During faculty workshop on the North Manchester campus recently, I shared this story to illustrate the way they change student lives:

A colleague and I had lunch with several football players during pre-season camp this week. Two were quarterbacks, complete with ice packs on their throwing arms, and one a wide receiver. Two were first-year students and one a senior.

We asked each what they were most looking forward to this year. Logan Haston, the senior QB, said he is most looking forward to his TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) student teaching placement this year. Really? I thought he’d say “being a senior” or “leading the football team.” But TESOL?

Logan told us that faculty introduced him to TESOL during his first year as an education major. He loved it and ended up adding it as a minor. One thing led to another and Logan spent last spring in Barcelona, Spain, where he learned firsthand how his future TESOL students might feel.

Logan says that when he came to Manchester he was “closed minded.” In Spain, he said, he especially enjoyed learning another culture. One idea, one suggestion opened a mind to a world of possibilities.