I sat between two professors and two friends at a beautifully decorated table in the main building on the campus of my university. Everyone in attendance was dressed up. Food was in the hallway awaiting us to load up our plates (and come back for seconds because we’re broke college kids). Name tags reserved seats at each table, and the tables were set with not just regular forks, but salad forks. It was intended to be a fancy evening.
Two days shy of my twenty-first birthday, I went to Elon University’s “Turning 21” dinner. The dinner wasn’t about the typical festivities people celebrate in turning 21 (I’ll let you figure out those activities for yourself). Instead, it was a dinner welcoming students into the “adult world,” or the “real world.” Each student invited a professor or mentor from the community who has influenced their time here at Elon, and the evening is full of great conversation, food and sparkling cider. No alcohol involved.
At the end of the night, students walk away with a nice (free) mug, and plenty of Instagramable pictures of themselves with their professors trying to take selfies (see above). It’s an Elon tradition.
Now, when you think of traditions, Christmas, going to your grandparents’ house for Thanksgiving, and other holidays probably come to mind. But what about other traditions? What about those smaller and lesser known? What about traditions unique to a person, to a family, to a university?
That’s exactly why this Elon tradition, this “Turning 21” dinner was created. To establish alternate ways that faculty, staff and community mentors can engage with students. To create events that students look forward to, that students remember. To create memories that students remember more than just when they look at that free mug they got that night.
It truly showcases exactly what I love about Elon: the community. When I left that night, I thought one thing: Wow, that selfie really did just happen. No, but seriously, I thought, I just took a selfie with one of my professors, and he asked to take it. That should say something about this campus.
We have relationships with our professors. We have relationships with the faculty and staff on campus. They truly invest in you as a person, not as a number on their attendance sheet for class. They want to help you grow. They want to help you flourish as a student, and as a person. And, they wanted to take time past their 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. day shift to come to dinner for a few hours, even after teaching the whole day.
This community, these relationships, this is what I value most in my school. And, I truly believe just as traditions are unique to a family, friend group and to a university, these type of student-professor and student-mentor relationships are unique to Elon as well. To that, I am grateful.
