Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

A Few Thanks to the Many We Leave Behind

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA

It is a good thing that our Georgetown experience is not entirely defined by other students. I mean no offense to the 18- to 22-year-old age demographic, but I certainly can’t imagine a university reigned by students — we change too rapidly. I have lost myself, discovered myself and then confused myself over my four years. I’ve turned inward, outward and upward. Thank goodness I am not in charge here.

In this vein, I would like to take a moment in this time of transition to thank those who are in charge. I’d like to thank those who are older than 22, who create permanence at a university that, if left to us students, would otherwise be in constant upheaval. We have been student leaders at times in our four years, but mostly we have been led, guided and supported by others as we have matured. Thank you to those who have participated in that process. Thank you to those who create new knowledge for us to learn, open opportunities for us to pursue, cast a vision for the future of Georgetown and especially to those who simply help our university operate.

Thank you to the professors who invest years or even careers here. Thank you for the new discoveries you make in your respective fields. Thank you for the ways you adapt teaching to modern times, and thank you for, when you think it more appropriate, staying consistent and conservative in certain values and practices. Thank you for taking us seriously as we passed through your classes, and, even more so, thank you for taking your research seriously. Your new questions and ideas in the fields of ethics, governance, migration and literature — to name a few — have pushed me to consider my academics and career from new angles. We graduate in less time than it takes you to contemplate academic questions from all angles and certainly before you come to conclusions or publish. Thank you for staying and creating knowledge, which we have hopefully absorbed.

Thank you to the program staff who permeate so many aspects of student life, from the Center for Multicultural Equity & Access, the Center for Social Justice and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor to Residential Life and Campus Ministry. Your support has defined our Georgetown experience. You have given us the space to lead and innovate and grow and make small corners of campus our own. I know that I have felt empowered by the programs that allowed me to expand my presence on campus, as I have tried to bring my own ideas to reality. Yet the staff and directors have also prevented me from running after foolish ideas and instead forced me to adopt a degree of realism. They have created opportunities and at the same time guided me as I pursue them.

Thank you to the administration for thinking in the long term. That vision is nearly impossible for us students, who struggle to imagine the coming year, yet you alone develop and implement 10-year strategic plans. Thank you for cultivating relationships in the city and the world that help Georgetown endure, grow and flourish. I will not be here to see how the long term develops, but I take comfort in knowing that my experience at Georgetown has been influenced and formed by visionaries from many years ago.

Finally, thank you to the staff that make the details of campus run smoothly. Thank you for ensuring that we have food, tolerating — and even cleaning — our messes, fixing pipes, shovelling snow and — most of all — planting those beautiful spring flowers. I am not sure if I can ever explain to José, a groundskeeper in the Village A area, how much his friendly face has made me feel at home here since we first met my freshman year. I don’t know if I have fully expressed my gratitude to the workers at Leo’s who welcome me with good humor to my 7 a.m. breakfast.

Right now we are leaving, but someday in some place might be the ones who stay. We will be the ones who invest with enough consistency to create knowledge, opportunities or a long-term vision or who simply help our workplace run smoothly. We will one day be those who mentor the interns or the newest employees. We are not yet the ones who stay, but in the meantime, with great humility, we should thank those who do so here. Thank you to the faculty and staff of Georgetown University — thank you for staying.

Joanna Foote is a senior in the School of Foreign Service. She is coordinator of the Kalmanovitz Initiative’s Day Laborer Exchange.

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