What's Grit Got To Do With It?

Letter to Students from... a Student

The COVID-19 crisis is certainly disrupting higher education. At Columbia, I’ve spent dozens of hours, the last few weeks, counseling and advising students on coping and career advancement strategies.

But, what advice are students providing their peers?

Corinne Primavera shares her reflections:

What’s Grit Got To Do With It?

A Letter to Students by Corinne Primavera, ’21SPS, Bioethics

Bioethics Program Representative/Incoming Vice President SPSSG

Observed ceremoniously throughout our lifetimes, there are expectations that become engrained into our minds as imperatives, or rites of passage. For example, “the college experience.”

Take a moment to reflect upon what that phrase means to you, and furthermore, how that meaning compares to what others may think. Is there congruity among us regarding the staples of a good college experience? If we consider that these staples of human experience are actually our own expectations compiled into a long-term to-do list, does that change their value? As early as childhood, we begin creating these expectation-lists through the process of identifying, assessing and respectively prioritizing desires that we find relevant and essential for success, or “fulfillment.” We spend our lives finding means to pursue these fixed ends, like checkpoints leading to the ultimate finish-line.

For academic institutions, the spring is a greatly anticipated time for students as it brings forth the final step in our academic journey: graduation and commencement. However, due to forces well beyond our control we have suffered a significant disruption in our lives with turbulent, domino-like aftereffects, the wake of which we are now in the midst. Left processing insurmountable losses and forfeiting our long-standing expectations, we are being told that we must continue ahead; that we must regain momentum and motivation. The ground on which we stand feels like quicksand, and so we sink underneath the unprecedented weight of heavy, pressing emotions.

Grief is ignited by traumatic events including the loss of that which cannot be replaced or substituted. Expectations with cultural/societal foundations, such as graduation and commencement, are rewarding traditions. They award merited persons as they transcend the thresholds from one stage of life to another, ceremoniously and publicly acknowledging the accrual of knowledge, refinement of skill and development of credibility. At this time, it is a paramount and precedent celebration that stands alone. We are not prepared to conceptualize, let alone accept, that there could be an alternative experience to replace and satisfy that which has gone unmet.

To move forward would be stepping into unknown and undesired territory. We try to thrust ourselves onward, but agility and speed are depleted. Now, as we forge ahead, we face a new reality. For some, it is a loss of a job, internship, or professional aspiration; for others it is absorbing the role of educator; together we stand next to those who are experiencing an ongoing upheaval and shift in their professional responsibilities – who are drained and in crisis mode for most of their days. We stand here and we try to process all of the change but despite all of this thought, we remain in a profoundly uncertain state.

It is no secret that the road we must navigate is fogged with ambiguity, and that the low-visibility conditions can induce anxiety for all who must take the wheel. We know also that we have to regain focus but here we stand in unison asking one another, how?

Here we stand in solidarity, yes, but if we remain here standing, we then become stagnant. This letter is here to remind you that we are the keepers of our experiences, and more importantly, that we have grit. MacArthur “genius” grant winner Angela Duckworth describes in the now-widely-appraised TED Talk (2013) that individuals who succeed in life share the following (in some form): courage, resilience, achievement-mindedness, creativity/optimism, and endurance. Together, these characteristics create “grit”. The strong sense of professional pride and a shared desire to grow is what brings us to the School of Professional Studies, designed especially for the exceptional professional community. We chose the community at Columbia University because we are a group of likeminded individuals who aim to devote tremendous efforts in pursuit of growth, success and global impact.

On April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech that included an epitomal illustration of grit in the following quote, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better; the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” He continued, “whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strived valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again; because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

Courage, as stated above, is the resumption of efforts despite shortcomings. To be courageous: We can resume celebrations with an adjusted perspective and expectation.

Resilience is a quality attributed to those whose persistent integrity is demonstrated notwithstanding great afflictions, especially those unforeseen and unexpected. To be resilient: We will stand tall, proud and undeterred in the face of that which causes us discomfort.

Achievement-mindedness is having the ability to demonstrate active problem solving and troubleshooting. Those who have this quality are focused on achieving goals despite having to consider the unconventional and possibly inconvenient. To be achievement-minded: Re-define your expectations and successes in terms that suit our new reality.

Creativity and optimism are qualities that together, allow for the manifestation of achievement-mindedness. Optimism does not mean “thinking positively”, it means interpreting the circumstances in light of their benefits, so creatively, we can work to establish a new tradition and therefore, a new expectation. To be creatively optimistic: Be on the forefront of creating new traditions, take pride in your situation even if it is not the one you expected.

Finally, endurance and persistence allow individuals the ability to remain purposefully engaged in the face of opposition, versus those who resist or simply tolerate apathetically. To endure: Maintain your ultimate goal and focus with adjusted means; use your grit and adjust your mindset.

The faculty and staff have been working tirelessly to create an academic experience that will meet-or-exceed this community’s precedent standard. Physically distanced from resources and one another, our adaptability and continued engagement will determine how we ultimately perceive this experience in our memoirs. With a collectively creative and optimistic mindset, we can help one another push through this fog confidently, as a united front.

Sincerely,

Corinne Primavera

MS Candidate & Bioethics Program Representative/Vice President SPSSG

(on behalf of the student government)

#highered #ColumbiaSPS #grit