Originally Posted by
RevolverRob
One of my favorite anecdotes in my career is from when I lectured a class in Austin. I had a first year student who came to class every day, asked questions, always went to lab, she was clearly trying but having difficulty with the exams. She came to my office hours one afternoon and came completely unglued, started crying. She was a first generation student, far from home, and her mother and boyfriend were guilting her badly about it. She was depressed, not sleeping, and thinking of quitting. Hard stuff for anyone to deal with. I've been there, myself, on a very personal level, so I understood. I directed her to student counseling services for her depression, her TA and I worked together to make sure she got a bit of additional tutoring in class, I reached out to her academic counselor who worked with her to get her more help. She passed the class, brought her solid C up to an A-. I got an email from her last year, she had just won the department award for best undergraduate student research in geology, won best paper at a regional Geo Soc America meeting, and gotten a fellowship to fund her first two years of her graduate school in geology. Her words were, "You may not remember. But I came into your office and I thought I was done. You helped me, you showed compassion, and because of that, I have been successful." To which I told her, "No, you're successful because you put in the work to get it done. You had the courage to ask for help when you needed it. I'm glad that I was there to be a helpful part of that solution". - It really doesn't get more rewarding than that. I could publish a thousand papers, get a Nobel prize or whatever, and ultimately still not be as rewarded as knowing you helped someone who wanted to succeed, succeed.