Fall 2012 Newsletter Extended: Dr. Jacobs Parting Words
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PARTING WORDS FROM DR. JACOBS
By Anthonia Edgren (RPTA '13), Editor, The Report
As Dr. Jacobs prepared for his new adventure in Michigan as the Executive Director of Camp Henry, I sat down with him for an interview so that he could share some final thoughts.
Q: What will you miss most?
"The thing I will miss most about Cal Poly is the students. I never had a favorite class, the subject didn't matter. It was the 10 weeks that I got to spend with students, learning and getting to know them that I enjoyed."
Q: What would you want to be remembered for?
"I would want to be remembered as a faculty member who genuinely cared about the students."
Q: What is your message to students?
"I encourage students to make whatever space they are in more positive. That when you walk into a room, you make it happier."
Q: Everyone knows you for the compassion and energy you have, what is your secret?
"I have genuinely appreciated what opportunities I have had to learn alongside students. It takes a willingness to be vulnerable, you can't fake it. Students are smart, and they can smell fake from a mile away. I am real with students, and I'm honest. I am first to admit it if my day isn't going so well. I am comfortable with where I am in my life and who I am, and students should be comfortable as them."
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
"I would say that, whoever joins the RPTA faculty falls in love with the place as much as I did. I hope that the new faculty can fall in love with San Luis Obispo and the opportunity they have to be in such a wonderful place with such wonderful students."
This quote from Marianne Williamson summarizes my closing thoughts for students:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
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