Last night, I was again privileged to attend a Wake Forest function featuring Dr. Hatch, the President of the University, and Provost Jill Tiefenthaler; they both always speak eloquently, take questions, and then mingle after words. It was a well attended event at the Atlanta History Center's Overlook Ballroom and the theme was "Sustaining a Tradition of Opportunity: Why college costs so much and why Wake Forest is worth it."
To say that I am proud of Wake and its people is an understatement. My Alma mater was a powerful force in the shaping of my life. I continue to reap the seeds that were planted there so many years ago; as those seeds germinate, new fruit magically appears.
At the end of the evening, a video was presented that highlighted testimonials of Wake graduates. It was a feel-good movie that so often inspires us and makes us proud. Within that movie was a statement by one graduate that caught my attention and made me reflect. He said, and I am paraphrasing in part, that "no matter the amount of success that we achieve in life or how high we climb, we have an obligation to send the elevator back down to those less fortunate." Send the elevator back down was new fruit in my opinion!
We could all benefit as a society from that statement--send the elevator back down to help bring up those that are less fortunate but willing to give their lives a better shot if given the opportunity. We all know people who are trying hard to better themselves, who want more, and have the God-given abilities to achieve higher goals. But, for economic or physical reasons, they are stuck on the lower floors.
If you have the ability today, or especially during this holiday season, join me in reflection and giving. Help those out that want a better station in life. It doesn't only have to be monetary help it can be inspirational. To inspire a mind with what you know and have learned can make for a better world; to lend a hand to the physically challenged can bring smiles that will warm your heart. Send the elevator down and bring it back with rewards. Once the seeds are planted, they will continue to grow--I can attest to that.
It was fluff. There were no facts about how a gifted dollar was used for a Pro Humanitate purpose. They presented a vision that requires 320k in total costs (55k plus the gifted subsidy) to send a kid to WFU - anything less would decrease the 'quality' (there were on quality benchmarks presented).
ReplyDeleteUNICEF can spend $1 to provide water to one child for 40 days. That's 320,000 kids that are forgoing water for 40 days so we can graduate ONE student from WFU who may get to enjoy the proposed new recreation center. Potentially that student can return more to the world than those 12.8 Million days of water from UNICEF. The Provost is an economist; I would have appreciated an estimate of the value of a WFU degree to contradict my point. Is it worth 13 Million lives drinking water for one day?
As a potential donor, I would have appreciated seeing how the administration is spending the money, not just the feel good vision described above. That information would be 'sending the elevator back down.' Being in a position to pay the tuition is my privilege, but with each increase it becomes increasingly likely that those dollars are necessarily opposed to a Pro Humanitate mindset and cannot be spent or donated with good conscience. Madame Provost, please prove to us the value and why the costs are so high.