Focused Freshmen Bulldogs

This past weekend was quite significant for our family. Denise and I dropped off our daughter, Christina, for her first year at Butler University where she’s in the Jordan College of Fine Arts majoring in Dance Performance.

We did all the typical tasks one does when dropping off a child at college. We put her room together, met and spent time with her new roommate Andrea, toured campus, attended events designed to welcome students and their families and went to the bookstore so I could buy a Butler hat.

During a “meet and greet” of department faculty, Denise, Christina, Andrea and I talked with one particular Ballet professor who asked Andrea “what’s your major?”

“Pharmacy” answered Andrea.

To which the professor said “well you will not seeing Christina during the day because she’ll be training.”

Andrea smiled and didn’t respond; she must have had that look that said “really, dancing all day long?” because the professor added…

“You see, if you want to be a professional you have to be fully committed, you can’t work at it part-time just like you cannot work at being a pharmacist part-time. There’s no part-time training; one has to be fully committed full-time to achieve such a goal.”

I’ve replayed this conversation in my mind since that meeting and I’m convinced that what this professor said is absolutely true. Whether you are pursuing a career in the arts or the sciences, to become a true professional requires more than just a part-time effort.

The realization then set in – Christina and Andrea’s room will be one focused place for the months to come because these two women have serious goals of becoming professionals in their competitive fields. What a gift…to have such focus at the age of 18.