I’ll Show You

When I was an undergraduate student, I was a scholarship recipient in a rather unique program. Its premise was to recognize and promote the development of students from average family backgrounds. It paid all of our expenses at the university (tuition, fees, room and board, books, and expenses). In exchange, we were its employees, engaged in the task of our total personal development—from the moment we got up in the morning until the moment we went to sleep at night. As an employee of the scholarship program whose aim was our personal best, at virtually every moment of the day, we were expected to push ourselves to be more, to do more, to achieve more than we ever had; anything less and we risked losing the scholarship. Moreover, it was the director of the scholarship program who set the standard for our personal best and judged us accordingly, which leads me to this entry.

As a freshman trying to adjust to this regimen, I was convinced that these demands were beyond what was humanly possible. I knew what my friends at other universities were experiencing and contrasted it with my life; I thought it was simply too much to expect. Two friends, both in their first year at West Point and the Naval Academy respectively, compared the demands of their days to mine and came to the conclusion that they had it far easier than I. For that first semester, I was convinced that following this regimen would drive me to a breakdown. I was equally convinced that I wasn't the sort who would quit or fail. So, that's where my attitude of "I'll show you" came in. I was bound and determined to show the program director that doing everything he expected of me would lead to my ruin.

Then I learned a valuable life lesson, one that still holds true for me today. Not only could I do it all, but I could do more! Not only could I succeed, but I could flourish! It seemed that the limits I was imposing on myself were the limits of my imagination. They weren't real. I was capable of far more than I imagined. In trying to "show him," I ended up "showing myself" that I could do more.

To this day, I believe that we all are capable of more than we imagine for ourselves. Sometimes it simply takes someone who pushes us or believes in us to help us discover our own capabilities. It's my hope that our students have someone in their lives that believes in them, who pushes them, and helps them to realize that the limits they think they possess may be the limits of their imagination. At Avila, I hope that person is one, or more, of our faculty and advisors who get to know, care deeply about, and mentor our students.