Catalyzing the Whole Person

In the International AKA Global AKA Hubert Dept of Global Health, I often remember Stan being proud of the exercise he would ask of his 100+ students entering Rollins for the first time. He would ask them to write a brief essay of their past, present, and future (just 2-3 years hence), he would read all of them, and he would remember the 100+ stories and lives each year as he met with the class. He and his students would speak to how these essays, and the conversations with Stan afterwards, would be transformational – that this was the first opportunity they had to reflect on their stories as whole individuals as they began their next career training. In my teaching and mentoring of global health students, I try to follow Stan’s example of helping students connect their past to their present to their future and ensure that they describe the whole of who they are – not just career, but also those around them whom they care about and the lives the enjoy. Stan’s gift was helping people feel heard, not just at that moment, but in their wholeness of being, and then offering that nudge onwards that would help them catalyze their next life step. I am thinking about the thousands of student lives he has touched this way and how all those interlocking memories and gifts continue to move forward in the tapestry of the world. In the 2021 HDGH Graduation Video there is a recent picture of Stan with his students. Thank you for this gift that ever continues Stan….