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Feb. 6, 2024
Daylight 7:29:10
Week 4!
Congratulations! You are doing great. If you’ve been in Alaska lately, you made it
through the big freeze of 2024. In Fairbanks, we didn’t set any long-term records,
but we sure logged a lot of great images of students in front of the UAF time and
temperature sign with temps much colder than 40 below! This was one heck of a cold
snap!
You weathered it just fine. Way to go! Coming through that cold snap into much warmer
weather and into the bright sunshine of February is nothing short of transformative.
It took some endurance to get through it and each day was a bit of a trial, but the
other side is (comparatively) all sunshine and warmth!
UAF is all about transformative experiences. In fact, a whole bunch of UAF faculty,
staff, and students developed a statement to capture our institutional vision. We
settled on “Excellence through transformative experiences.”
There are lots of different kinds of transformative experiences. Some student experiences
look like trying ordeals to outsiders. Our student-athletes work amazingly hard at
school, travel across the country, compete at the highest levels, and then pop back
to Fairbanks, carrying the work of their classes all the while. This takes amazing
endurance and determination. Other student experiences involve doing research in far-flung
parts of Alaska and the world. Others are working full-time, taking classes and raising
a family – all at the same time. Others will have amazing classes, build friendships, and learn
lessons that will last a lifetime.
Sometimes it is the little experiences that you don’t expect to remember. As a UAF
student many years ago, my roommate and I were residents of 818 Bartlett for two years.
We had a lofted bed with a living room setup beneath it with a VCR and TV. It was
very posh in a grungy bachelor sort of way. This cold weather reminded me of how a
group of us would pile into my friend’s Ford Fiesta and trek through the ice fog down
to the Southside Video store on South Cushman. We would pick out too many movies and
too much comfort food and make the trip back up to the top floor of the highest tower
on the hill. We then piled in and proceeded to eat all of the comfort food and watch
way too many movies. It was our version of a ‘home theater.’ It was all overindulgence
and it was great. That was my first ‘home’ outside of my childhood home. I learned
the joys of entertaining and the joys of shared experiences within the bounds of my
own space. I also learned the human limits of Ho-Hos mixed with barbecue potato chips
and Dr. Pepper. Seriously. Even more seriously, we were all finding out who we were
away from home and family. That was indeed transformative.
Does any of this resonate with you? Are you seeking and finding the transformative
experiences you dreamed of?
Have you:
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Gone for a walk under the night sky
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Viewed the northern lights (aurora forecast)
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Tried a new food
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Joined a student club
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Said hello to someone new
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Applied for a student job
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Gone to a new event (a lecture, a movie, or a social event on campus)
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Have you done something nice for yourself or someone else
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Joined an intramural team
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Found a tutor for a class in which you are struggling
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Planned new study habits for your coming midterms
Things to do:
Each spring, the Student-Faculty Awards Committee solicits nominations for the annual
Outstanding Graduating Student Awards to an outstanding graduating woman, man, and
non-traditional student. Please submit your nominations!
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Marion Frances Boswell Memorial Award, Outstanding Bachelor Degree Candidate
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Joel Wiegert Award, Outstanding Associate Degree Candidate
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Gray Tilly Memorial Award, Outstanding Graduating Non-Traditional Student
Transformative experiences are a big deal here at UAF. I’m curious to hear about your
experiences, the experiences you would like to have, and the experiences you think
we should create! Let me know at obguthrie@alaska.edu.
— Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management
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