The sweet wildness of May inspires celebrations nationwide. While Waynesburg University celebrates our graduates this month, May also includes National Teacher Appreciation and National Nurses Day. People who fall into these three categories have provided incredible blessings for me recently, so I would like to join the festivities and share my thanks with our Waynesburg University community:
I am very grateful for the Waynesburg University class of 2025, especially the sweet seniors who I had the privilege to get to know in the Writing Center this past year. I listened to the live stream of the graduation ceremony and cheered for my tutors as they graduated. I clapped for the Valedictorian, our Writing Center tutor, Hailey Mark, as she gave a wonderful speech. Yes, Hailey, you have done (and will continue to do) difficult things! I am very proud of all that my Waynesburg Writing Center tutors achieved this year, while knowing that I had very little part in their successes other than trying to cheer them on.
I am also grateful to the kind professors for my college-aged kids, Amelia and John, and my 10-year-old, William’s, inspiring teachers at Bentworth Elementary who encouraged his interests in history, supplied him with books and paired him with other kids who liked the same topics.
I am especially grateful for the amazing Pathways Center team at Waynesburg University who stepped in for me when my husband was air lifted from one hospital to the next and covered my role in the Poetry Slam 2025, Writing Center schedule, and end of year demands as I sat by a hospital bed.
While I never particularly wanted to witness the nursing protocols that I spent eight years reading about as Waynesburg University’s Graduate Writing Center’s writing coach, I have witnessed the procedures for prevention of hospital acquired infection, pressure injury, central line associated bloodstream infection, deep vein thrombosis and more. Reading those nursing papers at Waynesburg prepared me to ask questions and to respect the exceptional nursing care my husband receives. That little bit of knowledge has helped me to be grateful for the amazing teams of nurses at Mon Valley’s ICU and Magee’s ICU and 5300 units who have been tending my husband for over a month now.
The Writing Center tutors, the Pathways Center team, the professors and teachers and teams of nurses who have blessed my family give me reason to rejoice. As May continues in festive splendor, I hope that the many celebrations also remind you that the world is filled with people of grace doing some difficult things that show God’s love for you.
