Leaving for college is frightening. Leaving your family and high school friends and teachers is difficult. Sometimes college is sad. Everything is brand new and exciting, but also difficult and lonely. The first professor you connect with at college can be critical. They make you feel welcome. They make you feel wanted by the school. You get to finally feel more at home, more in the groove of school like you were in high school. The department they are in might influence the major or minor you choose. Their office begins to feel like a second home.
These professors are heroes - even if they don't feel like it. Students who may feel like they don't have anyone suddenly feel as though they have an ally. First generation college students have a beacon of knowledge that they can talk to and ask questions that google can't answer. Professors can be truly intimidating, so being able to talk to one who actually cares makes being able to talk to those who may not be so friendly much easier.
I want to thank all of the professors who take the time to befriend us frightened little first-years wandering around a big campus alone. We all appreciate it more than you know. The classes we take with you will be some of our favorites; we will feel comfortable writing about or researching or crafting experiments around poignant issues that we are passionate about. We know that you will careabout what we have written. We know that if we have a problem, we can come talk to you about it. We will learn things from you that you never meant to teach us- you may find us mimicking some of the things you do. Please don't be offended or creeped out, we are just starting to learn the proper way to exist in various academic settings, and you are a great role model.
Many of us don't know how to properly thank you- we haven't developed the perfect way to say thank you (do you write a card, do you send an email, do you wait until you're a senior? What do you do?) but let this stand as a thank you from all of the wide-eyed and terrified first-years that you took under your wing out of the goodness of your heart. We appreciate you so much more than we know how to articulate.
