Dear Bengal Family,
My Administrative Assistant once touched my heart by giving me a beautiful flowering orchid for Boss Appreciation Day. Its enormous leaves were a deep, vibrant green. Two lighter green flower stems arced obligingly over the tops of the leaves, sprouting delicate, variegated blossoms. Its little flower “feet” were nestled into bits of what looked like wood chips tucked into a soothing taupe pot. I thought the whole thing was stunning, and I proudly carried it to my office, where I was sure it would thrive under my dedicated care.
Well, as it turns out, orchids are...a bit finicky...and deceptive. Yes, an orchid comes to live with you, looking robust and dangling showy blossoms for weeks and weeks as though its relationship with you will always be like this. “Just give me a little water once a week, and we’ll get along fine,” it says.
But then, the relationship starts to change. The orchid becomes more demanding.
“Did you not realize there is a special plant food just for flowers like me? I’ve been hanging around here in your office for a month now while my wild relatives are living it up in organically-rich forests, feeding off of decomposing organic matter… Oh, wait! Did that disgust you? What, you want me to get by on peat moss? I’ll tell you what—why don’t you put down that sandwich and try to be thrilled munching on a piece of Melba toast instead!”
“Oh, and by the way, I don’t like my feet wet. If you keep drowning me in water, I’m going to develop a fungus and slowly sag into a slick ooze, so stop with the buckets of water already. I don’t want to sit in a swamp; I want a nice, tepid sauna experience.”
“And, while we’re at it, can we talk about the fact that you took a humidity-loving plant and stuck it on a desk in a desert? What were you thinking?”
“Are you mad now? Stomping out? Hey, before you walk out, would you mind turning down the thermostat 10 degrees? I like it cool at night.”
My orchid now lives in someone else’s office. And, you know, the annoying thing is thriving. I’m not going to take it personally, though. We all have our strengths. Mine, clearly, do not include catering to the whims of an orchid.
But that brings me to my point for today: we need each other. You have strengths. Your student has strengths. I have strengths. My wonderful team of student services staff has strengths. And, of course, we all suffer from certain weaknesses. Wisdom is knowing where our strengths lie.
But I want us to think about that on an organizational, not individual, level. Sometimes “our” strengths do not lie within ourselves, but within others. As student services providers, we are better if we realize when we should be reaching out to you, and your and your student’s experiences are better when you realize that our strengths are here for you.
There is a lot going on right now. We are less than a month away from the fall break, with final exams coming up two weeks after that. On campus, we are throwing our energies into growing more and better student support and success programs and seeing your student through to a successful conclusion. We need you, and your student needs all of us. By working together, we can help our students thrive!
Do you have suggestions for how we can provide more support for your student? Let us know at bengalfamilynetwork@isu.edu.
Warmly,
Lyn
Vice President for Student Affairs
and Enrollment Management