All in a Day’s Work: 3 Stories of Changing Lives

Working in higher ed can be challenging, particularly in today’s environment in which academic freedom is under attack by politicians, students are less likely to be prepared for a college environment and the average American demonstrates growing skepticism about the value of postsecondary education.

Three higher education professionals share moments of joy that helped remind them why they do the work and the impact education has on a student’s life.

Inspiring Students to Live Life Fully

At Villanova University, Anna Moreland is director of the University Honors Program and a professor in the humanities department.

Moreland teaches a one-credit course, Shaping an Adult Life, for seniors in the honors program, which helps learners consider the three facets of a flourishing adult life—work, leisure and relationships—and commit to pruning unhealthy leisure habits and creating healthier ones.

“This part of the course really impacts their lives, as they haven’t really thought that what they do with their leisure shapes them just as much as what they do for work,” Moreland says.

Students reflect on how they spend their time, including their scrolling and posting habits on social media, and often rediscover activities they loved in their childhood that fell by the wayside as they pursued higher education.

“Some start playing the guitar again. Others start coloring books. Others play pickup basketball again,” Moreland says. “Others who decide not to take and post photos when they go to a concert realize how much more in the present they are. Still others who retake reading for leisure are reminded how much they love being transported into a world of fiction.”

Moreland first taught the course six years ago and found “it was like I put my finger on a raw nerve in my students’ lives,” she says. Moreland wrote a book based on the course content, The Young Adult Playbook: Living Like It Matters (2024), to reach even more young people outside the classroom.

Changing Lives

Frank Ballmann serves as director of federal relations at the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs, advocating for financial aid at the state and federal level. In his previous role, Ballmann worked in the private sector as a finance executive.

Early in his career, Ballmann had an interaction with a stranger while traveling that helped him realize the impact of his work, not just in accumulating profits but in shaping individuals’ futures.

“I was sitting on a plane and the young woman next to me asked who I worked for, and I mentioned the state grant agency,” Ballmann says. “She exclaimed, ‘I love you guys; I wouldn’t have been able to go to college without your grant program! You changed my life!’”

This testimony reminded Ballmann of the millions of other students like her who would not have been able to pursue higher education without need-based financial aid and who faced limited options for socioeconomic mobility.

“What I realized after the conversation with the student is that I’m changing lives in this role; making a rich guy some more money isn’t changing his life—and isn’t nearly as satisfying to me. Thirteen years later, I’m still in the same role.”

Carving Their Own Paths

Treavor Bogard, chair of the department of teacher education at the University of Dayton in Ohio, finds meaning in helping students who are “wrestling with their calling,” he says. “I think that’s because I’ve had many moments in my life where I’ve experienced that in my journey as an educator.” Bogard teaches a seminar called Education and Allied Studies, which helps students find their vocation and reach their goals.

One student, a senior in the middle of her final year of her teaching degree, began to second-guess her vocational goal of becoming a high school English teacher.

“There was that moment of realization for her: ‘My pathway into a profession is not as straightforward if I don’t pursue teaching, and there’s going to be a lot more uncertainty,’” Bogard says.

His response was, yes, it may not be as straightforward, but there are still many opportunities.

Bogard tries to reassure students that it’s OK to change their minds, because that means they’re being honest with themselves, and that is ultimately more beneficial to them in their career journeys.

For this student in particular, Bogard helped her shift from completing student teaching hours to instead helping her build skills to take on a job in corporate onboarding, and he also connected her with a doctoral student and an alumna who served as mentors and helped her develop a strong network.

“In a space like this, it’s really about the relational dynamic, networking and leveraging people’s talents and skills,” Bogard says.

Seeking stories from campus leaders, faculty members and staff for our Student Success focus. Share here.