Gustavus Adolphus College

Ryan Yunkers, Student Activities Office

I have had the most experience with the CVR through facilitating "First Year Big Questions Retreats" at various locations. I took groups of 8-12 first year students and 1-2 upper-class student facilitators. We spent the better part of 2 days talking about the Big Questions of life, how they were navigating their first year at Gustavus, and how they see their life fitting into the big picture of the world. These are pretty big questions for freshmen who have completed only one semester of class, but I know this experience has been significant for several reasons:

1. Past participants have said so

2. The bonding that happens on this trip is significant

3. The student facilitators get a lot from helping lead this event.

One facilitator went as a student her first year, and then helped me the next two years after that. This may be for those students the only time at Gustavus where they have been truly forced to step back and ask themselves "for what am I doing all of this?" The CVR, by sponsoring these kinds of experiences may actually help students persist if the students find a higher calling of why they are here, which can help them through the tough times in college. In an unrelated note, when I tell people about the existence of this office at Gustavus, the normal reaction is pure amazement and appreciation for the fact that there is a place whose job it is to encourage us to think of our lives in this way.

Finally, the CVR has consistently served as the "grease" to help related programs and events that might, for funding or other reasons, not occur. For this and the other reasons above I strongly encourage and support the continuation of this office.