Explore. Prepare. Succeed.

Why are you here, at this institution, in this class? As educators and students we are quick to think about the 'what' and the 'how' of the college experience. What is general education? How can I get these requirements completed? What do I do with myself in this new environment? While all important, the answers to these questions come with time and relative ease given the abundance of student resources and services.

Why are you here, how do you see the world, and what do you want to do in your life? These questions lack straightforward answers, but they are crucial for instructors to ask and students to address individually and uniquely. Finding personal meaning in one's education requires introspection and self-awareness that comes through grappling with core assumptions and values, and rummaging through implicit expectations to identify genuine interests and concomitant goals.

This text facilitates this learning process by posing these fundamental questions and providing frameworks for thinking about how they might impact a student's approach to their learning and life. It has less to do with the content of the articles and more to do with guiding students as they ponder a range of 'whys' and grapple with the juxtaposition of new perspectives with their current viewpoints. It encourages students to examine themselves, their worldview, their resiliency, their purpose, and their calling. It invites them to entertain thoughts that may seem dissonant or ambiguous in order to encourage a deeper level of learning.