Growth at Butler pt.2

         This October, I sat alongside Angela Lupton, the assistant dean of the College of Education, and Joel Martin, the Head of the Psychology Department, on a panel to share my experiences as a double major with a class of exploratory studies students. Nestled between my two advisors, I surveyed PB 150. Of the many faces watching us, my gaze drifted to a boy in the third row. I had given him a tour the previous fall. One question he had asked me was, “what do you like least about Butler?” As most Butler Student Ambassadors would agree, this is a difficult question. Nevertheless, I welcomed it as an opportunity to describe our institution’s ability to grow, change, and respond to the feedback provided by students.

            Predicated on my belief that all good teachers understand how their students learn and think, I always planned to pursue psychology in addition to education. Once at Butler, I excelled in psychology but struggled in my education courses. By sophomore year I began doubting my competence and questioning whether I should become a teacher altogether. I expressed my concerns to my professors, but they encouraged me to “stick with it.” Precisely when I felt I couldn’t “stick with it” any longer, I enrolled in a class about assessing students with special needs. During this five-week summer seminar I discovered that my skills in psychology could be valuable assets to students and families beyond the confines of a classroom.

            The following October, I met with Professor Lupton and requested to change my degree plan. “I’m going to go to graduate school for school psychology and so I do not wish to student teach.” I told her. Subsequently, professor Lupton confided that several students like me hoped to impact children through community engagement enterprises but didn’t have a way prepare for this kind of work.

One year later, Professor Lupton introduced the Youth and Community Development major to the exploratory studies students in much the same way. As she presented, I observed vacant stares refocus and dull pencils reanimate. Without the demand for differentiated training from divergent thinkers like me, who combined majors, majors and minors, and developed their own interdisciplinary curricula, the new major wouldn’t exist.

            Professor Lupton introduced me as a “trailblazer,” when it was my time to speak. I delivered my narrative as I do at every Open House and tour. “The best part about being at a small school is that you know your advisors,” I smiled at Dr. Martin and Professor Lupton, “and they know you. They know your hopes and dreams, your ambitions and your fears. And because they know you, they will help you make the most of your time at Butler no matter what it is you want to do, whether there’s a perfect program or not. When I started at Butler, there was no Youth and Community Development Major. So, I made my own; and they helped me.”