topics or about life situations. I really enjoy their bright smiles and personalities, and I very much value the trust they have placed in me as an adult to whom they can share their thoughts and worries (though I always encourage them to talk to their parents as well). 

Obviously, when dealing with the students, I and the faculty are extremely careful to keep everything above-board. No teacher is ever left alone in the building with a student or students, and office doors are usually kept open; if a student needs some privacy during a discussion, the office doors all have windows that are kept clear and uncovered. Some of the students rely on the teachers as trusted counselors as they navigate depression and anxiety, questions or concerns about Church doctrine and policies, family dysfunction, and general teenage angst. Some of them just love chatting with their favorite teachers about anything and everything, and each of the faculty members is so good at the easy camaraderie that makes teens feel like they have a friend. Laughter is one of the most common sounds that I hear in the building's hallways and drifting out from offices.

A kid told me the other day that he had been told by an older sibling that one of the teachers, Skyler, has a fan page on Instagram. That didn't surprise me. Skyler is a dynamic teacher and very popular with the students. He is also good-looking and looks younger than he is (which is not even 30 yet), and all this causes some quiet swooning amongst the female students from time to time. Of course I wanted to see that page so I could tease Skyler about it, so I resurrected my Instagram account that I haven't used since my content writing days years ago, when I sometimes needed Instagram to do research, and looked for it. Alas, I couldn't find the one the student was talking about (it's probably since been taken down), but I did find a page dedicated to our seminary that some past student had used to create his own memes with seminary and church themes. They are innocent, clean memes, and a few of them made me laugh. 

(For the record, Skyler, while aware of his occasional effect on the girl students, is entirely pragmatic about it, his head unturned and his soul incorruptible. His wife is a knockout anyway. She was in the building a couple weeks ago and I looked right past her while I bustled into my office to finish a task. It wasn't until she came up to my window that I suddenly realized who she was. "Oh, hi!" I exclaimed in surprise. "I thought you were a student!" According to Skyler, that made her day.)

Just as senior students are graduating and leaving high school and the seminary, the members of my faculty will be changing come next school year. Skyler has decided to pursue an MBA (which will be in addition to his current Masters degree and his PhD, for which he is finishing his thesis) and leave the religious education career behind. He's moving his gorgeous wife and their adorable kids to another state so he can attend school and will, by my prediction, become as wildly successful in business as he is as a religious educator--and far more wealthy. Kim, who mistakenly thinks I'm hilarious, might be offered a regional position working with the adaptive/special needs aspect of Church religious education. Ryan will be retiring in the next few years, though I think he does plan to stay at our seminary until then. Griff seems to have an itch to take a coordinator position somewhere else in the country. Tanner seems content to stay put, thank goodness. 

Changes are also coming in the Seminaries & Institutes Department of the Church, so I think I will be seeing a lot more of the things people thought were pretty permanent in this industry become more fluid. It will be interesting. But the students will always be the number one priority.