"Warm Fuzzies"

Just for a quick explanation of the title of this blog "warm fuzzies" comes from one of my favorite childhood stories and the term "warm fuzzy" refers to nice things that people do for you or say to you just because...

In the last couple days, I've gotten a couple of these and just soaked them in. I met a wonderful woman through work yesterday who will be of incredible help in recruiting students from Latin America. We had a great, fruitful discussion and she was very supportive of my work, complimented me on my efforts and also mentioned how she thought it was so wonderful to have the mix of cultures and languages in my family. Then, she wrote me an email today saying, "Saint Martin's is lucky to have you." I was thrilled that a woman I admired so much (even just through our brief meeting) would see such potential in me.

Then, today, I met with our new Vice President of Academic Affairs and really enjoyed it. He asked really wonderful, relevant questions and clearly had a deep respect for the work we do in the ESL program by his comments. He told me I struck him as someone that would be interested in going on to get a doctorate degree and asked if I had considered it. We went on to talk about different programs and opportunities and he told me he would be happy to talk to me in the future about different paths. Again, I was honored.

In school, I feel like my potential and hard work was recognized more often, but it's been a really long time since people have noted my passion or asked me about what my dreams were in the work environment. It was so refreshing to be seen as doing meaningful work to someone from the outside and to be recognized as a young professional with so much to give and with a strong career ahead...

These people's comments really brightened my day. Amazing what such small interactions can do...