This Thursday is my favorite holiday of the year — I love Thanksgiving. It’s probably because it includes the following: spending time with my family, eating delicious food, watching football games, and watching early-season basketball tournaments. In recent years, I’ve also added a new tradition to my holiday week — spending a few hours calling students who have been admitted to FSU PC for the subsequent year.

Hurricane Michael Aftermath

I am acutely aware of a large number of students, and others in our community who (in addition to the stress of the holidays and the end of the semester) continue to face the challenges left behind by Hurricane Michael. Working with those who are still struggling has inspired me to reflect on my own family’s blessings. It’s helped me understand the true importance of family and of friends.

Facing Our Own Family Hurdles 

This past July my wife of 38 years, Jerri, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, she has been receiving excellent treatment in Jacksonville, FL at Mayo Clinic, as well as here in Panama City. During a follow-up appointment at Mayo last week, we received some good news —her tumor responded well to the chemotherapy. She still has treatments ahead of her, including surgery and possibly radiation, but we are enjoying this bit of happy news.

This experience has taught me a lot about life!

First

I think it is important to celebrate everything. As humans, we crave definite answers to our questions. We want to know when we can put our present struggles in the past. We want our fears assuaged, and our concerns addressed.

Cancer, as I have found, doesn’t care about reassurance. In many cases, cancer patients must become comfortable with a scan being inconclusive, a treatment being experimental, or surgery being untested. So, when something sounds like good news it is best to celebrate.

Second

I’ve learned how far science and innovation have come in the treatment of cancer, and how far there is to go. Jerri is receiving an intense regiment of chemotherapy drugs, one of which was invented here at Florida State in the mid-1990’s, by the father of one of my daughter’s elementary school classmates. The fact that breast cancer is so common — 1 in 8 women will be affected in their lifetime — has allowed it to become a research priority around the world, giving patients new treatment options nearly every week.

Remaining Silent

For a while, we kept the news of Jerri’s diagnosis to ourselves. But once she was scheduled to start chemo our daughter, Grace Ellen, kicked things into high gear. At the suggestion of our dear college friend Helen Townsend, Grace Ellen reached out to Jerri’s massive group of friends;  people from her childhood, her college years, and other seasons of her life. While keeping it a secret, Grace Ellen’s roommate Cholette did some pretty masterful work behind the scenes finding these friends (who are scattered all over the country). During her first chemo treatment, Jerri received a video with messages from more than 30 people – all rooting for her and wishing her well. Some of the messages were serious, a lot of them funny, and all of them were supportive and appreciative towards my wife.

The Support Keeps Pouring In

Every day, Jerri receives a text, a call, or an email from someone; and many days I do as well. Our powerful support group of treasured friends (many of whom we have not seen in years) hit home last week when we were at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for a checkup. Jerri had lunch with her college roommate. Over the years, the two of them had maintained a long-distance relationship (via phone), but not physically seen each other since our wedding day in 1981.

We also received word from one of her sorority sisters who was a great friend of both of ours back in our college days. This friend had previously sent Grace Ellen a video to include in Jerri’s video message when she decided to get a mammogram for herself. It revealed breast cancer at one of the earliest stages. Thankfully she was able to receive quick, complete, and curative treatment.

Reflecting on Life

This past week, Grace Ellen flew down from grad school at George Washington University, and attended the consults we had at Mayo Clinic before coming home to Panama City for the holiday. As we left the hospital, we all celebrated Jerri’s good news, and looked forward to stopping by Tallahassee on our way home to meet up with a group of friends. When my children were young, I decided to train for my first marathon. While doing so, I got to know a wonderful group of people, who ran at 5:30 am, several mornings a week. They called themselves the “EarlyGirlz”, after their five original female members. The name has stuck for over 20 years, even with the addition of new members — who are neither early risers nor female!

After receiving our good news, we enjoyed a celebratory lunch with roughly twenty EarlyGirlz members, as well as with our son Curtis. It is always wonderful to be surrounded by these dear friends —a relationship that’s been 25 years in the making. We have played together, laughed together, cried together, and supported each other through difficult times. These times remind us how thankful we are to have people like them as our extended family.

Our Many Blessings

This Thanksgiving we give thanks for our many blessings including our health, our friends, and our family. But we also give thanks to those in our community who continue to support those in need— whether financially, physically, or emotionally — due to Hurricane Michael. Let us not only spread our time and our treasures to those in need, but also make sure we provide daily encouragement to all around us.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

From Randy, Jerri, Curtis, and Grace Ellen.

As you walk the halls of most major universities, you see plaques and photos of former student leaders who have left their mark on campus. This is clearly the case at Florida State University.

These Walls are Very Significant.

We recognize the importance of student leaders and the impact they have had, not only on other students, faculty, and staff but also on the success of their college or university. At Florida State University Panama City, our students have built a different type of wall of honor.  It is not hard to understand the impact of a leader when current students dedicate an entire wall on campus to honor one — their own Student Government Council President, Billy Bradley.

Introducing

“The Wall of Billy” — prominently displayed in the Digital Design Studio (DDS) in the Robbins Center at FSU PC.

Over the past six months, students entering the DDS could find a stack of outlines of Billy and a box of crayons. Our students have used those crayons to show their leader Billy as Mario, Batman, Bart Simpson, etc. Last time I checked, there were more than 75 images of Billy Bradley on the wall.

I Must Admit

I did not pay a lot of attention to the Wall of Billy, until one Saturday when my daughter, Grace Ellen, and my wife, Jerri, joined me on a trip to campus. The three of us dropped by the DDS where my daughter immediately noticed the wall and started asking questions. Jerri and Grace Ellen spent a significant amount of time in the center chatting about Billy’s wall, marveling at it, and listening intently as students gushed about Billy’s many attributes.

A couple of weeks later, a corporate executive who’s company was considering expanding in the area, was visiting campus to talk about workforce needs. After we walked through the DDS and visited with students, he said he would love to meet anyone who has their own wall dedicated to them on campus.

Billy Bradley

I told him the story of Billy Bradley. Billy came to FSU from Dean Bozeman, a K-12 school in northern Bay County. He grew up in a rural area in Northwest Florida. This May, he will be the first member of his direct family to graduate from college.

Billy and I Came to FSU PC at the Same Time

I was the new leader of the campus and Billy was a new college student. Billy participated in our student convocation where we began the new FSU PC tradition— robing our new first-time college students to signify their part in this academic community.

Billy Has Not Slowed Down Since

Not only is he the current president of the Student Government Council, but he was also an active member of our new student housing project team. He tutors’ students in math and was president of the Sewing Club (even though he can’t sew).

In addition to everything else, Billy also participates in my Dean’s Senior Leadership Team meetings. A few weeks ago, I was presenting on the cycles of businesses and organizations, using the bell curve to show the life cycle of most organizations.

Billy Was a Little Late to the Meeting Because of Class.

He walked in as I had finished drawing the curve, showing how many businesses or organizations reach a peak and then begin to fall. Without warning, I asked Billy to finish my presentation and show how successful organizations behave. Without missing a beat, Billy inserted the need for a new upward curve at various times.

He hit a home run and told the group that although we had made great strides, it is when we are doing well that we must look for other challenges. He stressed that if we don’t look for those challenges, we run the risk of falling because of a variety of factors that include competitors, student choices, and economic conditions. He was clearly paying attention in his business administration class.

Double Major

Billy is receiving a double major in Business Administration and Social Sciences, and he hopes to attend law school after graduation. I have a good feeling that he will be successful in whatever he does.

If you ever see a student-created wall honoring their leader in unique ways, please know that most likely that person on the wall is a true leader.

It is my honor to work with Student Government Council President Billy Bradley.