Finding the Awe in Admissions

How does TGS establish professional authority and mentorship?

I had the pleasure of visiting Mel in person near her home in Central Florida as part of my onboarding and training. While visiting her, we spent hours looking through documents, procedures, and emails. We talked about all the lessons she’s learned in her almost 15 years at TGS, the families she’s met, the places she has visited, and the incredible student transformations she has witnessed. She shared wisdom and advice with me that I know will stick with me throughout my career.

But in true TGS fashion, our onboarding couldn’t just happen at a table or on a computer. As our week together in Florida neared its close, we took an afternoon to explore Bok Tower Gardens, a 250-acre contemplative garden and bird sanctuary tucked along a verdant ridge. It is anchored around the titular Bok Tower, which looms over the surrounding landscape, visible from miles away.

Mel drove us in her pickup truck through the entrance and down a winding road, past rows of orange trees and signs that warned us to watch out for tortoises crossing the road. We arrived at the welcome center and stepped into a verdant walkway, making our way into the visitor center.

As we entered the center, a large sign with the image of the gardens’ founder, Edward Bok, caught my eye. Inscribed on that sign were the words: “Wherever your lives may be cast, make the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.”

I immediately turned to Mel. “Now that perfectly fits with TGS’s mission, don’t you think?” I said to her with a grin. “Oh, absolutely,” she replied, smiling back.

How do we find awe in the admissions journey?

I meditated on that quote as we walked through the gardens and approached the tower, its carillon bells chiming melodically down to us. Our lives are all cast in different directions and in different places. But all of us here at TGS are indeed working to make the world just a little bit better or more beautiful because of the work we do here – and we expect the same of our students. We want their curiosity and their boldness to lead them out into the world, where they can find their own unique way of making the world a better place.

As we approached the tower, I was overwhelmed by its magnificence – the sheer size of it, the intricate carvings of animals and plants on the facade, the vertically oriented Art Deco sundial, and the 60 bells of the carillon that I couldn’t see but could certainly hear. I felt that familiar “whoosh” of awe – a feeling I’ve felt in many places across the globe: gazing up at the ceiling of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, snorkeling through the waters of the Galapagos, staring at the huge reclining Buddha at Wat Pho in Bangkok, gazing at the night stars in the desert of Oman, and hiking through the snow-capped Alps in Switzerland.

As I stared at the tower, full of that same awe I’ve felt in so many incredible places in the world, I felt enormous gratitude for all I have experienced, and an excitement for what my job allows me to do: I get to open the doors for TGS students to have these awe-filled moments. I get to be the first person who introduces them into the life-altering experience of being a TGS student.

Our visit to Bok Tower Gardens felt like Mel reminding me of this sense of awe, the importance of experiential education, and the power of literally walking side-by-side with someone. I am honored to have Mel pass the torch to me and to play this small role in helping students from across the globe find TGS and embark on their own awe-filled journeys.