I think Creighton’s Jesuit values could really be called life values. Or at least they can apply to anyone. That’s why Creighton’s Jesuit values are more of life values.

I thought of this when I was helping with a student panel for the Admissions Office. When a parent asked me what it’s like to be at Creighton with all of our studies to focus on and things to do, I told her confidently that it was a community that will embrace you, and an experience that will change you. I even think the Admissions Office may use wording like that on some of the pamphlets that go out to prospective students, but I think that the general student body would agree that it is true. Being here makes you a better person — not just because of the things you learn in the classroom, but because of the person you become after attending Creighton for four years.

That parent also asked me if it is a big deal if students are Catholic. I explained that we have a strong Jesuit identity, but that the community embraces all faiths, and that I was being serious and not just giving her a political answer. Additionally, I told her that the values of cura personalis, men and women for and with others and magis are all concepts that can be applied to and can improve every student’s life. These values are ones that are now very close to my heart, and qualities that I attempt to integrate into my life.

Realizing I’m a junior has been scary for me. Being halfway done with college is absolutely terrifying, and it was reinforced today when, while being with prospective students, I was regarded as a college expert-of-sorts. Yikes. To think that just a few short years ago, I was in their shoes is absolutely ridiculous. But maybe it was a good wake-up call. It called me to collect my thoughts and reflect upon my time here at Creighton, to see what the Jesuit education has done for me, and to see how far I’ve come since I stepped onto campus at the start of Welcome Week. I can confidently say that Creighton has come through on what was guaranteed — I still have two more years here, thank goodness.

Creighton students are so busy all the time thinking about various meetings, appointments, study sessions, exams and making time to hang out with friends. But if we stop all of the hustle and bustle for just a second to realize what changes are happening and how we are being transformed into the adults we were always afraid to become, it all gets real — fast.