Extra-! Extra-! Read all about it!

I'd like to begin this post with two simple truths. Both of these are things you know if you know me personally or have spoken with me for more than a second and a half:

1. I am a word nerd.
2. I am a band nerd.

It is these facts, and their intersection, that led me here. At one point in the not-so-distant past, I was thinking about athletic bands (read: in my natural state). Much of the experience that led me into the field of student affairs in the first place was being a member of and student leader within the pep band at my undergraduate institution. Thinking of that experience - one that involved both a credit-bearing course and a out-of-classroom leadership opportunity - I struggled to think of a term to describe this sort of experience. I toyed with my knowledge of prefixes and word roots and considered: Pericurricular? Paracurricular? I then realized: The perfect word is already out there, and it's in use: Cocurricular.

In student affairs, we like the word cocurricular. We should - it places us as equal partners at the table that is the higher education enterprise. Co- means with; that is, the curriculum with the cocurriculum comprise the college experience. We are the copilot to academics - both are necessary to land the plane successfully.

In contrast, say the word "extracurricular" in a student affairs crowd. The responses are likely to be similar to those from the word "dorm" (that's another post for another day). But why? We hear extra- (note the hyphen) and we think extra: Optional, unnecessary, might be a nice treat, but certainly not vital. But extracurricular is much less a value judgment and more simply a declarative statement: Extra- means outside of (or beyond, if you want to get on your high horse), and except in the instances where our work has a credit-bearing component, this modifier is accurate. We do indeed exist outside the curriculum. This isn't, and shouldn't be used as, a tool to downgrade what we do.

So which is right? As I've hopefully demonstrated, both are. I'll keep walking the walk and speaking the cocurricular language of our profession, but when it comes right down to it, you won't hurt my feelings one bit if you refer to the extremely important work I do as extracurricular.

One and Only One Ambition

(For supplemental reading, See What Else Is There? from 80 Minutes of Regulation)

Earlier this month, I made the trip up home to Delaware to celebrate the retirement and 36 year career of Paul Parets, director of bands at Alexis I. duPont High School and my former high school band director. At the gathering of several hundred at A.I.'s football stadium, the love from the more than three and a half decades of Tiger Band alumni, parents, friends, and supporters was clearly evident.

I've told Mr. Parets this, but he is a large part of the reason I'm in the field of student affairs. His work with the band was as simple as it was risky, as perfect as it was nonsensical to many: Simply put, he let the students run the band. The leadership each year was the senior class, and that group of students made decisions including repertoire, trips, and more, while truly having the opportunity to serve as leaders to their peers. It was my experience as a leader within that organization, as well as excellent role modeling by Mr. Parets, that started me on the path that would ultimately lead to my career.

At the ceremony, Mr. Parets spoke relatively little; most spoke to, for, and about him. But in his brief remarks, he speaks volumes to the value of education:

(I suggest you listen to, not watch, the video, which was er, masterfully captured by my 14 month old daughter)