Page 2 - Fall 2017 Magazine

letter from the President
in Christo omnia nova
develoPing lifelong learners
Here at Providence, we talk a lot about lifelong learning. It’s in our founding documents and our learning outcomes. We teach it in our classrooms; we model and practice it outside the classroom walls, and we work on skills to carry the habit into the rest of our lives. Most importantly, we attempt to inspire students to a lifelong pursuit of learning, hoping they will nd learning contagious; a way of honoring the creator who makes us curious beings, and hoping they see that learning is imperative to their own success and human ourishing.
I recently came across a Harvard
Business Review article that backs up
our commitment to lifelong learning.
In the article, the author contends that lifelong learning is good for your health, your wallet, and your social life. John Coleman makes the case that lifelong learners, who are highly motivated and self directed people with the daily habit
of pursuing knowledge and growth,
tend to be healthier in body and mind, more successful professionally, and personally more interesting and socially capable people. Being curious, learning daily, and pursuing new knowledge and understanding is just good for us, he says. But then Coleman writes something that I did not expect to see in a business journal. “Our capacity for learning,” he writes, “is a cornerstone of human ourishing and
motivation. We are uniquely endowed with the capacity for learning, creation and intellectual advancement.”
As Christians at a liberal arts college, we could not agree more. We believe God
has endowed us with the ability and desire to learn, seeking understanding and wisdom—about Him, ourselves, and the world around us—in order to “glorify Him and enjoy him forever.” In order to understand how to do this daily, how to understand our callings and best pursue them, it is imperative we are lifelong, curious, motivated, joy- lled learners. We intuitively know that, when we become lifelong learners, we somehow become more of how God has made us to be. We experience more of Him, more satisfaction and more ourishing. We become who
we are supposed to be—learners, creators, leaders and worshippers.
As you are going to see in the pages ahead, Providence students are on the journey to being lifelong learners. I hope their stories motivate and inspire you. I hope their stories dramatically show you how unique our learning community is, and I hope you see how important places like Providence are.
Blessings,
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providencecc.edu
Dr. Jim Belcher, President