President Neil Kerwin's Visit

Although I had to leave President Kerwin's speech twice in the beginning due to my frequent coughing attacks, I still was able to grasp the message of his speech and some aspects of his life story. I found President Kerwin's words to be reassuring because I do feel "uncomfortable" here at the moment and I do think that the transition into the university has been very "traumatic." He expressed these sentiments and I related to them, and I am very glad to know that it is normal because usually people are very ashamed of such feelings or try to pretend they are just fine. So by having someone who has been through the entire process at AU before, though it was many years prior, to state feelings that I relate to currently was very comforting. President Kerwin, obviously, turned out to be quite successful so now I know that the difficulties that I am facing are not because I am not cut out for this entire college experience.

After President Kerwin's speech, I was surprised to find out about the history of the past presidents that AU has held, but it also explains why AU has a bad reputation still to some people and why it is so important for President Kerwin to create the strategic plan. However, I always find it disheartening when we discuss how people's speeches and responses are rehearsed because it makes one see the world devoid of sincerity. I do think that President Kerwin's responses were sincere and truthful because of the way his face lit up when he relayed certain stories. I also like to believe in the good of others so I do not think that the strategic plan was created solely to extract more money from alumni because to think that way is distressing to me. President Kerwin definitely had to have received similar questions to the ones we asked, but I do not think that he ever received the EXACT same questions before, and thus there is no way that he could have practiced saying such responses. Yes, he has to say certain things as a part of his job, but I think that he truly loves AU and he wanted to make a strategic plan to not only explain his dedication to the campus and the students, but also because such an action is necessary for any university to do at this time in order to ensure that it can continue to meet the growing demands of this changing world in which we live.