By Frances George

What kind of upperclassmen? What an odd question, you might say, for parents of admitted students, who are trying to make a decision for college before the May 1^st deadline. However, it is an important question to ask. I normally blog once a month for Baylor, however, just now while spending a few quiet moments alone before starting my day, this most recent story in the life of my senior daughter Mary Scott, struck me as so significant that I knew I had to write it down to encourage parents, as you are facing a most significant decision with your student…college choice. Perhaps this word is for you.

This morning I received a text from our daughter, Mary Scott, a senior at Baylor, graduating in just a few weeks, heading to Dallas to begin the next chapter. She has had the most amazing four years at Baylor, academically, spiritually, socially. I have blogged about it for three years each month – the great times, the hard times, the lessons learned along the way. This morning she happily texted and said, “Mom, I’m ordering my cap and gown today.” It is a marker in her young life’s road that this chapter is about to close. And yet, it is not over, not at all. She is still pouring in to the lives of her underclassmen friends in ways I don’t think you will find at other colleges and yet, at Baylor, it is common.

Baylor upperclassmen care in a most unique sense.

You see, our daughter has a freshman friend who has hit a rough spot in the road. Rough spots, for all you first time college parents reading this, are common on all campuses among freshmen. Something unexpected happens in the fall or spring semester and your student will hit a wall. Frustration, disappointment, heartache hits – from academics, social disappointments, unwise decisions that bring consequences. It happens to most every college student at some point and oftentimes during freshman year.  The way the hard place unfolds and what the resolution looks like is significant and impactful in the life of a young freshman. Those students who care enough to walk with your student through this season of disappointment have the opportunity to model much and leave a lasting impression on how to “do” life.

That’s when an upperclassman can make a difference. You see, this disappointment and heartache fell upon one of Mary Scott’s freshman friends and her young friend needed lots of encouragement to get through the final weeks of the semester. While home for Easter break, over an extended mother/daughter breakfast, Mary Scott relayed to me the things she was doing to encourage this younger student. (Heretofore, I had no knowledge of this interaction. I thought our daughter was simply enjoying her final days of college with joy.) This young freshman was having a hard time even getting up to go to class. Mary Scott told me, in the most, casual “this kind of love is nothing out of the ordinary, who wouldn’t do this for someone I care about” way, that each morning, our daughter would go to this freshman’s dorm room and encourage her to get up and go to class, walked with her across campus, encouraging her along the way. She did this for more than a few days, actually an extended period of time, to get her friend over the hump and to help her see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Coffee breaks, encouraging texts, long conversations… all to a freshman whom she had only met this year. All while our daughter is preparing for interviews in Dallas and soaking up the last carefree days of college.

I must admit, I sat there in stunned silence and with tears in my eyes and a full heart, at all my daughter had done for this young friend and she said it as matter- of- factly as if was the most natural thing in the world. And you know what? It was.

Because that’s who Baylor students are. Students who care beyond themselves. Students, upperclassmen who are willing to go the extra 100 miles for a friend in need – even (especially) for a freshman.

Think back to your last weeks in college…did you spend your early mornings getting in your car from your lovely and comfortable off campus house and driving to a freshman dorm, gently encouraging a young freshman, “You can do this! You’re going to get through!” I know I didn’t. Rather self- absorbed, I was, enjoying things that made me smile. And yet, at Baylor, being an upperclassmen who helps make a young freshman smile and find her joy again is the point because they know they are leaving a legacy and a model for another freshmen yet to come. As Mary Scott poured into a life, this young freshman will pour into another’s life down the road…”The road goes ever on”, as Tolkien said.

So, as you decide where your son or daughter will spend the next four years living the ups and downs of college life, take a look at the upperclassmen. For what are you looking? At Baylor, upperclassmen are a unique group, shaped and molded, mentored and taught by professors and an administration who model how to look out for the underclassmen, bringing them along, strengthening them for their journey. When Baylor students graduate, they walk away with more than a diploma. They graduate with a sense of having made a difference in the life of those who will one day make a difference in the life of others. A Baylor diploma represents more than a degree. It represents a lifestyle of sacrificial giving.

What kind of upperclassman are you hoping will walk alongside your son or daughter across campus? A Baylor senior is a rare and wonderful breed of young adult…and one that your son and daughter will become.

It is simply, the Baylor difference.