By Frances George

Many of you are in the middle of deciding on a college for your student for the fall of 2017. You have spent the past months applying to and now hearing from top universities all around the country with acceptances, deferrals, and perhaps even a few denied admission emails. So many emotions.

I have spent the past month in an East Asian country with my boarding school roommate who founded an orphanage some 25 years ago to rescue children out of the government welfare centers from a life unimaginable to a life of hope. She is dying of cancer and we went to tell her children goodbye.

After almost a month of being far away from home, I traveled 9,000+ miles back home last week, unpacked, repacked and within 24 hours of arriving in the United States after a month in East Asia, I flew to Waco to see my freshman daughter at Baylor. Within those 48 hours of travel halfway around the world ending on Baylor’s campus, I saw more contrasts than I can recount and yet after being on campus at Baylor for less than an hour, I came to appreciate The Blessing of Baylor on a deeper level than I had ever known before.

I saw young adults in East Asia enslaved to government tyranny that rules over every aspect of their life and at Baylor, I saw young adults thriving, with a strong sense of purpose, a fresh new generation free to choose…everything from coffee to classes to careers. Their joy in life was reflected on their faces and the way they carried themselves on campus and how they interacted with every person they met. The difference was palpable and I was deeply moved when I saw the contrast so clearly, though I have been on Baylor’s campus many, many times before.  And so I began to write down what kept ringing over and over in my head and heart, “The Blessing of Baylor” as observed from one short weekend on campus.

The purpose of my trip to Baylor was ostensibly, to watch my second daughter be initiated into her sorority, the sorority that her older sister had pledged four years earlier. But my real purpose was much bigger. It was to relay something to you, as parents and potential Baylor students and to encourage anyone who reads this, that Baylor is unique among college campuses. What happens at Baylor is indeed…A Blessing. I saw my joyful daughter come to the luncheon proudly wearing her older sister’s pin, the pin that belonged to her sister, now passed down to a new generation of Kappas. I saw mothers and grandmothers, godmothers, friends, all surrounding these 106 young newly initiated women who will make a difference on their campus. I listened as the sorority faculty sponsor, who had also pinned her granddaughter that morning, a 5^th generation sister, open our luncheon in prayer and who prayed beautifully for these girls, praying sincerely in Jesus’ name, not just to a random higher power. I know this lovely woman well and she represents all that is good about Baylor. Her faith, her integrity are genuine. She is The Blessing of Baylor and a blessing to me.

I walked through my daughter’s house in which she will be living next fall, met her new roommates from Texas and from California, all who sought out my freshman out-of-state daughter and asked her to live with them! Upperclassmen who want to pour into my daughter’s life and shepherd her. As I walked around the house, beautifully decorated, warm and inviting, there hung on the walls scripture after scripture, intentionally placed, words that reflect the core of who these girls are. Sprinkled throughout this house are plenty of indications that this house has a ton of fun but this house also has a ton of faith. This house is The Blessing of Baylor.

Earlier in the week, as I was traveling home from East Asia, I received a text from our daughter regarding a meeting with one professor. Catherine had commented to him that costumes are her favorite part of any film or production. He offered to show Catherine and a friend all of the Baylor costumes, how they are made and “It was incredible! I was amazed. I told him I’d love to see one of the rehearsals and watch it all come together and he said, “I think I can arrange that.”” A professor who goes above and beyond to encourage a student. This professor is The Blessing of Baylor.

Later, in a class in which our daughter is struggling, she emailed the professor with a bit of a cry for help and immediately, Catherine received this response and shared it with me: “He is eager to meet with me and see what help I’ll be able to get for his class, and gave me reading tips. He was so encouraging, Mom!”

These are just two examples of two professors. I could share more. They are examples of The Blessing of Baylor.

Finally, the most tender example, the blessing for which I am most thankful, arrived in a text from my daughter accompanied by a picture just this week. Catherine sent a picture of an item from a recent care package I sent to my daughter and her dear roommate (another Blessing of Baylor). In the care package, I placed two crosses with the girls’ sorority name inscribed on each. Catherine sent a picture of the cross hanging on her closet door and this is the message she wrote to me:

“The Kappa cross will be a good reminder of a wonderful accomplishment and of a great blessing. It will remind me of the One who enables me and that He will forever be by my side to help me.” There is an incredible joy watching your daughter mature in an environment that nourishes this type of thinking and philosophy of life, a daughter who has chosen to embrace The Blessing of Baylor. That perhaps is The (most wonderful) Blessing of Baylor to a parent.

So what is The Blessing of Baylor? Simple. It’s the lifeblood of Baylor’s history that is present today. You see it is as you walk around campus and find scripture inscribed on building after building. You see it too, inscribed on the hearts of the students. You see it in the excellence coupled with deep joy exuding from not only the students but in the faculty as well. It’s in administrators and top staff members who remember that all they do, they do in Jesus name. It’s in the life of the professors who go above and beyond to help students at any level. The Blessing of Baylor is evident up and down the residence halls where our sons and daughters live, on the bulletin boards, in the encouraging conversations that take place all through the day and night. The Blessing of Baylor is found in new friends, new sisters saying, “I want you to live with us and we’ll show you the way home!” The Blessing of Baylor is tangibly found hanging on the door of a freshman who is reminded every time she looks at it that “He brought me to Baylor and He has a plan for my future and my success as I keep my eyes on Him.”

The Blessing of Baylor. You need to look no further than this amazing place to see it. Like the picture says, “Waco (Baylor) feels like home.”

Our family certainly believes it. And we hope you will too.

We hope you’ll call Baylor home next fall and experience it for yourself! You will not be disappointed.

And that, as I have said many times before, is the Baylor difference.