An Open Letter to Kentucky Christian University

As our daughter’s freshman year of college comes to a close, I’d like to thank everyone at Kentucky Christian University. We knew—after visiting KCU several times—that it was a special place and we had high expectations, but over the past year, KCU has exceeded every expectation!

Laurel Grace arrived on KCU’s campus last August feeling alone and frightened—and wearing her shoulders as earmuffs! The first friend she met was her roommate, Ashley. Now, KCU had promised to pray over roommate assignments, and they must have, because although Laurel’s made many good, godly friends by now, there’s no one she’d rather have as her roommate.

The second friend Laurel met was her R.A., Tiara, who was so disarmingly friendly and funny that unbeknownst to Laurel, her shoulders dropped back down into their normal position. When Laurel sat down alone for lunch in the cafeteria that first week, Tiara got up and joined her—and made her laugh some more.

Pretty soon, Laurel counted the librarian, Mrs. Enders, as a friend, too. During those first weeks, Laurel spent a lot of time in the library. There, Mrs. Enders made daily rounds, stopping to check on each student, making sure that everybody had everything they needed. Whenever Laurel had a problem—even if it wasn’t a library problem—Mrs. Enders helped. Honestly, everybody at KCU helped.

When Laurel fell one morning, skinning a knee badly on the way to class, she carried on, not wanting to be late. When she arrived, the professor insisted that Laurel see KCU’s nurse—now. Nurse Jina kindly, compassionately, and as gently as possible, plucked gravel out of Laurel’s knee, cleaned the wound, and dressed it—on three separate occasions. (She has cared for Laurel with great tenderness many times this year.)

When Laurel had trouble with her computer, the resident KCU computer whiz fixed it.

When Laurel had minor car trouble, other students immediately tried to help her. When they couldn’t, the university administrators sent people until the car was fixed—and none of those people acted as though Laurel was interrupting or inconveniencing them in the slightest!—they WANTED to help her and treated her like family.

Speaking of family, Laurel looks forward to a home-cooked meal with family every Thursday night, in the home of the Dean of Ministry. Dr. Baldwin and his wife, Carly, host dinner and Christian life group for anybody who wants to come. The first time Laurel attended life group, she was involved in a little fender-bender near Dr. Baldwin’s house. She told me that Dr. Baldwin came running flat out, like the kids involved were HIS kids. And they were. I suspect that in his heart, all of them are.

Additionally, Laurel loves attending chapel at KCU, so much that even when her chapel requirements have been fulfilled for the semester, she keeps attending!  (See one of Laurel’s favorite chapel services here.)

These are the people and things we heard about when Laurel called home. She was also excited to report that all of her professors pray before starting class. The classes themselves? Laurel described them as “fascinating.” At the end of her first semester, Laurel asked us if we’d mind if she kept all of her textbooks—instead of selling them back to the school—because she loved them so much!

Over the past year, Laurel has received an unparalleled, personalized education—the more her education grows, the more her passion grows!—she has been set on fire at KCU! And that would be enough. But KCU offers so much more!

Last August, Laurel thought she was leaving her family behind. But the truth is that her family—our family—only grew. Thank you to our brothers and sisters at Kentucky Christian University, for taking care of our daughter like YOUR daughter. You will always be family to us.

With love, trust, respect, admiration and gratitude,

Laurel Grace’s mama

P.S. Some of you may be wondering how Mark and I have coped with our “empty nest.” Well . . . we’ve gone wild! Chocolate ice cream for dinner! Movies in the middle of the week!

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