Second (and Third and Fourth) Chances

One thing I enjoy about reading transfer applications is that the applicants all have such unique stories to tell. Some didn't have good enough high school grades to make it into a university so went to a community college to improve their record, some started college twenty years ago but life got in the way and now they're coming back, while others simply aren't happy at the university they're currently attending (I just barely read, for example, an application from a BYU student who has left the LDS church and come out of the closet, thus necessitating a change in school). Most of these stories give me hope--these are people whose lives, for whatever reason, have not gone quite the way they planned, but here they are pushing forward, making the best of what they have. When I read college transcripts that show a 1.2 GPA from two semesters in 1984, a gap, and then a 3.8 GPA from 2004 to 2007, I'm reminded that redemption is always within reach. It's nice to get paid to have that reminder daily.