College Tour

Good Monday Morning to you!

What a beautiful day it is. I can't even say how thankful I am that it is November 3 and the temps will be in the 70s! I am soaking up the warmth, sunshine and colorful leaves, cuz all those things are fading fast.

Last week I, along with a couple of other pastors, took 15 high school students on a tour of ELCA colleges. It was wonderful. The kids were all great as were the schools. It was interesting to see the similarities (good education, caring professors, faith based learning, high value placed on community) and differences of each school. It was also really fun to see the students come alive at various campuses. Each one has a different feel, and it is so important that you can "see" yourself at that school. That is how I felt when I first visited Luther College (www.luther.edu) in Decorah, Iowa. I loved it immediately and couldn't wait for high school to be over from that point on. I cherised every visit back there over my senior year. And being back there last week, I still had that same feeling.

Another interesting thing was how the students attitudes changed toward the schools as we visited them. In the beginning, they were all pretty resistent to going to school "in the middle of nowhere" or "in the middle of a cornfield." But when they got on campus, you couldn't say that the colleges were boring at all. There is so much going on- concerts, parties, groups, sports, worship, speakers...you name it!

Also, one of the benefits of going to a private school is that you have a much higher chance of finishing in 4 years as opposed to 5 or more. There are also tons of scholarships available.

But, like I said, it's all where you can see yourself. I hope that if you know someone who is considering college, you'll encourage them to just visit an ELCA school. They are great ministries of our church.