Helena Gardener: Welcome to Here’s the Story. I’m your host, Helena Gardner, and I serve as the director of residence education and housing services at Michigan State University. I live my life as a mom, a sister, a friend, a mentor, and a leader. I am excited to be a part of this journey with Here’s the Story, which is in the Student Affairs NOW family.

If you have a story or you wanna see more stories, please find us at studentaffairsnow.com/heresastory. You can find us on YouTube and anywhere that you listen to podcasts. I’m gonna share a little bit with you about our sponsor today, Evolve. Evolve is a series of leadership coaching journeys designed to bring clarity, capacity, and confidence, empowering courageous leadership to reimagine the future of higher education.

I’m excited to be here with my friend today, who is all the way on the edge of the country, coming to share the good word with us on Here’s the Story. As Here’s the Story serves as an opportunity for folks doing the work, walking the walk, talking the talk, to share and humanize this experience, what happened.

So I’m gonna turn it over to my friend Dennis. Dennis, tell us about yourself, and then we’ll get started here.

Dennis Passeralla-George: Helena, thanks so much for having me. It’s great to see you. So I’m Dennis Passarella George, and I use he/him pronouns. I work at the University of Maryland in College Park, and I serve as the director of resident life here on our campus.

Here at Maryland we house about 12,000 students mostly undergraduates on our campus. And we’re located just a few miles outside of Washington, DC. I’m also a Maryland alum and a dad and have been a diehard Maryland fan for a long time. And I’m really glad to be here with you to be able to share a little bit about my journey and and how here at Maryland we try to lead with with care and with purpose.

Helena Gardener: Excellent. Thank you. I am happy to have you. I remember our paths crossing way, way back in the early 2000s. And then to meet you again just a few years ago, it’s been exciting to just see how the ships come together in the night. They say we pass in the night, but then we meet again, and I think that’s the wonderful thing about working in higher education is that you never lose a friend.

You just find them in a different way. So today I am so sure you have a story to tell, and we wanna listen to it. We wanna learn from it. So I’m gonna turn it over to you, friend.

Dennis Passeralla-George: Thank you. Yeah, so I think maybe my story is all about curiosity and fallibility and maybe in some ways letting go. Interest- maybe this is interesting.

I’m not quite sure. I don’t like talking about myself. This is not a thing. My work has never tried to be about me. I, I’ve always seen myself as, I think a person who wants to be a good colleague, who wants to provide support, who wants to collaborate, who wants to make things better. I never saw myself as being a director of housing.

That was and honestly my path has been more iterative over time. But what I’ve found, I think, for myself is that, I like being inquisitive and I like learning, and I like learning how to be better, and I hope that’s what I bring to my leadership. When I when I came to the University of Maryland, so here’s the short version of my story. I grew up in Massachusetts. The first person to go away to college in my family.

I moved from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, and to my family it was like moving across the world. No one ever had-had gone away overnight, never mind be several states away. And and I, so I took a little bit of a risk and had no idea what I wanted to do. I ended up majoring in Spanish literature and in economics were my undergraduate degrees.

And I thought in my mind, “No problem. Here’s what I’m gonna do, and I’m gonna go back to Boston and I’m gonna do business-y stuff.” I had no idea what that meant, but that was my thought. And then like many of our friends and colleagues, I I found my way into campus life in lots of different ways.

And I did that out of necessity, right? I had to work or I wasn’t staying in school. So I was very fortunate to to Not only receive enough financial aid to keep me in college, but I also was fortunate to find jobs, and I had a lot of them. And when I first went to college, I was nervous that I would end up in the dish room.

And my worst chore at home was washing dishes, and I was like, “I don’t know if I can do this for four years.” And so I m- I was very creative in my first resume, and I was lucky enough to find my way working in the mail room at admissions. And a part of my story is that job saved me, like 100%.

Working in the mail room next to this amazing woman who had been at this place for years and years. She was the secretary for the office staff. And and now, a- almost 40 years later, we are still in touch. She was the person. She was the person that kept me because I don’t think I would’ve made it through my first semester.

Maybe my story is all about connection.

And she found me, right? She took me in. And throughout my career, I found people who were willing to do that for me. And so I try in my own way, I think to carry that with me and be that for other people. So she would do everything.

Check and make sure I was eating, make sure I was calling home to my mom, make sure I was going to class. And so every afternoon, I had a place, right? And f- that place was… I moved boxes. I labeled things. I I did mailings. I did whatever I had to do to get that paycheck, but it also meant I had some grounding.

I had a spot to go every day. And then eventually I needed another job, and so I stayed and worked in admissions my entire time as an undergrad. I became an RA, but I didn’t become an RA necessarily for the reasons why I now work in housing, right? I became an RA because I needed another job, and I liked the other RAs, right?

So I wanted to find friends. It was for good or bad, it wasn’t about the residents at the time. I didn’t have a great RA my first year, so it wasn’t about that. But I found my way into making a difference and really loving working within within housing. So I thought I’ll take a, a little bit more time and that’s how I found my way to the University of Maryland, all by chance.

I had a supervisor who said to me, “Why don’t you take a look?” And I said, “Oh, I don’t really know that I wanna go to the South. I think I’ve gotta go home,” right? The, my, my worldview, like the University of Maryland and College Park being in the South.

Helena Gardener: Yeah.

Dennis Passeralla-George: And so I came here for a visit actually trying to meet some faculty members from other schools who happened to be here for a conference.

And I had a A wonderful interaction with one of the faculty members here who was just so warm and so kind, and that, so it opened my mind to maybe I could spend- … a couple years at the University of Maryland. And now fast-forward, that was 33 years ago that I thought I was gonna have- Wow … a two-year stint here- Wow

at the university. And because of people and connection and community, I have found myself serving the University of Maryland and serving the College Park community for a long time. And so every day I try to approach my work with curiosity and care and and understanding. And I really enjoy that journey.

Helena Gardener: That is awesome. That is awesome. And I’m… it resonates with me first gen myself and thinking about how you said, ’cause I first wrote down that you had to work, and that’s what kinda got me yes, we had to work, and we find ourselves in these roles connecting with folks. But what really captured me, and I think it’s still relevant today, is that you said you had a place and it gave you grounding.

And I think of that from the angle of, Creating sense of belonging for all students, helping them understand and reflect and be able to find themselves. But also, I think we’re in a place now across all of our campuses where belonging is one part of it place and matter starts to really root that.

Yeah. And so hearing you say you had a place 33 years there, so we’re gonna say 34. Let’s just be gentle. 34 years ago, hearing you say having place was important. When you think about our students today, what do you see as that connection for you finding place, albeit you were responsible to some folks, right?

You got up every day, these people kinda counted on you, you counted on them made it work for you. How do you see that playing into today’s college student experience?

Dennis Passeralla-George: Yeah. I think about this for our students and our staff, right? Let me first say this explicitly, right? I was very fortunate through all of that. I did have to work. I had to work my entire college career. In fact, I almost didn’t make my way to college because I was working in and after high school and needed that paycheck, right?

And so it was a real dilemma. Would I go to school? I, I got enticed by this job that I had pre-college, and they offered to send me all around the country and be part of this training program and I, and work in retail for forever. And they offered me a paycheck. I had never seen that much money in my life.

And so I was like, “Oh, I should do it.” And I was fortunate enough to have some people say “Oh, hell no,” right? “Go and get your degree.” And what I’ve taken fr- so I suppose what I wanna say before I talk about belonging is, it, through all of that, and through maybe some challenges I had to face, I also know I’m fortunate to carry lots of privileged identities with me, right?

So my experience looks a lot different than many of my colleagues and many of our students, especially here at the University of Maryland. So I try to carry multiple truths with me. At the time, what are the lessons learned that I had? What was my experience about? Layer onto that, what was it all about to try to figure out how to come out in all of that and navigate that environment- professionally and personally with friends. And so I really appreciate your reflection on this with me because I think belonging has also been a core part of my theme all along. And place making, engagement, connection in some way- … I think has been I know it’s certainly what saved me, what kept me in college, what’s found my drive.

I, I did pretty well academically, right? But that wasn’t enough. And I can remember mil- midway through my first semester totally being ready to drop out. Not just transfer, I was done. And so if it hadn’t been- … for sense of belonging in very broad ways, for me what that means is finding community, right?

Finding a place where I felt like I could connect, and finding people that cared about me, right? That’s what what sparked something in me, and that’s what not only kept me in school, but kept me healthy, kept me well, kept me connected. And and what I’ve observed over time and what really now, so right 30-plus years later here, I think a cornerstone of what we do at the University of Maryland is is all about engagement and connection and belonging in very- personal ways, right? Helping, and I I think this is hard work, but I th- I think it’s helping students know that they have a place where they can be. They can be who they are. They can be who they are becoming. They can make mistakes. I was talking to a colleague last week and said, our world is messy.”

And they asked me what do you do, and how do you hold students accountable, and how do you take care to avoid harm?” And I said, sometimes you can’t avoid all of those things because- Growing up emerging, developing- … is messy work, and we can still do that- … with a lot of care.

And we can do it with intention, and we can do it understanding that belonging also means that you’ve got a responsibility to more than yourself. And you know- Yeah … partially I think that’s what living on campus teaches people, right? You’ve gotta have-

Helena Gardener: Yeah …

Dennis Passeralla-George: the ability to be looking out for yourself, and knowing that when you make the choice, you’ve also gotta be looking around for others, and knowing that you’ve got an obligation to community.

And to me, that all stems back to connection and engagement and finding your place and connecting with others.

Helena Gardener: Yeah. So it’s interesting you say that the responsibility back, to, to belonging and making that connection. So let me run three in my mind working on the strategic priority that is, Built around for the division, it’s fortunate opportunity that I have to really think about how the residential experience contributes to the whole of the university.

So in, in this day and age what’s the value add in really thinking through this from, is it competencies that we center knowing that some of the work we do is that lifelong learning. And sitting here with you 30-plus years later reflecting upon it, I’m curious, as you do this work like almost this is kinda can I get this wisdom for free, what would you say, based on your experience working outside of housing as a college student in admissions, not the same kinda work, but the same spirit of the work if we look at higher ed student affairs, knowing that having that on-campus job allowed you to commit, get gained affinity for the place, all those things that we do this work for.

When you think and reflect upon that, what do you think we’re doing in housing today that would have benefited you back then and/or did benefit you back then that you wanna call forward and uplift?

Dennis Passeralla-George: Oh, yeah. Whew ‘

Helena Gardener: Cause we do a lot. We do a lot, and sometimes I think it’s hard to describe, and it’s hard, I think I’m often around here saying, “I may not see when a student comes to it.” We just may not see it. Yeah. And in a time that we’re in where this evidence-based work is so important, it’s so important to all of our wellbeing, but also to tell the narrative.

Dennis Passeralla-George: Yeah.

Helena Gardener: It’s really-

Dennis Passeralla-George: This is another place where I think multiple truths have to be true at the same time, right?

Yeah … purpose-based work a, a work that is measurable that we can show the value add is certainly im- important in our profession, right? We’ve gotta balance that with the cost of higher education and the, kind of the, the, the continued financial difficulties that we face institutionally and at, that our students face when they’re trying to make the decision.

So there is a reality to all of that, right? Evidence-based work that shows a value add, and, and- Yeah … we do a lot of that at the University of Maryland. We know that there are outcomes that are positively impacted by living on campus, and I think that’s wonderful. So don’t get me wrong. I, I mean- Yeah

I, in a lot of my work we are data informed and research based in the efforts we put together. Structure’s important. … So that, I share that as a caveat because I think, in my personal experience, what I think is the most powerful thing that happens in residential environments is the structured serendipity, right?

And I don’t say that to downplay all of the evidence-based work. You have to have that as a foundation, but where if, just if we’re just talking here with everyone under the sun who’s watching this, right? I think where’s the real- … power of residential communities?

It’s having people that help structure serendipitous environments for students to be able to engage at their most personal. So- … and that I don’t think has changed o- over th- that, that- Yeah … creating those environments hasn’t changed over my almost 40 years of being in housing. What I think has changed is how we go about doing that work, and honestly- What I think has changed related to that is the pressure that it puts on the staff who choose to work in housing.

What I wish had happened for me, 30-plus years ago when I was an undergrad, I wish people would have talked more about belonging and engagement and connection. And for me, it just, it wasn’t explicit, right? We talked about other things. We talked about student activities. We talked about finding your your way, getting involved.

But I went, like I said, to a small liberal arts school undergrad, and so we had lots of these things. I think the, where we have headed and how we’ve improved and be able to name belonging and what that looks like, how we in our profession can create explicit spaces where students can know they can feel safe and they can belong, I think that’s really important.

And I think we’ve gotta guard against backslides away from being able to name that work and provide support for students of multiple identities as they’re coming into residences. Yeah. And at the same time, I think, what’s the most powerful part of of the residential experience? It is knowing that you can engage with people around you at your most vulnerable.

N- no matter the style of housing, right? You can walk down the hallway to a bathroom, and there’s not much more vulnerable than being with your shower caddy- … and and your shampoo, right? I mean-

Helena Gardener: Yes …

Dennis Passeralla-George: th- there’s the, there’s only so much that’s, so much you can hide when you’re that vulnerable.

Now, that comes along with a lot of messiness. How do we engage with others? How do we find that balance of myself and what I wanna say and what I’m not sure what I wanna say, and and how do I learn from some of that? In our world here, we’re spending a lot of time now making sure that we understand how our restorative philosophy guides us, how it guides our staff work- Yeah

how it guides how we- Yeah … engage in, in, in residence halls and with our students so that we teach and we connect and we remind people of our interconnectedness, of- Yeah … of our humanity that, that grounds all of the rest of our learning and engagement.

Helena Gardener: Yeah. Yeah.

Dennis Passeralla-George: And and I don’t want to, I think all of that work- Yeah … comes at the cost and a lo- oftentimes the emotional labor of our staff because I think the other piece that- Yeah … I think has always been there but is named more often now and is more difficult than ever is, how do you create a community of care and support?

And I th- I- And so just as important in my mind as the work we do in caring for and supporting and engaging and and teaching students and learning with students is the is what we do to help our staff sustain their own wellbeing, their own balance as as best you can. Because I think the, the pressure of creating those environments and trying to create belonging and interceding when harm is done is also tremendous.

And so I think there’s- Yeah … we’ve come a long way. I think that the- Yeah … the residential experience is probably more powerful than ever. And I think that- … it requires- It requires that … a lot of care, right? A lot of care, a lot of tending, a lot of support.

Helena Gardener: I love that. And it actually, on this particular day for folks watching, if you’re top of the day on a Monday, it- it’s in August, right?

In, in our season. As we prepare for another year it actually, It’s refreshing and it’s exciting, so thank you for just even reminding me. This is the work that we do. And the pressure that you didn’t speak to of but you did of this pull. I wanted to say pressure, but I don’t know that it’s pressure, but pull to do it right.

That it has to be done correctly, and that I think sometimes weighs on our staff and each other when our earnest efforts we move into it always with good intentions, but the pressure more than ever that it has to be the right way, or it has to be between these lines, or it has to meet this particular outcome, I think sometimes can feel heavy.

Because we are talking about humans, and we are talking about their belonging. We are talking about, what’s gonna be the best thing to help them move forward. ‘Cause what we never wanna be is a thing that brings a person backwards, but not having the opportunity to know. But so it makes me think about the fantastic and continuous leader that serves in your life from the mail room.

And wondering what are some-

gosh, in my mind they’re easy bullet points, but I imagine that they’re not. What are some foundational things that you learned from that higher ed professional 30-plus years ago that I don’t know that person, so I don’t wanna say wasn’t grounded in. But when you reflect upon that you could see happening earnestly, maybe outside of the theory or outside of today’s pressures, that you gained, that you still utilize today as a foundation?

Dennis Passeralla-George: Yeah. I love that question. And, I see I see a lot of the values and approach in her. And as I- … think about this myself maybe this is how I’ve gravitated towards good people over time, because I see what she- … gave to me repeated in in mentors, in supervisors, in colleagues, in friends that have probably been maybe the only constant of the choices I’ve made in my career, right?

So I’ve made my way here for 32 years thinking that I’d be here for a few. And then finding- … opportunities thankfully for me, have emerged. But the opportunity was never, for good or bad, was never my drive. It was- … where can I make a difference? Where can I do something that will engage me, where I can be helpful, where I can learn something different, has always been the driver in me.

But what- Yeah … you’re helping me to reflect on is I’ve also found that I’ve I’ve been very fortunate to surround myself by really good people. So those things that you know, so the, my first supervisor was a secretary in the mail room, right? And she did not have a college degree. In fact, she worked at the college- ’cause she needed a job, and she had grown up in- Yeah … yeah … in south central Pennsylvania and needed a job. So what did she do? And how I think your question was what does she do and what do I carry with me? So there are a few lessons learned from all of that I think I continue to carry.

I try to teach, I try to model and when I mess up, I try to do better the next day. One of those is to be authentic, right? Be be genuine. You know- Yeah … when I think of this woman, from day one she was herself, and she was warm, and she was caring, and she didn’t try to be something she wasn’t, and that was enough, right?

She didn’t try to be perfect. That was it. Yeah … so being genuine and authentic is something that that I admire her and watch. Being thoughtful and engaging without being overly intrusive, right? So- … it wasn’t just with me. Everyone in the mail room, you would get quizzed by her, right?

And it was just, it was a little bit intrusive. A little bit, right? But it wasn’t awkward. It was engaging community, getting to know. Yeah. Even for I was an introvert, she was an introvert, but just enough to try to build community through connection. Yeah. So taking a little bit of risk and being inquisitive.

Being willing to make mistakes, right? And so I can remember, this this is really dating me, right? But we did things on typewriters, and we did data entry- Yeah … where we would type labels, right? This is how- Yeah … my first job was to do postcards to send to people who had gone to a college fair, and we wanted to get them to learn more.

And so I spent my days labeling thousands of postcards and then taking them to the post office and then stuffing envelopes with view bucks, right? The, … pre-e- pre-email. Yes. So viewers don’t come at me for this. This was just how it was. But what I can remember from that is okay, this is really this is gonna be a vulnerable moment, right?

I didn’t… I had taken typing in school, so I knew how to type a label. Yeah. It took me forever to realize that, that people in Pennsylvania abbreviated Philadelphia P-H-I-L-A. And so I can remember one born… Lee Ann turning to me, “I don’t know what city this is. Is this gonna make it?” And she was like, “Oh, Dennis, that’s just Philadelphia, honey,” right?

I mean- … so it’s tiny, right? But what I learned from that was what she was teaching me was it’s, oh, it was okay to be vulnerable. It was okay to make mistakes. We’d type things up, and then the next day we’d have to edit all of them, and then we would see all the things we messed up, right?

And, and- Yeah … it was part of the process. But what I learned from some of that is for her and for me, it wasn’t about, back to your original question, it wasn’t about being perfect. It was about being purposeful, being thoughtful- … and leaning on each other, right? There was… And we had process for that, right?

But what she was teaching me- Yeah … through some of that is also okay, everyone’s gonna make mistakes. Let’s try to learn from them. And h- and one of the things that I carry through in my world now is- In this work that we do, I never want anyone, no matter what your job is no matter what role you have w- within resident life or the colleagues I know within student affairs or beyond, I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re stuck in the work alone.

And- Yeah … for some people that c- can feel that way. For others, there’s so much sense of pride that sometimes that can also make you feel alone. “This is mine and I’m gonna do it, and I’m not gonna let my guard down.” Or, “I got a lot of work to do, so I’m just gonna get it done and I’m gonna do it myself because I gotta get onto the next thing.”

And so one of the things that, that she taught me all those years ago was, just, she would have never said it this way, but taking a pause, looking for help.

Helena Gardener: Yeah.

Dennis Passeralla-George: Being humble also, right? And knowing your work doesn’t need to be perfect. And guess what? It probably isn’t, and it’s okay to ask for help.

Because asking for help may take a little bit longer, but it will make your work better. And oh, by the way, guess what? It will also remind you that you don’t have to be in this alone, right? So that, part of that I learned in the mail room, but part of that is what I observe happening in our work every day.

When the stakes are much higher- … than making a mistake on a label or getting a return piece of mail because I made a mistake, right? Figuring out how to engage with students who are in crisis or who are at their- Yeah … most vulnerable, and our staff who need to help them, that can be, feel really intense.

And I want our team here to always remember you’re never in this alone, right? There’s never one solution to a problem. There will always be someone to have your back, and I want our students to know that as well. So I think that’s one of the other pieces that I carry from from from my early days and what I was taught and how I was nurtured.

Helena Gardener: I love that. And I I think I’m always so blessed when I do these recordings because no matter what is going on inside of me for the day, there’s always a nugget that helps recenter me. And here it really is thinking about, like sincerely thank you for the imagery, ’cause I worked in the housing office as an undergrad, and I too stuffed envelopes and had to type on the labels.

And it was actually really difficult typing on those labels. And reflection, to get it centered and then to have to correct it, and how many times we did it on a typewriter, right? To, to best represent. And also knowing that sometimes I didn’t, it wasn’t centered on the label, but the address was still on the label and I probably should have started a line higher.

But I still was able to put that little sticky. But what I went through in my mind is how often- I think both at our levels in this work, and in these times in this work, the pressure to move forward with perfection takes up space when the reality is the best we can do is our intentions.

There’s always a process. There’s always some paperwork. There’s always a follow-up email. But kinda really to your point, we can prescribe it, we can write a protocol, we can have a manual, but the most perfect way to do it is what is needed when we’re present. And that’s kinda it. I’m just thinking about what a awesome lesson you’ve learned to not have to be perfect.

Dennis Passeralla-George: Yeah.

Helena Gardener: But to still be responsible to it. And that in, in a way that maybe only in my mind is I needed that today.

Because yeah, we can still do it, and it may not be In this perfectly polished, imaged way in our minds, but we can still be of service. We can still be of support. And fortunately, I think this work lets us try again next year, tomorrow, in the next incident.

We always have an opportunity to maybe do it differently or to learn.

Dennis Passeralla-George: I really appreciate- So with all

Helena Gardener: that… Oh, go ahead. Yeah

Dennis Passeralla-George: I just appreciate your balance of that too because it’s the lesson for me is, is- … also do your work with purpose, right? Yeah. Find the passion in your work.

And, the passion in my work now- … as director of resident life is really different than the… I didn’t have a passion- Yes … for working the mailroom at the beginning. But I’ll tell you, before- … when I moved from the mail- Yeah … room to I, I worked in a little house as, in- and I was, I started in the basement, in the mailroom, and I did that for a couple years, and then I moved to the the upper floor, to the attic, and I worked on admissions overnight stay program right? And so I got to engage with students and their families and help them have an overnight experience.

So I learned different things over time. Yeah. But what I w- while I never pursued admissions and enrollment management as my career passion, right? Housing has always been my passion. I developed not only the understanding of that world- Yes … but I developed my own- Yes

passion to work with purpose. And so- Yes … i’ll use the label analogy again, right? Okay. I knew I’d make mistakes, and we would check them, and they would never- Yeah … be perfect. And, typing them, maybe the lines wouldn’t be exactly right. And there was something about that also made every postcard be a little bit more personal, right?

Yeah. But I also wouldn’t take the label and just shove it on the postcard at a diagonal- Yes … and hope that… right? Yes. I wouldn’t be sloppy in my work- yes … because I had passion and purpose, different than, you know- Yes … I think I, I told you at the beginning, I worked in retail when I first started, and I never really developed a huge passion for retail.

It was a paycheck. I had a job to do. I clocked in. I clocked out. My first job in retail was a shopping cart pusher back before the day where they had motors- … to help you push the shopping carts. I would spend hours- … doing that. I did not push shopping carts with passion, right?

I tried to get them into the store and get out as fast as I could, right? Yeah. That was sloppy work, right? It was sloppy work. Yeah.

Helena Gardener: I didn’t do

Dennis Passeralla-George: it with purpose. I didn’t do it with passion. I wasn’t worried about being perfect. I was worried about getting out. What I learned and what has become for me the privilege of getting to work in student affairs and in higher education is we have the ability to work with purpose.

We have the ability to find our passion, whether it’s working in the mailroom and helping contribute in those ways or it’s serving as director and helping to put systems in place to help people do the work as best they can- On any given day when the work is hard work to do. And certainly- Yeah

with our focus being on helping students to grow and learn- Yeah … and engage graduate, all of those kind of things. So I really a- appreciate all of that because I think too much we are focused on what are the outcomes, what’s the perfection, how do I get this right? And and we can’t default to the other end also, being like, “I’m just gonna make my way-” Yeah

“through ’cause I got too much to do.” Yeah. I think that the beauty in all that, at least from my perspective, is the purpose that we can bring to our work. And so I’ll give you one other quick story- … if that’s okay. When I, when, Yeah … when new employees start here at the University of Maryland, when I became director it was im- I decided that I’d meet with every person during their onboarding at some point- just to get to know a little bit more about them and to help remind them that we within residence life, have one mission. We work with purpose. And symbolism’s also important to me. I don’t have one here to show you, but so one of the things I do when I meet with every person is I remind them of our mission, right?

Our, our, you know- Yeah … little M and big M mission. And I- Yeah … for many of our newest staff, I also give them their first turtle, right? Our, our mascot is Testudo the … terrapin, diamondback terrapin. And I say that this is not just to add to your turtle collection. You might be able to see I have a turtle collection here behind me.

Helena Gardener: I see it now.

Dennis Passeralla-George: Yeah. Yeah, so the- And- … the light up turtle is there, and then over there are the turtles I’ve collected over the year. But for me, it’s more about a reminder of purpose, and so I ask them to take their turtle with them and to put it somewhere in their office so on their best days they can see it, on their worst days they can be reminded, regardless of your title that we’re gonna be in this work together, and we do our- work with purpose. And when you’re not sure, there’ll always be someone there to be able to give you a gui- advice, to be able to help you, to be able to guide you, or to take some of the load from you when it’s just too much. Now, do I think that really everyone who looks at the turtle remembers all the students every time they look?

Probably not. But what I hope is we carry a sentiment, or a sentiment that- Yeah … perfection is not the goal. Helping, caring, supporting, right? Being the best we can on days when our best may not be 100%, and knowing- Yeah … that we’re not in it alone, all is, I think, what I think that’s how we end up sustaining ourselves in if you’re gonna choose to work in residence life.

You gotta carry some of that and have trusted colleagues who will remind you of that when sometimes it can be- Yeah … really hard to remember.

Helena Gardener: Yeah. Thank you for that. And I want you to know that on this particular day, you’re a reminder for me, so thank you. I truly don’t believe in coincidences as a human, and so hearing you say that today actually is re-grounding.

Got a couple things I can make a go for. Again, I’m being so honest with you because, It doesn’t have to be perfect, right? It just, it has to be on purpose. And in doing so, I think the glory of this work, and again, why I love this podcast, is that we get to this is my August romanticizing working in higher ed.

We get to do that every year for thousands of people on our different campuses. We get an opportunity to try again to start, folks on a journey just like we were on ours with purpose, with care, And sometimes we can measure it and sometimes we cannot. Either way, we get an opportunity to do it on purpose.

So thank you for sharing your story with us today. I was reflecting this morning on the concept of being a practitioner ver- versus being a scholar. And what I love is that Here’s the Story gives us an opportunity to really pull these pieces out of scholar practitioners, capital P, small S scholars.

But we get the opportunity to center our work and our learnings in the same way that when we move towards, and there’s nothing wrong with it being more evidence-based, theory-based. In the same way that we center the researched work that gets a lot of space, we get an opportunity to also center this well-studied journey that each of one of us has gone.

And so thank you. With that, I’m gonna bring us to a little bit of a close and give a, a- another shout-out to Evolve. Higher education is facing unprecedented challenges. Higher education needs courageous leadership now more than ever, and poor leadership has never been more costly. A new generation of leaders with the capacity to lead forward is not optional, it’s urgent.

These challenges are also full of possibilities for courageous leaders who are able to let go and move forward, accepting the challenges we face as real and embracing their agency to lead with and through them. Evolve he- Sorry about that. Evolve helps leaders face these realities with clarity, capacity, and confidence.

Evolve offers leadership coaching journeys for leadership teams and individual leaders focused on executive leaders, emerging executives, emerging leaders, and those leading for equity. Today we’ve been joined by my good friend Dennis, all the way over where I feel like it’s probably sweltering hot, where the humidity is extreme, but the food is delicious in Balt- you’re not in Baltimore, you’re in College Park, but the food over there, I have not eaten food as well as I have since my last visit to Maryland, and regularly am disappointed by food. So I am glad to see you as a reminder of things that taste really good on this particular day. And again, this has been Here’s the Story, where we bring folks together to laugh, sometimes to cry, and to commiserate on this journey in higher education.

Our leadership now is needed more than ever. Our challenges are heavier than they’ve ever been before, but our stories keep us going. So if you have a story, and I know you do, or maybe you just need to take some time to listen to another person’s story, please check in on us over at Student Affairs NOW forward slash hear the story.

You can find my story. You will soon find our good friend Dennis’s story and many others there. And if you are interested in leaving one, you can search the whole world for me. If you know the other co-hosts, you can reach out as well. But there’s also a nice link on that page that allows you to leave a pitch and we will follow up and reach out to you because every story is needed, every reflection is valued, and each one helps us one more day, I’m gonna be a little bit, I was gonna say attack this work, but let’s not attack it.

Each story gives us the opportunity to try again, to serve again, to move with purpose, to move with curiosity, and to know that we don’t have to be perfect when we do it, and the journey’s never ending. One more shout-out to Nat Ambrosey, who does all our fantastic editing. Nat does a fine job of making us look and sound our best, so thank you, Nat, for all you do.

And again, this has been Heres the Story. Dennis, I thank you for your time today. Thank you. And w- yes, and we will catch you on the next episode. Bye, everyone.