Uplifting experience

I made a quick trip to Atchison, KS yesterday, home of Benedictine College. I spoke with Dr. Kevin Bryant's Criminology 463 class: Policing and Social Control. Several of the students and Dr. Bryant took me to lunch on campus, and then it was off to the classroom, where around 35 students were gathering. They have been peppering me with emailed questions (at my request) for the past couple of weeks, so I engaged in speed-talking to try to address each of those, so we could leave time for some more open-ended Q&A. After class, several students without schedule conflicts stayed around for a Diet Coke and informal discussion.

For me, it was a uplifting experience. These were very engaged students. I talked to two in particular who seem to be quite interested in policing generally, and Lincoln specifically. If we fit into someone's later career plans after college, that would certainly justify the day out of the office. I also received a follow-up email from a student last night that made me feel great. Sometimes you say something to someone at the right time, and apparently I had inadvertently done so.

Atchison proved to be a little further than I thought, but I'm glad I made the trek. I accepted the invitation because one of the students asked. I thought the voice sounded familiar when he called me, and then he confirmed that he is the son of a deputy sheriff I hired many years ago, who is now in Federal service. I had a hard time accepting that his son could be old enough to be in college. He's a 6'3" 292 offensive lineman on Benedictine's football team, and a spitting image of his dad--who must be awfully proud. Thanks, Steve. Go Ravens!

I took the back way home, Kansas Highway 7, hugging the Missouri River north to White Cloud where you leave the river and Kansas behind. It was a nice fall afternoon in the heart of the harvest, windows down, music up.