Some words have very deep meanings, and we use them a lot.
We sometimes use them so much that we don’t stop to think how powerful they really are. Lifechanging at times.
Already this week I am hearing one of these words multiple times a day, and in the next week or so I expect to hear it spoken, shouted, and squealed. There will be a convocation in which I predict that the word will be used hundreds of times. It will appear on signs, tweets, posts, syllabi, webpages, and will actually permeate the air. There will be hugs involved. That word is……..Welcome!
Proof
Why do I think this will happen? Because it has happened here for over a century — and there are witnesses.
2018 (Already)
Multiple teams and groups and bands and organizations have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. All of them are sending out messages of welcome to new folks and welcome back to returning members.
2017
Student Leaders in 2017
Here is a photo from Orientation Weekend last year, for example. These students stood at the corner of College Avenue and Meade Street for hours waving to new students and their families as they came to campus. They answered questions and pointed the way. With huge smiles, they shouted, “Welcome to Wesleyan!”
2009
On Family Weekend of 2009, student Robbie Quarles manned the post for parent nametags. He welcomed them and helped with questions or the directions that they needed. (p.s. he is now the Director of Multicultural Programs and Services and we call him Dr. Quarles as of this summer.) In 2015 he was welcomed back in his new role.
1980s
New faculty are also welcomed!
1950s
This has been going on for decades! Sometimes it is the faculty doing the welcoming. Other times, it is the students.
This handbook, given to the entering students in 1952-1953 includes a welcome letter from the Community Council President which begins:
Greetings and welcome to West Virginia Wesleyan College!
It goes on to say…..At Wesleyan you’ll find that everyone just about breaks his neck to make you feel you belong here. It won’t take you long to find that out. Don’t ever be afraid to ask any of these worldly and wise-looking characters about anything you might want to know. They’ll always be glad to find someone who can answer your questions.
Who Is Welcomed?
- New Students
- Returning Students
- Prospective Students
- New Faculty
- New Staff
- Families of Students
- Teams
- Small Groups
- Whole Classes
- Alumni
- Artists and Musicians who come to perform
- Speakers who come to bring us words of wisdom
- Groups and Camps all summer long
- West Virginia United Methodist Annual Conference
Living Witnesses – Our Beautiful and Very Old Trees
Recently, I came across some information about something that I’ve never stopped to consider before: Witness Trees. For example, there are some trees that have been present at key moments during American History. See more about these in an article from the Smithsonian.
The many old and beautiful trees on our campus have witnessed thousands of welcomes, welcomed thousands to campus, and watched many a welcome back reunion. They are our very own Witness Trees.