Sherman PRIDE

Balance & Moderation in Chiropractic College

As I was tending to my 9 year old daughter last night, on the night before an exam, I had these thoughts about balance and moderation in chiropractic college.
 
There is an order to things in the world, and there is an order to that which we focus on and hold valuable. People come first, then things that you must do to manage your life. My daughter was in need of my attention. Let's review the order of importance of things: was it my impending test tomorrow that was truly going to be difficult? Or, was it my daughter?
 
This little girl has endured moving away from her home into a strange place to start life over again so her mother could go to chiropractic college. She has endured school changes, girl friend issues, and my constant study requirements. She's gone to organic chem. classes in first grade, graduate anatomy classes in second grade and neuroanatomy in third grade. I have taken her on long trips to visit family during breaks. She's been a Trooper with a capital T! 
 
Now, it was time for bedtime reading and to send her off to a gentle night of sleep. I thought to myself; "I've studied hard, God will help me out on this one!" So we spent a little extra time together. 
 
After she fell asleep I went deep into my studies for a period of time. Eleven o'clock was my cut off time... must sleep myself !! The morning dawned early as usual and I dragged myself out of bed to quickly review notes, make coffee, get the morning going. 
 
Arriving a tiny bit early to class at 8 a.m., I poured a little more into my brain. Then, miracle of miracles, our test was turned into a TAKE HOME TEST due next week!!!! 
 
Miracles happen every day!  In the practice of chiropractic and in the study of chiropractic!  Oh... and about balance and moderation....  it's a work in progress!  :)

Philosophy by Fire: Bonfire

New Beginnings Philosophy Club sponsored a Friday evening “Philosophy by Fire” on the Sherman Campus a few weeks ago. It was the re-creation of a tradition from some time ago when students would often gather by the fire with guitar and refreshments. 

Back in the woods there is a rustic amphitheater of wooden seats, small stage and a circle of stones for a fire. OOOooh, doesn’t that sound like fun? A FIRE CIRCLE! 

It was a lot of fun! A bit hot though, as it was late August and the night had not yet cooled. The fire was huge and mesmerizing. There were marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate for S’mores. Sticks were even provided for roasting. :)

Dr. Jon Hart opened the Sherman Museum for students and prospective students to visit. Dr. Ron Castellucci, advisor of the club, was present to add to the discussion and Dr. Jon Schwartzbauer, Sherman president, was our speaker of the evening.

Dr. Jon began by reminding us of the sacrifice of some of the earlier chiropractors. Helen and Dr. Gordon Brown are two pioneers who in fact live on the grounds of Sherman Campus and have willed their home to the school. Dr. Brown continues to be active on the Board of Sherman Regents. We discussed ongoing changes to the Health Center and curriculum that will bring students new course options.

In all it was a great night and New Beginnings Philosophy Club hopes to do more bonfires in the future. I believe October will be perfect for the next Bonfire!

(Sherman President Dr. Jon Schwartzbauer is standing second from right)

(blogger and recent grad Dr. Jonathan Holloway is on the left)

Bluebirds!

I'm always looking for inspiration in the world around me. Today I found it in two beautiful BLUEBIRDS! Right here on Sherman campus!

On each walk I took today from the Main Building to the Health Center they were there to greet me. At first I wasn't sure because I had only seen a flash of blue-gray. But I was able to get close enough for a second look and sure enough - it was a bluebird! Its mate showed itself on my second trip across campus. And, on the third trip, one was sitting right upon the top of the street lamp near the fountain. A nice, reassuring, wild life companion during midterms. 
 
The very first time I had ever spotted a bluebird was just after my physics final here in South Carolina. I had studied hard and was a bit frazzled from the experience. LOL, funny how I can smile at myself now. Then, I wasn't laughing at all. Quite worn out, I was about to leave the Greenville Tech campus and looked up to see a most gloriously BLUE bluebird! I was totally amazed because I had never seen one before. It's hard to describe just how lovely they are at first or second sight. Yet there it was for me alone to see, or so it seemed. It made me smile and relieved me of a great deal of stress . 
 
Today, they were with me again just before and after my last midterm of the quarter. Isn't it amazing? They are my very own Bluebirds of Happiness!!

Recipe for Success at Sherman

A fellow student recently posted on Facebook to her friends a request for moral support, a feeling not unfamiliar to many students. The student happens to be a "first quarter" and is getting her feet wet in midterms. VBG, this is a time we do need that moral support! So I've decided to write a "recipe" for success in Chiropractic College. It goes like this:

Recipe For Success At Sherman College Of Chiropractic
AKA  "THAT SPECIAL SHERMAN CAKE"

Only the finest ingredients will do.  Have ready the following;

• 5 lbs. of LOVE for ChiropracTIC
• 4 lbs. of DREAMS for your future
• 5 lbs. of COMMITMENT to the Chiropractic Vision
• 4 lbs. of DEVOTION to learning the Philosophy of Chiropractic
• 4 lbs. of WILLINGNESS to help and be helped on the path toward completion of D.C.
• 3-4-5 lbs. of HUMILITY - you have a big job ahead of you (the more the better)
• 5-6 lbs. of WORK ETHIC - more never hurts
• 5 lbs. of OPEN MIND (can be substituted with CURIOSITY)
• 4 lbs. of RESPECT for those who have gone before you 
  (here is where shared respect always comes back to you.)

Mix a generous amount of ENTHUSIASM and SERVICE for final touch of frosting. Do not water down ingredients for frosting. Any color or flavor of frosting will do. Any type and amount of sprinkles just adds to the presentation of final product. 

An addition of JOY simply eases the baking process, helps the TIME go faster and decreases amount of HEAT needed to bake. 

Also, be careful to use cake pan labeled: PERSEVERANCE. This Special Sherman Cake requires a pan that has "STICK-TO-IT-NESS" as opposed to "non-stick surface." It just won't do to have cake slipping out before done. Also, this pan adds a nice quality to finished cake.

This Special Sherman Cake is perfect for the finest of occasions. Everyone simply raves about it! Be sure to take time to ENJOY the FINAL PRODUCT, your guests (patients) certainly will!

You Can Get There (South Carolina) From Here (Maine)! (Part II)

{Read Part I here}

Ahhh, it was a memorable trip from Maine to Georgia with 2 busy boys in tow. Yet we did indeed arrive safe and sound at a dear friend’s house in Atlanta. I was able to leave them for an overnight while I went off on my fateful journey to Spartanburg, South Carolina.  

So “on purpose” was I that I arrived quite early and immediately chose my seat front and center in the empty chairs, expectantly awaiting the first speaker. Tears came to my eyes as a very charismatic student intern (most probably) spoke of who the real doctor was! He talked about something called innate intelligence and I deeply understood. My birthday was in the upcoming week and I promised myself right then and there that I would return as a gift to myself. I knew where I belonged and who and what I would become…a chiropractor!

A very magical thing happened to me this past spring as I was looking at some pictures that Sherman had placed on its Facebook page to honor the retirement of Susan Newlin, a long devoted staff member at the college. As I looked through a number of these pictures one caught my attention, just barely. I actually had to return to it to see… yes! Lo and behold… it was a picture of me from that very first visit at Sherman…15 ½ years ago!!! 

Unbelievably there I sat in the picture, in the first row, in the middle, just as I had remembered!! It’s so amazing to have found that special picture that perhaps I should pinch myself.  But then it would hurt ‘cause that dream actually came true!

How did I come to see that Chiropractic and Sherman College were THE PATH for me? (Part I)

I had graduated from the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, with a B.S. in Community Health Education and a minor in biology. The biology minor was for a future return to grad school. Not sure what that path would be, I still felt it important to prepare for it. 
 
Medicine, I knew, was not the path for me. Why? Simply put, medicine did not resonate with me. What I was looking for was a profession that would provide a "world view" that was vibrant and alive for both patient and practitioner. Science was fascinating and alive but... the study of disease was not. It did not provide the sense of fulfillment that I felt would only come from leading people towards a healthy way of life. A lifestyle, whole, full of vision for a bright future for all people is really where I wanted to BE. I wasn't interested in dispensing medicine. I wanted something I could do with my hands. I wanted something purposeful and real and creative!
 
Of course most of these thoughts were just on the edge of my concrete awareness in undergraduate school. I had to search for a period of time before I found chiropractic.
 
How did I find chiropractic? It's actually a bit humorous because it was right under my nose for quite some time before it actually dawned on me. I regularly took my boys (and self) to a chiropractor. One day I noticed a poster on the wall that said something to the effect of "Have you considered a career in chiropractic?" It was from Sherman College.
 
It was immediate, once I noticed the poster of course. Why hadn't I thought of it before? Within the month I was driving south from Maine to South Carolina in a car brimming full of "boy energy." You know, the kind of "boy energy" that means pillow fights in the back seat of the car, in the middle of the night while Mom (me) is driving in the fog through winding mountain roads with lots of big trucks (going kinda fast). Now I can smile about it! Then, I wasn't sure if we'd make it to Sherman alive! 
 
To be continued....