More Than a Transcript

The Value of Living Life in Service to Others

September 19th, 2019

By Angela Traywick

Tip #1: Give honest praise for something your child has done that is unrelated to achievement in school or extra-curricular activities. 

I get to ask students to talk about themselves pretty often.  Most of the time, students start by telling me about the classes where they perform best.  Maybe, it is because they are talking to the “academic counselor”, but when I prompt them to step out of the academic realm to tell me something special about who they are as a person and a child of Christ, I often see a lot of blank faces. 

When we are talking to high school students, it is natural to ask about classes, grades, latest tests, last football game, etc. Achievement is the name of the game and achievement pressure is a real feeling. In January 2016, the Harvard Graduate School of Education released a report called “Turning the Tide.” After extensive research, Harvard determined that the college admissions process was focused too much on unhealthy achievement and in need of repair.  Subsequently, a leading group of colleges came together with the goal to “reshape the college admissions process and promote greater ethical engagement among aspiring students, reduce excessive achievement pressure, and level the playing field for economically disadvantaged students.”

These innovative Harvard graduate students and college officials recognized that counting the number of AP courses and making distinctions between 20 points on the SAT was not only increasing anxiety in college preparatory schools and the teenagers in them, but was not filling their campuses with students who were living ethical, empathetic, and authentic lives. The report provided concrete ways that colleges should change the admissions process, with the hope that students could stop filling their resumes with pointless activities and begin to feel valued for what makes up their character and drives them as contributing citizens. 

The bottom line is that we all have the intrinsic need to feel valued. I work with students daily to help them see the importance of actions they are doing in their lives.  We need to see the “Activities” section of any college application as not a space merely for organized sports, service projects, and honor societies. My goal for Covenant students is to help them understand that there is great value in living life in service to others, not for the recognition but because they are called to do so by Christ. I hope they see the value in speaking kindly to their siblings, even when they are driving them crazy.  I hope they see the value in shutting down the rumors or negative talk in the hallways. I hope they see the value of imagination and creativity. 

So I urge all of you to challenge your children to be kind, compassionate, fair, honest, bold, funny, loyal, respectful, responsible, and most importantly, to seek out what is true, good, and beautiful in all they do.