Passion?

A friend forwarded me this article from the New York Times Parenting Blogs, "Our Push For 'Passion,' and Why It Harms Kids."

In my job as a college counselor, I talk about passion all the time.  I'm certain that I say the word "passion" to my students and fellow educators at least ten times a day. 

I jumped on the passion bandwagon when I was an undergraduate admissions officer at Trinity College during my very first reading season.  As a first reader, I spent six days a week, eight hours a day for two long months doing nothing but reading college applications.  Throughout the "reading season" I would review applications from students who were highly qualified to students who were under-qualified, and everywhere in between.  Regardless of how qualified each student was, I still read every application from beginning to end.  You never knew where a gem would be hiding! 

I would often find myself rooting for some applicants, regardless of GPA and standardized testing scores, because they had the ability to take an activity they participate in and make their commitment come alive for the reader.  I'm not saying that these students needed to be outstanding writers or truly deep thinkers.  They just needed to be able to understand why an activity was important (either to them, their family, their friends, their community, and/or the world) and articulate that commitment.  Sometimes these students had more than one passion that they divided their time between, and that was totally fine! 

For me, passion doesn't mean finding one thing and doing nothing but that one thing over and over again in order to show that you are committed/passionate/highly proficient.  In the college application process, passion is about understanding how or why what you do is important and how that activity can or has made a difference in this world.  It's about thinking below the surface level and acknowledging that what you do matters - in your life or in another person's life.  It's not about do, do, do.  It's about think, think, think.        

I love Trinity College!

I don't think it's a secret that I love my Alma Mater, Trinity College.  I subscribe to their Admissions Facebook page, a great way to get the inside scoop on the college application process, and they posted these beautiful pictures of the campus.  Enjoy!

Prospective students often forget that they will do more than just study in college, and I think these pictures really highlight the community every student is a part of.  As I try to remind my students regularly, "College Is Fun!"