Professional development opportunities like conferences and seminars have been few and far between, since we’ve been so understaffed. I’ve turned to reading articles and books to keep me current and involved.

My first Professional Development Big Read was Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy, by Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom. I chose this book because I wanted more information about for-profit institutions. As a pre-nursing advisor, I often get questions from students about applying to nursing programs at West Coast University and Excelsior, so I wanted to arm myself with information about for-profit schools.

I chose my second Professional Development Big Read after a recommendation from an NPR podcast. I’m currently working my way through Educated by Tara Westover. While it is, at times, shocking and saddening and shudder-inducing, Westover’s book is really making me think about how I treat the students who come into my office.

Granted, Westover’s story is one of extremes. The students I encounter probably weren’t reared in an environment where they never received any kind of formal education, but the way she describes the bumbling journey of her first semester of college reminds me of many of the first generation students I meet with. They often don’t understand how to study or read a college textbook or write academically.

Some of these students also struggle with lack. Lack of sleep. Lack of money. Lack of energy. Lack of support. Westover writes of her first semester, saying, “I was an incurious student that semester. Curiosity is a luxury reserved for the financially secure: my mind was absorbed with more immediate concerns, such as the exact balance of my bank account, who I owed how much, and whether there was anything in my room I could sell for ten or twenty dollars. I submitted my homework and studied for my exams, but I did so out of terror–of losing my scholarship should by GPA fall a single decimal–not from real interest in my classes.”

So many of the students I’ve met with are in that same boat. They’re working like crazy to pay for school, but the very thing they’re killing themselves to pay for is suffering because of long hours and lack of rest.

Educated also makes me wonder how many of our students leave college during breaks and return home to abusive, destructive households. I’m reluctant to even think about it.

I’m not sure what my next Big Read will be. As we head into the tail end of orientation season, and start gearing up for the school year, I think my brain will be too fried to want to do anything other than watch episodes of Nailed It on Netflix.