Your advisor on campus can become your savior, best friend, and therapist. They can be the person to feed you candy and give you a box of tissues as you melt down about a bad grade or awful professor. I know mine has, and too often, I forget how helpful he is throughout the semester for my sanity.

Thank you for always being supportive, even when I feel like I can’t do it.

You always are encouraging me, not putting me down. You constantly check in with me to make sure I am doing OK, not only academically as well as physically and emotionally.

Thank you for keeping me sane during course selection.

Your knowledge of what courses to take and what professors I should take literally save my life. Any college student freaks out about the dreaded time period of course selection. Getting locked out of classes is a living nightmare for any college student, and your willingness to exceed all expectations to make sure I get the classes I want saves my life.

Thank you for pushing me to do my best.

Sometimes in your life, you need a person who will give you some tough love. You push me to do better, to improve myself, and test my limits not only as a student but as a whole person. To make sure that I am constantly facing important issues, form opinions and arguments, and questioning things around me to figure out who I am.

Thank you for making me feel comfortable enough to be myself.

You value my opinions and respect my beliefs, values, and morals. You treat me with respect. You are actually interested in getting to know me as a person. Those lunch advising sessions not only are great to discuss my issues but to build a relationship with you. I am not just a face in a crowd.

Thank you for being able to have some fun.

You understand that it’s important to not take life so seriously. Even though we are learning, you bring humor and fun to the classroom and advising sessions with your awesome dance moves and jokes.

Thank you for being a humble teacher.

You can relate to the average student. While you push us to do our best, you never set ridiculous demands that can never be reached. You value your student’s opinions about your class and teaching style, and don't put us down because you have a higher education than us. You seek to make sure that you are fair with your students, seeking to make sure they do their best.

This article is dedicated to Fred Glennon, Department Chair of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.