The Thank You's

I will say upfront that I'm a sucker for praise.  I don't have to have it, but I love to hear it!

This time of year, at the end of a semester and the end of an academic year, I'm touched by the comments I hear from students.  Now, maybe these are just thinly disguised last minute bids for a better grade, but I like to believe they are sincere.

Hi Professor,

Attached is my final paper.

Thank you for a great semester,

Here is my final paper. Hope you have a great summer!

I hope all is well. Attached is my Demographic Profile paper ...Thank you for a fantastic class! I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun and I learned a lot. I'll be using this in my future business endeavors after college! Thanks again and have a wonderful summer!

Attached is my final country profile report. It's been a fun semester; I hope you continue to teach! I wish you the best!

Those are the ones I get through email and doesn't include the students who stop by to personally hand in their paper and thank me.

I know I like to hear these words, so I'm sure they do, too.  I've long been in the practice of writing individual students after the semester to acknowledge their work, their participation, or sometimes only their presence in my class. 

I saw a quote the other day that went something like this...To the world you may only be one person, but to one person you may mean the world. Few of these students will remember me in a few years, and, to be honest, I will remember few of them. I doubt I'm changing lives in my demographic methods and models class.  But the accumulated feeling of being appreciated hopefully will last much longer for all of us. 

So, go out today and say "thank you" to someone.  I think it will make you both feel good.