There's No Place Like Home

There's No Place Like Home

By K.P. Palmer

As the baccalaureate program with its concentrations and majors become more popular, a trend is emerging at Holy Cross College—the return of students who had once transferred. In the past, Holy Cross has been seen as a ‘transfer school,’ not as a school one could attend for four years and earn a bachelor’s degree. Thankfully, this is becoming a distant memory as the college adds varsity sports, a recreation center, a baccalaureate program, and new majors. Students are now coming to Holy Cross with the intent to stay here for four years. Many students who have transferred to different schools or entered the workforce after earning their associate’s degree have heard about this transformation and are returning. One such student is Kimberly Konald.

Kimberly came to Holy Cross fresh out of high school and “of course, like many eighteen year olds caught up in the moment of change, I made some bad decisions that caused me to drop out,” she told Connections. After leaving Holy Cross, she pursued a career in retail management. Although she enjoyed customer service and the retail environment and was moving up quickly on the corporate ladder, she became depressed and was unsure why. “I had an awesome life. I had a great job, great pay, and great friends.” Through self-analysis, Kimberly discovered she had been feeling this way since she had dropped out. She re-assessed her goals and decided to go back to school. “I wanted to go back to school, and I realized the reason I was so unhappy was because I was denying who I wanted to be—a teacher. God really spoke to me that night, and it became clear to me that I was so unhappy because I was denying who I needed to be, and I was denying God. For six years, I had dedicated my life to my companies, giving no attention to anything else. I denied my friends, my family, and my God. I worked nonstop 50 to 60 hours a week, every week, for six years.”

It was at this time she called her friend, Amelia Marcum Ruggaber, the director of campus ministry at Holy Cross College and former Holy Cross classmate. Amelia told Kimberly about the baccalaureate program and the elementary education major now offered at the college. Kimberly knew this was her chance. “So here I am, back at square one, working hard so that I can be happy. I’m broke and jobless, but my sanity and my faith are stronger than ever and that means more than any dollar amount. I have made some huge mistakes in my life, some I am even scared to remember, but without those mistakes I would not be who I am today.”

Another student who found out the hard way that Holy Cross College was where he belonged is 2007 alumnus Greg Meola. Greg came to the college in the summer of 2002 as a part of the Conditional Acceptance Program, a program designed to ease the transition from high school to college. Two years later, after serving as vice president of the Student Government Association and earning his associate’s degree, Greg decided to transfer to Michigan State University. “At the time, I was not interested in the baccalaureate program at Holy Cross College, because it was brand new and did not offer any majors.” After only one year at Michigan State, Greg transferred back and became part of the third graduating class. “Sometimes you don't know what you have until you do not have it anymore. Holy Cross College specializes in the success of the individual. The college not only gives you the tools to become successful, but, more importantly, they show you how to use them, and they show you that they care.”

“I have several ideas as to why this is becoming such a popular trend. First, bigger schools are not for everyone, just like Holy Cross isn’t for everyone. Secondly, the students who belong at Holy Cross do not usually realize it until after they leave, but sometimes that is just part of the education process. All in all, I would not trade in my experience at a Big Ten school to graduate a year earlier for anything. Without that experience, I would never have known how much Holy Cross College had done for me.”

This trend excites the College’s faculty and staff. It proves that the environment they have created is one in which students feel most comfortable, as well as one in which they can excel academically. Eighteen students this fall semester alone have returned to earn their degrees. Vice President Tina Holland says, “We are using the stories of these returning students to save current students the trouble of transferring and then transferring back. While we understand some students need to experience it for themselves, it is an expensive and timely process that could be eliminated by simply listening to another student who has already been through it.” This trend will ultimately help the school population to grow, not only through students coming back, but by helping retain the students currently enrolled.