To The Two - Thank You

Ahhhhhh!

I just had the best workshop experience!

Our attendance has been down lately. I've been pretty bummed about it.  It seems like no matter what I do, I can't get our students to come to our workshops.

I looked at our topics, our presentations, the times - I just couldn't identify what the problem was. And it seems to have gotten worse.

So today, I had a workshop.  I had one student. ONE!

I was SO disappointed.

Out of all these students, one?!?

What the hell is wrong?

Then about 10 minutes in, another student came in.

Two is not much better than one but it's better. And I'll always take better.

During our workshop one of our graduates came into use the lab (it's shared space).  She's taking a course on our campus concurrently with classes at her 4-year.  I have an open door policy for any alum of our program - I will always try to help you and support you. I can't spend money on you but if you need to use the computer, a letter or recommendation, advice or just need a place to study, COME ON!

So I go through my workshop and it was GREAT!  They asked questions, were engaged but most importantly, it seemed like the information was helpful. And that's really the whole point of everything I do - if it doesn't help our students, it doesn't really count.

So after the workshop I was wrapping up and had to step out to grab something. When I came back into the lab the students were all talking and our alum was sharing what a great experience she had with our program and the students were talking about how much they'll use the information I presented.

It did my heart some good.

I mean, I went in disappointed, thinking "Really, I went through all this trouble to present to two?" and then...it turned out great!

It's amazing that sometimes things turn our completely opposite of what you were expecting.