By Frances George

Pachelbel’s Canon in D

…and at Baylor

While cleaning the breakfast dishes and listening to the classical station on the radio just now, Pachelbel’s Canon in D began playing its familiar strains. You know the piece. It’s the one that begins with a cello and one violin, playing a simple and repeated musical phrase – a repeated short harmonic variation. With each repetition of the phrase, more strings are added. The composition becomes complex yet retaining an elegant simplicity but all the while the steady repetition and rhythm of the main musical phrase prevails. As the piece moves towards its highest point of complexity, the music incorporates chord progressions and measures that round out the piece to a full concert of strings creating an exquisite canon. Finally, the piece, softens and all the strings converge upon one final chord resolution.

If Mary Scott’s four years at Baylor were a musical piece, Pachelbel’s Canon in D would be her signature concert piece.

As I listened, I thought of the decision to go far from home to a place where she was a “single string” knowing no one. Move- in day arrived, and a few more strings were added.  Freshman year, walking to class added more strings to a now quite pleasant piece. Spring, summer, fall repeating the beautiful familiar strains of “That Good Old Baylor Line”… Fall brought football season and even more joy and winter ushered in Recruitment, the full complement of a beautiful string section created such amazing music. Friends, friends and more friends! Chord progressions occurred as they settled on their major, fell in and out of love, wept together over the too-soon death of a mother, laughed together, opened care packages from home together, traveled the world together, all the while creating a musical piece that would become a high mark of their life. The one constant: their love for Jesus that remained their steady rhythm, undergirding four years of growing from gifted young girls to dignified young women. It was the steady beat that you hear in Pachelbel’s Canon and you see in their life. It does not change and yet it changes them as the music rises and falls to its conclusion. The strings display their beauty and demonstrate their potential as the piece progresses. So too, with our daughters and sons at Baylor.

And then, as fast as it climaxed to one of the most beautiful and recognizable and pleasant pieces of life, it must have its musical denouement.

Last night I received a text from Mary Scott following the house’s final Senior Meeting: “Getting sad about graduation. It went too fast.”

Following was a picture from Mary Scott of the six best friends, six individual “strings” who determined that as a group they would be stronger together than as individuals – pledging the same house and leaving a legacy. And they were. And they are. And they have.  A canon is a “device in which several voices play the same music, entering in sequence.” That aptly describes our young women (and men) at Baylor. Many voices springing from the same beautiful music, entering on cue with the same lovely theme throughout. Individuals who realize together they are stronger and will make a difference on their campus and in their culture, continuing long after their days at Baylor are over.

Suddenly, in just two weeks, our Pachelbel’s Canon in “B” (Baylor) will strike its final chord and resolve with one lovely last note for the Class of 2016. Too fast. Too wonderful. Too many memories to count.

But just like Pachelbel’s Canon, Baylor will always be a most pleasant chapter of life and whenever you “hear” it in your mind, you will want to turn it up and listen over and over again to its familiar and comforting strains. Thank you, Mary Scott, for bringing this mom joy.  Thank you for choosing Baylor. 1200 miles from home, yet right around the corner. Not only have you made a difference at the university our family loves and calls our own now, but you’ve made a difference in me.

And that is, as always, the Baylor difference.

By Frances George

Here at Baylor, once before fall semester finals and once again in the spring before finals, North Carolina Baylor parents gather with many multiples of items to share and send to our students who are preparing for final exams. The Care and Prayer Parties are a great Baylor tradition! Included in the boxes are lots of fun and food…silly putty, cracker jacks, gift cards to Target and Starbucks, coffee mugs for late night caffeine, beautiful individual cards lovingly signed by all the parents with a word of encouragement. After enjoying packing our boxes, snacking on a few refreshments (which generally include custom Baylor cupcakes!) and a cup of coffee, we gather and pray for our students.

Last night was our final 2015-2016 Care Package Packing Party and Prayer for our NC Baylor Bears. For four sets of parents in the room, it was our final college care package. You see, for us, we have seniors, graduating in May from Baylor.

Last night was an amazing night of laughter and tears (for senior parents packing their last college care package), a night of prayer and lots of “care packed in a box” for our NC Baylor Bears. The care packages, as you can imagine, will be HUGE. But beyond that, the bond we have formed among these friends (none of whom we would have known except for Baylor) is even BIGGER. Our tie is strong and lasting and real.

For example…

Not only did we pray for our students represented at the party but for Molly Gibbons, NC Baylor Tumbler, defending the National Title this weekend. I spoke with Molly’s mom earlier in the day to get her prayer requests for the tournament. So even in their absence, we are a family. And I would only know Molly and her mom through Baylor. One senior mom drove more than two hours in 5:00 traffic to join us because her daughter, a senior, is graduating and she wanted to be with family one last time. We first met this family, the Johnsons, in our home at the Baylor Summer Send- Off Party when her daughter joined a large group of NC Baylor Bound Bears for the annual Baylor Send- Off in the summer of 2012. We are joined each summer for this event by upper classmen, alumni, and Judy Maggard, the Baylor Parents’ Network Director, who flies in from Texas to join the fun of Send-Off! At Baylor, we take welcoming new family very seriously. We have Baylor friends (another precious senior parent) who has recently remarried and as newlyweds unexpectedly received a cancer diagnosis. Immediately the NC Baylor family prayed. We had prayed through their happy wedding and now we are praying through this, more somber but hopeful part of the journey.

That’s what family looks like at Baylor.

Additionally, one of the parents of a prospective student, with whom I have been talking, through a new opportunity I have been given to “fling my green and gold afar…” texted me last night just before we prayed, to report that he and his son had arrived on Baylor’s campus after a visit to another college earlier in the day. They were now HAPPILY on Baylor’s campus and ready for the Baylor Premiere Weekend.  My senior, Mary Scott, is planning on contacting them to hopefully seal the deal as she says to them “Welcome to Baylor” as only a Baylor Senior can!

Who would have thought that four years ago when I sent my daughter to Baylor, not only would Mary Scott gain close friends for life but that also her Mom and Dad would too. Through joy and sorrow, laughter and tears…. The unintended but very happy result of choosing Baylor is that we – as parents- now have a network of Baylor Nation family friends across the state, friends with whom we pray and laugh and pack care packages and then welcome a whole new crop the following year!

So, from current NC Baylor students to future NC Baylor students to tumbling for another National Title NC Baylor students (UPDATE: They won that title!!) , Baylor Nation is a strong family, full of fun and under- girded in prayer here in the Old North State and across the nation.

Oh, and the great joy for me? Well, Mary Scott’s little sis said it best last night after the party and seeing the care packages, “WOW! I can’t believe it! Next year that care package will be for me!” Yep, Catherine George, Baylor Class of 2020. Sic’em!

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.

By Frances George 

2016. My Baylor senior Mary Scott graduates in just four months. Four months, that will fly by as quickly as the last four years have.

Four years ago, we wondered what she would wear on her first day of class. Four months from now, Mary Scott will don cap and gown and receive a diploma which will represent so much more than four years in a classroom, papers, midterms, finals and a degree. Mary Scott will receive her degree for life. Here at Baylor our middle child has grown up into a lovely young woman, full of life, intentional in relationships with friends, and loving the Lord in a deep and uniquely Mary Scott way. Her faith is her own. Her cap and gown will represent the beautiful metamorphosis.

Four years ago, our daughter came to Baylor, knowing no one. Four months from now she will graduate with friends, too numerous to count, with whom she has lived life to the full, traveled the world, experienced the Texas State Fair, attended concerts in Austin, traveled to San Antonio, eating dinner on the Riverwalk, spent spring break with girlfriends and their mothers on Destin Beach, spent summers in North Carolina introducing Texas girls to Carolina girls, known the joy of first love in college and the heartbreak of burying a mother of a close friend in her sorority who had also become a precious friend to me.

Four years ago, Mary Scott called frequently to share with me her victories and disappointments in the classroom, of the joys in her new social world, and in life. Four months from now, I think she’ll do the same…she will always be my Mary Scott, quick to respond to a text or send me a picture of a Baylor sunset while out on a run because it is so beautiful. She’ll write one last time, as she has multiple times, “Mom, thank you for sending me to this place.” Some things do not change.

Perhaps one of the sweetest confirmations of God calling Mary Scott to Baylor four years ago was revealed to me just four weeks ago in a rather unlikely fashion. Four years ago, Mary Scott decided to become a part of a house. When she started the process, she knew no one. Over the course of recruitment, six (new) close friends said to one another just before Pref Day, “We feel that God is going to use us in some way in this house. We are all going to pledge together.” They could have pledged other houses, pledged separately, leaving their individual mark on each house but together they chose to be used as a strong group of friends in one place and make a difference. In the end, this has been true. Four years later, Mary Scott was one of two sisters, asked to compose and read a letter to the new girls going through recruitment, a letter addressed to Mary Scott’s Pledge Class from freshman year, a letter composed by a young North Carolina girl whom no one knew four years ago but who now represents her class. When Mary Scott read her letter to me before heading back to Baylor, I listened to my daughter’s words and stories. My daughter, I realized, has grown up over the past four years, through joy and sorrow, success and disappointment, having made friends who will be friends for life, who will laugh together, be in each other’s weddings, celebrate the joys of life and hold each other’s hands in the sorrows that will surely come. As she read, I realized most profoundly that it was to Baylor specifically that God called Mary Scott. He had something unique that He wanted her to do here on Baylor’s campus, an imprint He wanted her to leave here at Baylor Nation.  I realized as she read, that the Baylor experience imparts to students not only what they can gain personally over four years but the responsibility to pass that wisdom and insight and joy to the next generation of students.  She read a letter that leaves not only a legacy but a challenge to the young women who will do the same over their next four years. Four years ago I wrote letters to Mary Scott with wisdom for life. Four weeks ago, Mary Scott wrote a single letter to a new generation of sisters filled with hope for tomorrow.

Four years ago Mary Scott came to Baylor a young girl plotting out the path to class. Four months from now she will graduate, a young woman,  properly  prepared for life, more uniquely fashioned in His image, more deeply in love with Jesus, and very much someone I want to call friend as well as daughter.

Four years went by so quickly. Four months will fly by as well. And I am certain, as she has over the past four years, Mary Scott will live these last four months to the full.

And that is the Baylor difference. So much life packed into four short years. Four incredible, indescribable years. Join us, for the adventure of a lifetime that prepares your son or daughter for life.

By Frances George

For five years in a row, I have not been with my daughter, Mary Scott on her birthday. Her birthday is September 1^st and that generally means she is in school. Between high school and college Mary Scott took at gap year and was somewhere in the continental United States talking to tens of thousands of teenagers about Christ on her birthday. Thus began the “Birthday in a Box” tradition. In the fall of 2012, Mary Scott entered Baylor as a freshman and for the last four years, she’s been in Waco, TEXAS while I’ve been in Raleigh, NORTH CAROLINA on September 1st. So, dutifully, every year for five years, I have spent the better part of the week prior to her birthday, creating a “Birthday in a Box” for Mary Scott to enjoy 1200 miles (or more!) from home and then rushing to the UPS store to send it 2 day shipping to insure its arrival prior to September 1st. And generally something is a day or two late…This year was no different. Except, this was Senior Year. This was it. Make it count Mom!

September 1^st, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 came and went as always and for four years there have been pictures on fb and texts of Mary Scott and “her box” filled with tissue paper and an assortment of gifts from home. Usually, there would be dinner out with girlfriends after a long day in class. But this year, the posts and texts were different! And this is the Baylor difference. First thing in the morning there was a video sent to me of her 4 roommates jumping on her bed and singing Happy Birthday, followed by an enormous breakfast at the house with girls from across the street and down the street. Sunflowers covered the counter, balloons filled the room, little remembrances were beautifully placed alongside artfully painted notes which were lined up on the counter, notes of encouragement and love for one they consider “sister” as well as friend.

Then class. Yes, class.

That evening, about 15 of Mary Scott’s closest friends surprised her and took her to a “dinner destination”… her favorite place by the water in Waco, “The Dam.” (not exactly sure where that is but I know it is beautiful at sunset by the pictures!). They grilled, enjoyed queso and tortillas, ate cupcakes, sang songs, took pictures, lots of pictures, and shared “happy tears.” This is what the girls texted me throughout the evening (just to keep Mom in the loop) “We have a happy friendship and happy friends in our happy spot celebrating our sweet friend who has been the best. We love MSG!” (their nickname for Mary Scott George).

The next day Mary Scott and I talked (actually on the phone!) and she said, “Mom, it was the greatest birthday ever. The girls are so good to me. Their cards are artwork now hanging on my wall.” I thought, “The ‘artwork’ of this day will hang on the wall of your heart for a lifetime, my darling girl. This is the time of your life.” I listened as she talked on about the sunset and the laughter and the utter joy of being a senior at Baylor. While she talked, I recalled a photo she took freshman year while out on a run of an exquisite sunset streaming across campus, “Mom, thank you for letting me come to this place” was the caption attached to the picture. Still so true and so much more. It was as if the light was illuminating her future at Baylor. Her academic future: bright. Her friendships: magnificent.

This is what Baylor friendships mean. They are rich. They are deep. They survive turbulent days and joy comes in the morning. They celebrate life. They celebrate seasons. They last. These are girlfriends, sisters for life. This is the Baylor difference.

And the cherry on top? Judge Starr and Mary Scott were attending the same event on September 2^nd and Judge Starr actually said, “You just had a birthday Mary Scott! Let’s get a picture!” And they did. I can’t top that. And you know what, I’m glad I can’t!

You see, I’ll always be Mom. I can always send “Birthdays in a Box” but birthdays like the birthday of 2015 happen rarely in life. But it is the rare that becomes the commonplace at Baylor.

If you are wondering about a college choice. Wonder no more.

Choose Baylor.

For friends.

For birthdays.

For LIFE!

By Frances George

So why are we at Baylor? We are a North Carolina family with deep NC ties to our own universities, families on both sides who have been North Carolinians for generations dating back to a boat named “Mayflower”. Perhaps this story, less than 24 hours old in its genesis will explain why.

Ten years ago, my namesake, a beautiful young married woman, gave birth prematurely to her first child, a 2 pound 12 ounce baby boy names John Clark Purvis. For three months he struggled for his life in the NICU unit in Greenville, North Carolina, at one of our premier teaching hospitals. Ten years later, he’s grown to be a strong boy with a tender heart. Our daughter, Mary Scott, a senior now at Baylor, was a young girl when she first saw her cousin in the hospital. She could hold his entire body in the palm of her hand and over her wrist. She came out of the hospital that day following her visit, with a life calling – to work with children in critical condition in the early days of their life. As the years passed and she began looking for a college that would meet her criteria for her goals, Baylor quickly became high on her list. Once we visited the campus, she knew this was the place for her! However, because of her deep involvement in campus life, she realized she would not pursue nursing, which required moving to Dallas for her last two years. Rather, she changed her major to Corporate Communications and now hopes to move to Dallas following graduation and work in a children’s hospital, working with families in crisis and helping to administrate the day to day events within the hospital in the children’s wing. Later, perhaps, a graduate degree from Baylor in counseling to more deeply touch the lives of parents and their children in crisis. And all because of a two pound baby boy and a place called Baylor that inspires dreams that become reality.

Fast forward to September 7, 2015. This same namesake delivered her second son, Samuel Thomas, at 28 weeks, the exact same gestation as his now 10 year old healthy and strong brother. “Little Sam” weighs 2 pounds 9 ounces and is in the same NICU unit where his big brother spent the first three months of his life. Mary Scott’s younger sister, Catherine, visited this little one just a few hours following his birth and as we walked down the hallway to his unit said, “I feel as though I am walking in Mary Scott’s footsteps.” After seeing the tiny one, and praying over his incubator through all the tubes and IVs, we walked back down the hall and she said, “Mom, I feel as though I have found my calling – to teach special needs children. I AM walking in her footsteps.”

Why do I tell you this? Because, Baylor is a special place that grows young freshmen into lovely and strong adult women who will do great things for our world. Baylor Nation impacts THE nation and beyond. Classroom instruction can happen on any campus in the country. But Baylor develops character and inspires dreams that can be navigated to their apex, which is really only the beginning.

The picture below is of 10 year old John Clark praying over his tiny brother, Little Sam, on the day of his birth saying, “I’ll help you little buddy.” And that’s what Baylor does. It takes young men and women and provides the perfect environment (much like what our Little Sam’s environment looks like) of support and instruction and guidance and “life”. The result is a culture changing group of men of women prepared and excited about shaping their culture, even if their culture is within the halls of a Dallas children’s hospital or in a special needs classroom of elementary students.

Mary Scott will be in this spring’s graduating class, the Class of 2016. Where will her sister be? If it is at Baylor in the Class of 2020, then I can only say THIS is the best place to learn what it means to live out with great purpose what a 10 year old little boy said, “I’ll help you little buddy.” And at Baylor they do this and they do it with eternity in view.

Grateful for Baylor Nation once again.

By Amy Hyde

So, this is my first blog post. Ever.

My hope is that these writings will encourage and give a “head’s up” to parents of prospective and current Baylor students. Sending a child off to college is new territory for each of us at some point in time. And because for some who have not done it before, we may not completely confident in how to do it. A friend to join alongside is a nice thing. After all, we’re all in this together!

Our oldest son, Nathan, started Baylor in the fall of 2009. His brother, Austin, joined him in 2012. As Austin nears the completion of his bachelor’s degree, I reflect on these wonderful years of joy, trials, achievement, and loss.

So, if I could do it all over again, what would I do differently?

1. Jump in the local Baylor Parent Network group sooner rather than later. During my early years as a Baylor parent, I rarely attended the events offered. When I joined, I found bright peers with whom I’ve enjoyed wonderful relationships.

2. Send more packages from home. While Nathan and Austin always expressed great appreciation for goodies they received while away at school, I think I underestimated the power of that “hug” from home. Whether the packages contained something homemade or purchased, edible or usable, notes of appreciation for their hard work or encouragement during a tough time, these bundles always lifted their spirits.

3. Pray more with other parents. We’ve always been a praying family. But there is something very special and powerful about praying together with and for other parents and their children. There is a closeness that comes from this bond that is hard to match in any other way. I am thankful that prayer and honoring God as our Creator and Sustainer are actions that are valued and supported by Baylor University.

So, how can you become involved in any or all of these ways from the get-go?

Check out the Baylor Parents Network to see what’s happening in your area: http://www.baylor.edu/alumni/parentsnetwork/ If there isn’t a chapter where you live, contact Judy Maggard or Leigh Ann Marshall in the Parent’s Network Office. They’ll be happy to get you connected.

Then you can say “I’m glad I did” instead of “I wish I had”.

Love, grace and sic ‘em,
Amy