PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Last summer, on a beautiful June morning, I decided to take a walk around campus. I had no facility project to review. No one I needed to meet. No class to teach. I simply wished to enjoy the campus-its peace and beauty-and the subtle but powerful bridge that it provides between our past and our future.
I stopped at Teachers' Grove, which we dedicated last spring and sits gently on the western edge of our new Chab Weyers Education and Hixson Lied Art Building. There on a red quartzite boulder is a plaque honoring 129 educators that reads: "A place of respite in honor of those who open the doors to knowledge."
Teachers' Grove is not nearly as large as the building to its east. You might even miss it if you aren't paying attention. But its impact and message is every bit as large. After all, Teachers' Grove recognizes the influence of the teacher-the person who dedicates his or her life to educating others.
It's not a lucrative business. It's not a profession that offers a lot of free time. It's a passion. Teachers' Grove helps us never to forget that the greatest way to develop human beings and realize positive social change is through teaching. It offers the possibility of making an enduring impact. And teaching the teacher provides an even deeper way to realize that very same goal.
Teachers' Grove also conveys an important truth-greatness happens in little ways. It's not always the large eye-catching moments that define who we are. Rather, small, daily efforts that take place in the classroom between a teacher and a student (and a student and a student) can transform a student's future in profound ways.
Next time that you are in Crete, please stop by and spend a few minutes at Teachers' Grove. Enjoy how it connects to the rest of campus and how it provides that "place of respite." Enjoy how it quietly and confidently signals the success and impact of our Education program-our teachers making a difference around the world, whether in Nebraska, in the United States, or abroad.