Blessed...

Good morning.  This is one of those rare times when I write a blog entry on a day I did not run.  I ran 10 miles on Monday and 5 miles yesterday and thought a lot during those runs.  I just did not have time to write.  So...here's a delayed entry.

I'm blessed.  Plain and simple.  Each day I am able to get up, head to a job I love, and work with outstanding people.  This is my second entry in a row about work, but it's the end of the academic year and that means lots of reflection and time spent celebrating our team.  Last night we had our Student Leader Banquet and it was amazing.  The appreciation our team has for one another and our department is beyond what I would have ever hoped for when I entered the Student Affairs field back in 2001.  Every single staff team decided to say something very nice about their supervisor.  Each supervisor had very nice comments to make about their staff members.  It's nice when you can tell that there is a genuine appreciation between students and the leaders who lead them.  We gave out awards, recognized those members of our team moving on, and had a ton of laughs--some planned and others unplanned.  I spend a lot of the 15 miles I ran on Monday and Tuesday thinking about my comments and thinking about what I would say and I definitely had a great time thinking about the year while on my run.  Here are the three things I will remember from 2010-2011:

• Never stop believing in your staff.  It's true.  We had a rough year with early departures, but the team rallied and just kept going.  They never stopped believing in me and I never stopped believing in them and because of that we accomplished nearly every major goal we set out to accomplish.  As a leader, the lesson is to never stop believing in the people you lead.  That, alone, goes a long way when the chips are down.
• CISS Conference:  We hosted the state Student Staff Conference for Indiana (Conference for Indiana Student Staff) in October.  Our committee went all out and we ended up hosting a fantastic conference.  It truly was an effort shared by 50 or more people and they all worked hard to make sure our 100+ guests had an outstanding experience.  I'll remember that for a long time (and we are hosting it again).
• Extra Effort:  This year could be defined by simply those two words, "extra effort."  I felt like 95% of our staff team did not just try to do their job, but really tried to go above and beyond in doing their job.  We had staff volunteer extra for every major event from move-in, to Welcome Week, to CISS, to the Ice Storm, to Closing and many, many more.  Every single time we had a large event, I was blown away by the staff.  And...on a day to day basis, they did the same.  It's walking that person to an office on campus instead of just telling them where it is.  It's dropping by a student's room when you know they've had a rough go of it.  It's helping clean up your teammates program.  The list could go on and on, but I felt like each and every day that the staff just really went the extra mile.  I love that.

Well.  I think that is enough for today.  I hope you have a fantastic day and happy running to you...