We didn鈥檛 see Darrin Good coming.
If you鈥檇 have asked folks on campus to guess where Nebraska Wesleyan University鈥檚 next president might come from, Los Angeles, Calif., wouldn鈥檛 have topped many lists.
Nor would we have guessed, when he and his wife, Diana Good, landed in Lincoln, that the California couple stepping off that plane would fit so well on Nebraska soil.
鈥淥ur time in LA was wonderful,鈥 Darrin said. 鈥淭he weather was like a summer vacation that lasted four years. But that wasn鈥檛 us. We missed having seasons.鈥
They first visited SM论坛 while campus was in the grip of Lincoln鈥檚 snowiest winter in decades. 鈥淚 think we annoyed some people by how much we enjoyed the snow,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou were probably all sick of it by then. But to us, that snow felt like coming home.鈥
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The Goods鈥 attitude throughout that snowy campus introduction was far more 鈥渇irst-year student鈥 than it was 鈥渇irst couple.鈥
鈥淵es! That鈥檚 exactly right. Our eyes were that wide open鈥攐ur excitement that high,鈥 Diana said. She described a campus reception in Great Hall. 鈥淲e were just bewildered at the welcome. We got to walk over to the Admissions Office and ring the same bell they ring for every new student. We felt so much a part of it, I just didn鈥檛 want that visit to stop.鈥
But the Goods needed to fly back to sunny Los Angeles, where Diana taught Spanish to 185 students at Claremont High School, and Darrin served as vice president of academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Whittier College. Whittier is one of the country鈥檚 most racially diverse independent national liberal arts colleges, founded the same year as SM论坛: 1887.
Before their time at Whittier, the Goods had crisscrossed the Midwest. Darrin had served as associate provost and dean of science and education at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. Prior to that, he taught biology at his alma mater, Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. That鈥檚 where, as an undergraduate, he met and married Diana, like him, a 鈥渟mall-town kid from Illinois.鈥 And like a lot of Midwestern kids, Darrin said, the two of them were both raised to revere a good education, and 鈥渢o never forget you represent more than just yourself.鈥
The son of a middle school science teacher, it made sense for Darrin to study biology at Augustana. He began college thinking he was bound for medical school. Then it was physical therapy. Then veterinary science, then dentistry.
鈥淚 wanted to prove myself and make money,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 wanted to go back to my hometown and show everybody I鈥檇 made it.鈥
Darrin鈥檚 junior year, his father died, and something changed in his outlook. 鈥淚 looked back on Dad鈥檚 life and thought a lot about what had made him a success to me. I remembered when he returned to teaching and the happiness that gave him.鈥
By then, Darrin had already been accepted to dental school. 鈥淎nd I slowly realized I was doing it for the wrong reasons.鈥 He shifted gears and fell in love with teaching.
Fast forward a few years, and Darrin was no longer anxiously studying biology at Augustana. He was happily teaching it there.
鈥淚鈥檓 a big believer in constant vocational reflection,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e happy in your work, you serve the world in better ways.鈥
Diana鈥檚 career as a Spanish teacher echoes that philosophy of service. 鈥淚鈥檝e had the joy of helping young people get excited about learning a new language and exploring new cultures and new people,鈥 she said. As their careers moved from Illinois to Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota and California, Diana has taught at every stop鈥攐ften going through the extensive work of recertification in a new state.
鈥淚t鈥檚 worth it to be with young people.鈥 Not everyone understands the joy to be found surrounded by dozens of 14- and 15-year-olds, she said. 鈥淏ut these people are fountains of creativity. They give me so much.鈥
Nebraska is likely to be the first place where Diana doesn鈥檛 teach鈥攁 reality that leaves her with complex feelings. 鈥淚鈥檓 just not sure I could give my commitment to a school district here and serve the right way in this role with Darrin,鈥 she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important for us to travel for the university, to be at events, to be in service. And I don鈥檛 think I could do that well and be present in a way that my students would deserve,鈥 she said.
鈥淪o, you could say I鈥檓 about to learn a new language, myself, right?鈥
She smiled a smile big enough to hold just a little sadness. 鈥淲hen you care about what you do, it鈥檚 always emotional.鈥
***
Darrin felt his own mix of emotions as he explored Nebraska Wesleyan for the first time on that snowy February day. Asked for his impressions of campus, the easy talker paused. He said it would be easy to slip into clich茅s about the warm welcome they received. But a clich茅 wouldn鈥檛 do.
Instead, Darrin told a story. He said coming to Nebraska Wesleyan made him think back to his daughter鈥檚 college search. He remembered asking Samantha how one campus visit had gone. Could she see herself doing well there?
鈥淪he told me, 鈥楧ad, no. Not there.鈥欌 Surprised at how adamant she was, he asked her why. 鈥溾橳hey were so pretentious!鈥 She said it was like the whole campus was dressed up fancy just because it was Thursday.鈥
Darrin took his daughter鈥檚 word for it that the school wasn鈥檛 the right fit for her.
After another visit at another school, he asked her the same question. Can you see yourself doing well here? 鈥淵es, Dad,鈥 Samantha said. 鈥淗ere.鈥
Darrin smiled. 鈥淪he was just certain. She saw the sincerity, the openness, the energy she was looking for. And she just knew it. That鈥檚 what Diana and I felt when we came here.鈥
They felt like new students. New students in the right place.
鈥淭here鈥檚 such a depth of community here that we could just immediately feel,鈥 Darrin said. The Goods went to an SM论坛 choir rehearsal and band practice. They cheered alongside Fred and Rosemary Ohles at a pair of SM论坛 basketball games. 鈥淓verywhere we walked, we saw friendly faces鈥攕tudents with their eyes up.鈥
The 鈥渦pness鈥 of those eyes impressed the Goods. Here were students whose attention wasn鈥檛 fixed (at least, not solely) on their phones. Nor were they locked on their own feet as they shuffled in isolation between buildings. These students were alive and engaged鈥攚ith each other and with new ideas. The Goods connected with their energy鈥攁nd even with their anxieties.
College students are bombarded with the new. And some will be overwhelmed. Darrin expressed concern for the rising rates of American college students experiencing anxiety disorders. Students can fall into patterns, he said, where they lose sleep over how little sleep they get, or feel stressed about their stress.
鈥淚nside that cycle, it becomes harder for some young people to make decisions,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ecause they鈥檙e scared it might be a mistake. It can reach the point where they won鈥檛 give themselves enough room or enough credit to make small choices.鈥
He applauded the Nebraska Wesleyan students he鈥檚 met for their eagerness to try the new鈥攖o take bold steps, even when they鈥檙e uncertain. 鈥淏ecause that鈥檚 what experimentation is, right?鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou gather your courage. You try something new and you watch what happens. You learn from it and you let it inform that next new thing you try.鈥
In this light, he connected acts of learning and acts of courage. Both require steps into the unknown. Darrin Good is heartened to see so many new SM论坛 students taking those kinds of steps. And Nebraska Wesleyan鈥檚 new president wants to bring that same energy, optimism and courage to his new role.
鈥淟ooking ahead to the medium term, we know that we鈥檙e going to have to try some new things to diversify Nebraska Wesleyan鈥檚 sources of revenue,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e already know that schools like us can鈥檛 rely on tuition from traditional undergraduate programs alone to sustain ourselves.鈥
He pointed with approval at the graduate and adult programs SM论坛 operates now. More will come, he said. And not every new thing will succeed. 鈥淲e have to be OK with some calculated risk,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ecause not making a choice鈥攖hat鈥檚 also a choice.鈥
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Willing as Darrin is to make a few 鈥渇reshman mistakes鈥 in his new role, don鈥檛 expect rashness to be among them. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real danger to somebody coming in guns blazing, acting like they know from the get-go exactly what a school needs.鈥 That approach, he said, can stifle the consensus Darrin is keen to build.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen the foolishness of new administrators coming in and trying to put their stamp of ownership on everything,鈥 he said. The only thing Darrin seems intent on owning in his new role is an attitude of servant leadership.
鈥淭his is not my institution,鈥 he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 its caretaker.鈥
This work of caring for something precious that you do not own has tapped a sense of wonder and gratitude in both Goods. Diana described that wonder, again, through the lens of a new student.
She arrived at Augustana out of high school, and said the experience was like stumbling hungry into a feast. 鈥淚 had no idea the buffet of opportunities waiting there for us. And Darrin and I have been fed by that every day of our lives.鈥
She said, 鈥淪ince the moment he and I met, we鈥檝e never been unattached to an academic institution. Not one day. And we鈥檝e been constantly culturally enriched and blessed and fed by everything a college campus has to offer.鈥
Gratitude for those blessings is what drives them both to be the best possible caretakers for Nebraska Wesleyan University鈥攕o these life-changing feasts can continue for others. 鈥淎ll of these things you encounter at a school as special as Nebraska Wesleyan鈥攖hey lay the foundation for this incredibly rich life in service,鈥 she said.
That鈥檚 the life Darrin and Diana Good are beginning in the Good Life State鈥攖he kind of life where you are, forever, blessedly, a new student.
The Good Inauguration
All are welcome as Nebraska Wesleyan University inaugurates Darrin Good as its 17thpresident during homecoming.
Friday, October 4, 2019
10:30 a.m.
O鈥橠onnell Auditorium