Why I Teach an NSE Course

"I have always loved teaching first-year students, especially in their first semester. They are eager to learn, eager to work, and eager to think in new ways. What may often go unnoticed in regular classes, however, is that new students often are enduring many struggles as they transition and acclimate to university life. They might struggle with school work or with time management or with homesickness. Or even more deeply, with finding purpose and direction for their lives and their studies. The New Student Experience course gives me a more formal platform to help these students. The class often provides students with their first and most stable community of peers. It provides a comfortable space in which they can foster friendships and find a trusted professor with whom they can share their struggles and seek help. I value these opportunities to engage new students and to help guide them as they begin to find their way at Baylor and in life."

"As a Baylor alumna, it is a particularly special privilege to teach an NSE course and to be a part of a new student's transition to the university. I have the opportunity to witness the excitement, the nervousness, the school spirit, the challenges, and the accomplishments that new students experience during their first semester. It is an honor to walk alongside and support my students as they learn to navigate their Baylor experience and become the people God created them to be."

"I teach and NSE course because I so appreciate our students and want them to reach their potential and succeed... and I feel I know what it takes to be successful... and I want to share those thoughts and experiences with our students first hand. Because our students are a precious resource full of anticipation and ambitions and I want to have the opportunity to help shape their first Baylor academic experiences into ones that point them toward confidence and success."

"In a few words, I do NSE because Baylor did it for ME when I was a freshmen from a small central Texas high school, first in my family to attend college, and wondering what in the world God had called me to do. If my professors then had not spent time with me, I don't know what I would have done. I try to end many of my classes with "The last 5 minutes" where I give ideas of how to be successful in life, but mostly about "making good decisions." Students have so many things pulling at them that they need to focus on what is best and what is right. I have found that when they have life issues brought to their attention most students will seriously think and do the right thing."