08/06/2026
Welcome Back, Future Teachers!
In just a few days, the halls will be filled again, and our hearts are already full. To every returning student and every new face joining the Education Department this year, we cannot wait to see you.
There's something about the start of a new school year that never gets old. The smell of freshly sharpened pencils. The satisfying crack of a brand new planner opening for the very first time, its pages still crisp and full of promise. The quiet excitement of a blank calendar waiting to be filled with lesson plans, field experiences, and growth.
To our returning students: welcome home. We've missed your laughter in the hallways and your questions in the classroom. Reunions with old friends are one of the sweetest parts of these first days back.
And to our new students: welcome to the family. You may be walking in as a stranger, but you won't stay one for long. The friendships you form here will carry you through late nights of studying, first days of student teaching, and every season ahead.
We are reminded this week that His mercies are new every morning. Whatever last semester held, whatever this summer brought, you get to begin again. This is a fresh page, a new year, a clean start. Lean into it.
Teaching is a calling, and preparing to teach is holy work. You are being shaped into someone who will one day shape others. Do not grow weary. Keep showing up. Keep learning. Keep leaning on the One who called you.
Family and friends, we ask for your prayers over these students as the semester begins. Pray for stamina, for wisdom, for open hearts and steady hands. Pray that they would sense God's faithfulness in the ordinary rhythms of study and service.
Here's to a new year, a new beginning, and all the new mercies waiting for us.
