Office_Door_copy

Megan Testerman,
Law Student,
University of Florida

[February 18, 2014]

A Student’s View

Something dynamic happens when someone stands in the classroom and shares honestly and vulnerably with utmost transparency. It’s even more powerful when it is one of your professors.

At the start of every semester Kate Fletcher, lecturer and advisor in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences at University of Florida, shares her story in an open and honest way.  In my first class with her, for example, she made it clear that she follows Jesus and that she equally wants to meet people right where they are.  Her life was like an open door.

And the way she lived out her role matched her life.  When she returns to her office, she sits at her desk with the door open. 

Through that open door, some of us came smiling, some of us came in tears.  All of us came looking for a listening ear. I still remember students who walked through her door, excited to share they have gotten into the graduate school program of their dreams – dreams that were awakened sitting in one of Kate’s classes. Others came looking for compassion when they arrive at her office with news about the death of a loved one or a failed relationship. Often they didn’t feel safe to share that anywhere else.

As I think through the stories of my fellow students, I can’t help wondering:

  • What would have happened if her office door had been closed?
  • What if she focused only on the busyness of writing tests and grading assignments?
  • What if she did no more than what was required of her and never aspired to be the best lecturer and advisor she believes God called her to be?
  • What would have happened if both her life and her door hadn’t been opened?
  • What would have happened to those students?

Students today are plagued by the degradation of interpersonal communication in part because of social media and technology.  But an open door changes everything.

An Open Invitation to Interrupt

As college students, at the dawn of the rest of our lives, we need this more than most professors know.

After being heard and advised and cared for, we students could not help but notice Kate Fletcher’s wall covered in thank you notes.  My own notes alone could have filled up the entire wall.

It probably seems simple to her. She just loves her students like Jesus does. But for us, it’s not so simple.

That open door was rare, valuable and worth cherishing. Through it, we found the kind of love and encouragement that emboldens us to be who we were destined to be.  And we are more likely to leave the door to our lives and offices open as well.

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