Faculty togetherness

This weekend, the school hosted its second annual trip to the Nantahala Outdoor Center for a whitewater rafting excursion. I didn't get to go last year because I was on the Liturgy Team retreat, but as the Liturgy Team has now been disbanded, I got to hit the river with 25 other faculty and staff members.

The trip was great fun. We had a blast being out on the river, and we got to spend time in fun and fellowship in ways we would never otherwise do. Particularly when a storm knocked out all the power in the place at 6 p.m. It didn't come back on till after midnight, and let me tell you...it is DARK up in the North Carolina mountains when you're walking back to the cabins with only a candle to light your path.

Despite the power outage, a good time was had by all. I stayed up talking to my cabinmates till after two in the morning. I've worked with these people for two years and never had a conversation with them that lasted longer than ten minutes. It was so good to have the time and the lack of busyness to be able to meet my coworkers as people.

The comment I heard over and over again was "We need to do more of this." Unfortunately, once the school year starts it's hard to find the time and the atmosphere to spend time with each other that isn't school-oriented.

Today was the official faculty "retreat" at a local church. Part of the day involved breaking up into groups and brainstorming about activities that would promote some community value to be done over the upcoming school year. We did the same exercise a couple of years ago, which is where the whitewater rafting trip originated.

The ideas were great...a faculty talent show, family picnic out at Stone Mountain, doing painting for the Foundation for Hospital Art, beer tasting and movie night, and several others. One of the themes that came up in multiple suggestions was time that included families -- children and spouses both. Another was just getting away from our little school bubble and doing more interaction as people. Everything seemed well-received by the administration.

In teaching, we focus so much energy and attention on our students. That's appropriate and good, but we lose sight of the necessity to spend some of our energies and attentions on each other. Our new academic dean seems to have a good understanding of the need for that time spent being together without being focused on school, so I'm hopeful that this investment in faculty togetherness will continue into the future.