The Importance of Showing Up—Eric Hagan
Eric Hagan is the dean of online education.
It’s been said that 80% of success is showing up.
Our success this semester is largely a result of all of us showing up, even if we didn’t know exactly what we were showing up for. Campus Environment, IT, and CERT showed up all summer to make sure our old and new academic spaces and systems were ready for our new world of distanced and hybrid classes. The faculty showed up before the semester by redesigning their classes and learning new technologies and during the semester by supporting our students and meeting tech challenges. Other staff members showed up to prepare other spaces and places and to create new ways of interacting with students. Most importantly, our students showed up and brought the campus back to life.
Many of us are back on campus full-time; others are working or learning from home some or all of the time. Some of us showed up on campus at first, but later the virus dictated that we had to show up online. We all showed up how we could. Each of us played a part and made a difference.
Even if we didn’t know exactly what we were showing up for at first, we knew we weren’t showing up for nothing. We show up for our colleagues and friends, but we also show up, as our mission says, to inspire transformative learning by energizing students to be who they are and be that well. We knew and know that DeSales makes the world a better place by supporting human flourishing in all its dimensions. Turns out we have great reasons to show up.
If 80% of success is showing up, maybe the other 20% is faith – faith in Divine Providence and in each other. If this semester proved anything, it’s that our faith is not misplaced.
A great thing about faith is that you can stop worrying, secure in the knowledge that God keeps His promises. One of those promises appears now and again in the great prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s based on a passage from the Book of Daniel and relates to one of our core values: wisdom. Whenever I run across this promise, I feel like God made it just for all of us at DeSales – faculty, staff, and students:
Those who are learned will be as radiant as the sky in all its beauty; those who instruct the people in goodness will shine like the stars for all eternity.
Keep the faith and keep showing up!
Eric Hagan is the dean of online education.