Jake Czarnik-Neimeyer '77
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Spring 2008
Letter from the director
Jake Czarnik-Neimeyer ’77, Director of Alumni and Parent Relations
In our fast-paced world, we have all become experts at multi-tasking. I watch my daughter do homework, listen to music and instant message friends all at the same time! We also pull ourselves, as a family, off the merry-go-round and try to have dinner together almost every night. This family routine is an important way for us to communicate with our two teenagers and slow us down for a while. As parents of two college students, as well, we receive a phone call or e-mail almost daily.
The meals, phone calls and e-mails are opportunities to be an anchor for our daughters and sons during the transitions in this stage of their lives. We can only hope that the safe harbor we provided for our daughter or son before they moved to college gave them the confidence to chart their own course through life and cope with all the changes.
St. Norbert College is a community that also provides many anchors for your daughter or son. Our students are fortunate to have dedicated faculty, staff and administrators who provide quality academic, spiritual, social, athletic and service opportunities. I am sure you have heard many stories of the professor who took extra time to explain the class content, or the staff member who provided an open ear, or the coach who was determined to help a student excel, both in and out of the sport.
All this support and encouragement is what make St. Norbert College an outstanding community and an extension of our own homes. The consistent guidance from home and college will help our students navigate through the transitions of adult life. St. Norbert College is fortunate to be the beneficiary of your dedicated parenting.
The staff, faculty, alumni, students and administrators have provided a safe harbor and some direction for your students before they set sail on another journey in their lives. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in part of the journey with your daughter or son.
I hope you are having a wonderful visit with your daughter or son during the holiday/spring break.
Let me close with a poem that describes what is essential for our students to reach their goals:
One ship sails east and another sails west
With the self-same winds that blow.
’Tis the set of the sail not the gale
Which determines the way they go.
As the winds of the sea are the ways of fate
As we voyage along through life,
Tis the act of the soul that determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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