Winter Convocation 2004

Sandra Shook, secretary, study abroad

About a half hour after saying yes to Alice Laffey when she asked me to speak at this Convocation, I went into total panic wondering what I could possibly say. According to my sons, however, I should not have worried. Apparently, I have been known to have more to say than anyone really wants to hear.

Good afternoon. My name is Sandra Shook and I have the good fortune to work with Maurice Geracht in the Study Abroad Program.

My obligation at Holy Cross is very simple. It is to the students.

Carrying out that obligation though, is not always simple. Yes, I can easily guide the students through the administrative maze of applications and visas, but the greater challenge is to listen to them when they visit the office, or when they call and e-mail from abroad. It demands a lot of attention, time and especially energy to listen, to hear and read the students, so I understand how to minister to their needs.

In our community, I too have been heard and read and ministered to.

Ted Shook and I had been married for almost 31 years when he died a year and a half ago, very suddenly and very unexpectedly. After two to three weeks of living the surreal, surrounded by my family, I was back here at my desk - the last place I wanted to be.

It was exhausting just to keep a professional face and to complete the most basic tasks of the job. I hardly remember any of it.

What I do remember are friends and colleagues coming to "walk with me." Like a soft blanket in winter, their words and affection wrapped me in warmth and caring.

They sat with me when I wanted to be alone.
They talked to me when I wanted to be still.
They forced me into conversation when I wanted to be to be silent.

What I did want at that time was for them to go away and to leave me alone. Yet I will be forever grateful that they did not.

They were with me; maybe they even pushed me, as I struggled through the early grieving. So many months later, they continue "to walk with me," and the truth is I still look to them and depend on them.

In the end, I believe it is each one of us in this community, responding to one another that makes the difference. I know it is the reason I am again carrying out my obligation...to listen, to hear and read, so I can minister to the needs of our students.