Two who reached for the stars and beyond

In my 30 years of college teaching, I have always made essentially the same speech on the first day of class to my Intro to Sociology students. I know it will fall on deaf ears for most of them but I always hope that one or two will get the message and take the challenge. I explain to them how all of us are intellectually na*ve at the age most of them are. How we've been given a value system by our parents that has essentially gone unchallenged by us up until now. How we bought into the Easter bunny scam and the tooth fairy scam and the Santa Claus scam simply because our parents told us those things were true. I tell them that a value system given to us by our parents is not a bad thing; in fact, if more parents would take the time to do that with their children, we wouldn't have nearly the problems in society we do now. But they should always remember that the value system they've been taught is the value system of their parents, not their own and that they're obligated to reach for the stars, exploring every side of every issue so they can eventually arrive at a value system that represents them rather than someone else.

It's a difficult lesson for freshmen college students to internalize, especially on the first day of class and most resist it. I only hope that one or two a semester hear what I'm saying and accept the challenge.

Today's column is about two who did.

Grant Tietjen was in the very first Sociology class I taught at MCC in January of 1995. He had graduated from McCook High School the previous year and immediately started asking the kind of questions we expect from all college students but get from few. He was trying to understand the world he was about to enter and he put his value system to the test right away. He wasn't certain then how to do that but I could tell he was eager to try. We became friends that semester and I provided all the leadership I could but ultimately, who we become is up to us, not somebody else. He was still undecided about a lot of things when he left MCC and I hoped one day he would find the solid footing he was looking for.

He did.

He went from MCC to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln where he received his B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Psychology. He later received his M.A. in Sociology from UNL as well and this past Wednesday successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation in Sociology at the same institution. He has been hired as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.

Grant's parents are Larry and Glenda Tietjen from McCook.

Kayla Sanders took my Intro to Sociology class in 2004 and she was obviously in touch with her intellect before she came to college. She graduated from McCook High School in 2003 as a junior and from MCC in 2005. Kayla is the brightest student I've ever taught and that includes teaching stints at St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas, Northwestern State University in Alva, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma and Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas. She still holds the record for missing the fewest points in my Sociology class. Her attendance was perfect and she only missed one question all semester long. Others have come close but no one has equaled her. She went on to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln as well and completed her B.A. in Sociology in 2007, her M.A. in Sociology in 2010 and is defending her Ph.D. dissertation later this Spring. She has been hired as an Associate Professor of Sociology at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and will begin her teaching duties this Fall.

To be hired as an Associate Professor right out of graduate school is a rare privilege not many are given but it attests to her intellectual rigor and her dedication to task. She was a student's student from day one and apparently still is.

Her parents are Mike and Marla Sanders of McCook.

To have two students from the same small town in Southwest Nebraska graduate the same year with their Ph.D.'s in the same academic discipline at the same university is one of the rarest achievements there is. The Ph.D. is the highest academic degree in the world and two former McCook kids are achieving it this spring.

I went through the Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University like these two did at UNL but I left to take a full time teaching position before I wrote my dissertation. In other words, I didn't finish and they did. So Grant and Kayla are now more educated than me, smarter than me and have better jobs than I do and that's what I challenge all my students to do. They took that challenge, reached for the stars and beyond and achieved the dream that many hope for but few ever get.

They came, they saw and they conquered and now they have the opportunity to influence their students in a positive way for decades to come just like I've tried to do throughout my teaching career.

I'm so very proud of them and I trust the residents of McCook and southwest Nebraska are too.