Why Did I Wait Almost 30 Years?

This semester at Villanova I have had the opportunity to

• go to a women’s soccer game
• a women’s volleyball game
• volunteer at the Special Olympics
• watch a student production of Seussical
• attend a lecture on Homelessness
• listen to student entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas
• watch men from the cross country team compete at Nationals via live streaming from Kentucky
• attend a Christmas musical concert by the men’s and women’s choirs, including a few a capella songs

The total cost of all the above was $40 for four Seussical tickets; everything else was free.

Our family thoroughly enjoyed all of these events, and now when I look back on all of it, my first thought is, “Why haven’t I been taking advantage of such opportunities for the past 29 years?”

And there was certainly many more events that we could have attended during the semester; this weekend alone there were also performances by the Villanova Jazz Band, another Christmas show (this one featuring Irish dancers), and a separate a capella performance.

While many of the events noted above featured our wonderful students, there are also many presentations by faculty, both our own and visitors. Here is a sample of some of the talks that have taken place this semester:

• “Detecting Cosmic Photons with Cryogenic Sensors”
• “To Stand Behind the Lectern, Alongside, or Without it–Is the Lecture on the Way Out?”
• “21st Century Nursing Ethics: Preserving Integrity and Building Moral Resilience”
• “Humanity in Crisis: The Rights of People Displaced by War.”
• “Artificial Intelligence Turbocharges Analytics”
• “How Dante Can Save Your Life.”

Admittedly, I did not attend any of these lectures, but I am sure that there were likely several informative and entertaining presentations among the dozens that are made over the course of a semester that I would have enjoyed.

I am blessed to work at a great University, and while there’s nothing I can do to make up for the past 30 years of ignoring many of the opportunities that a college campus offers, I plan to actively seek out such events starting with the next semester.

Who know, one or two of them could provide the raw material for a blog post…