My colleague and friend, Kim, and I got to talking yesterday about how to create symbolic meaning for the students who work in the Student Resource Building. The building itself is a legacy, passed on by students that never saw the building to fruition but had a vision for what our campus could be with a space that draws communities and student services together.
Instilling in our current SRB student staff the legacy that they carry as a result of working in the space is sometimes difficult, especially since most of them cannot remember a time before the existence of the SRB. We bounced around some ideas of how to create rituals and ceremonies that could impress upon the staff not only the significance of the building, but perhaps more importantly, the significance of the service they provide for students as a result of working in the building.
Shalauna, I have always connected well with the concept of legacy. It forces us to think outside of the self and the present. What we have, whether possessions, knowledge, or experience was passed down by others for us to enjoy, but not to destroy. What we leave for others is for them to enjoy, not destroy and we need to leave it better than we received it.
ReplyDeleteResponsibility, selflessness, legacy. We do not work hard to obtain, but rather work hard to respect and improve what was left for us so that we may pass it on when we are gone.
Legacy is such a powerful word. In thinking of the legacy of a building, SRB for this example, it makes me think of how does it become a positive or negative legacy. The building itself is nice, but the true legacy comes from the people that have walked its halls and worked in its offices. make the rituals/ceremonies about the people who give (and gave) it a heartbeat and the SRB will become more than bricks and metal.
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