When I was younger and hit the house party scene, I was never quite comfortable. I remember envying some of my friends who were much more socially adept that I was, being able to walk into a stranger’s house, find the beer bucket and cheese platter and start conversing with whoever they stood next to as if they had known them for forever. I, on the other hand, would be scanning the room for a corner where I could slink into and hope someone would not notice me.
There were however, a few house parties where the host(s) made it a point to make everyone feel comfortable, especially the wallflowers like me. One I remember was a party with a whole bunch of urban planners and architects in San Francisco. I went because my best friend at that time was in urban planning school.
“Nice to meet you, I’m K’s friend from high school”.
The hostess grabbed my hand.
“Come on in! Let me show you around! Love that you’re not an architect. Too many of them here”
The hostess meandered me through the place, showing me the cheese platter, beer bucket and along the way, introducing me to a million faces who smiled back. Mind you, this was a 2 bedroom, 800 square foot apartment, teeming with guests and standing room only. Possibly even breathing room only. She really didn’t need to show me around, but she did. Lest you think I was a special guest, I noticed she did this to almost everyone who arrived, but had not ever met her.
This recording on NPR most recently, reminded me of her. It led me to think about the students who arrive at our college, unsure, uncomfortable, about their place- who really need a good hostess to show them around, or just make them comfortable.
I thought it was a wonderful welcome message. Since I can’t quite meet and greet everyone who stops at our Student Resource Center, I thought I’d adapt it, and pen a similar message so I too can welcome students, and hopefully make them feel as welcome as I did years ago in that tiny apartment in San Francisco.
Here it goes:
We extend a special welcome to those who are Dreamers, Aliens, F1s, Citizens, Residents, and anyone here for the first time. We especially welcome our veterans, Iraq, Afghanistan, combat, non-combat, even the coast guard.You are welcome here if you are just browsing, just woken up or just got out of prison.
We welcome you whether you took the SATs and aced it, or tore your hair out during that Test. Remember, they don’t say anything about you as a person. We don’t care if you got a 4.0 GPA or if you haven’t gone to school since your sophomore year. We totally get it. We extend a special welcome to anyone who wants to change the world and be the change they want to see.
We welcome early birds, late risers. We don’t care if your handwriting is neat or scrawny. We’re not that keen on it either. We welcome the dyslexic, dysgraphic, autistic, the neurodiverse- the earth depends on all our quirks to survive. We welcome moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, wailing babies and excited toddlers. We would love to meet you all.
We offer a special welcome, to those traumatized by school, got lost on our Loop Road and wound up here by mistake. You have a special place here. We welcome You.
psepsm 
Teresa,
What a lovely message and blog post! Thank you for sharing this message with all of us.
Katherine
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This makes me smile. Thank you for being all inclusive. We all have a story and deserve to be valued not judged.
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This reminds me of the Maya Angelou quote:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
I love your welcome message – I think I will read it out loud to my classes the first day of school (with your permission). Thanks for the post.
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