Every new beginning is some other beginning's end...

It's not the end of an era, because two years is hardly an era. But, it's the end of a bite-size piece of my life, for sure. Yesterday was my last day at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

When I first applied to WIT, it was because I really wanted to come home to Boston from Pennsylvania and I thought maybe I was ready to be a director. I wasn't sure if WIT was the right place for me, since it was full of tech students and being a Simmons alumna from the early 90s, I had ideas about WIT. But, I knew shortly after arriving on campus that this was going to be a place where I would not only succeed, but like a lot.

And the last 27 months (wow, I worked at WIT the same length of time that I'm going to be in Paraguay) have proven that. These students are the best I've ever worked with. I've been (counting grad experiences) on 5 campuses as staff over the years, and these are my favorite as a group (no offense to Oxy and Gburg readers!). Wentworth students know why they are in college (most of them) and they truly focus on their studies while making time for other things, too. I see in them a dedication to being hard-working, successful, career people that most American college students lack. It is really nice. Especially in a time in our society when 2/3 of high school graduates this year are applying to college. How many of them are going because they know what they want to do?

I have loved working with my colleagues at WIT. It is an interesting place and it is headed for even more greatness. I have no doubt that the next two years will find it growing and becoming even more what it is than it already is. (If that makes sense.)

I have never worked on a bigger or better team than at Wentworth. The SLP department staff is a pleasure. They are hardworking, clear on why we do the work we do, and willing to back it up with facts. I have never, ever worked on a team willing to take time to do assessment the way this team is. It is a mark of true professionalism when a team is willing to take a chance that we'll learn that our program that we spent so much time planning just didn't do what we wanted it to do with the participants. And then, be willing to go back and fix it. This is why these people will continue to succeed. To look at oneself objectively as possible is difficult.

When beginning a new job on a campus, it makes a big difference when the people who work in offices other than yours are willing to answer the phone and take a "I have no idea what I'm doing can you help" phone call. EVERYONE at Wentworth made time for those calls from me. The importance of this is not lost on me. Thank you.

I had a lot of really wonderful moments in only 2 years and lots of really frustrating ones. The true test, I believe, is when the frustrations are things I was willing to expend energy on. I think it means that no matter what, I cared. And why would I expend energy if I didn't care?

I will miss Wentworth very much. I will think of it often. I will mark the year and think, on August 27, wherever I am, about WOW. I will remember on October 14 that someone new in SLP is knee-deep in their first Family Weekend. I will think, on January 24, about how the MLK Breakfast is going. And I will wonder, in the 20s week of April, who is winning the Wentworth Bowl. Don't think I won't. I've lived abroad before and I thought stuff like this. It seems mundane and silly, but it keeps my heart close to home.

Best to everyone at WIT. Keep on keeping on.