My three-year-old grandson came to visit recently and asked to watch cartoons. In one of them, a monster emerged from the shadows threatening the heroes. My grandson ran from his chair and leapt into my lap. I held him and said, “Don’t worry, you’re safe.” He pulled back and looked earnestly into my face. “No, Mimi,” he insisted, “I’ve got you!”
Sometimes we misread the cues, focus too closely on the details that we lose sight of what’s going on outside the frame.
As I reflected on this encounter with my grandson I was reminded about the recent success of our “Second Look” weekend, particularly the looks on the faces of the prospective students as they entered the nearly-completed Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion at the Health Education Campus. Their eyes were wide with excitement. They strolled the tree-lined courtyard reveling in the spacious, sun-lit surroundings. Walking through the meeting rooms they were energized as they contemplated the kinds of collaboration these spaces would engender. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that they were awestruck by the potential they saw in our new building.
It is these images that I often hold in my mind as I work together with my School and University colleagues to sort out the many final features of our move into the Health Education Campus. Incomplete signage, adequate capacity for events, classroom assignment protocol, lockers for storage, areas of wall space that could benefit from a bit of decoration. We’ll solve these issues and all the others that will inevitably arise when one tackles a project as ambitious as this one. We must be vigilant to identify and solve them one by one. But, meantime, notice the look on the faces of our students. They know it will all come together. And it will be amazing.
They’ve got us.
Pam