Seasons of Student Development: Edee Schulze

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Lessons After 37 Years of Student Development Ministry

What a joy and privilege it has been to serve in various student life roles at three Christian colleges. On the eve of my retirement, I offer two ideas.

Thirty-seven years ago, I began my career in student development, not knowing what the profession was about, having never seen an RA in action, or having never met an RD. I attended a large state school for my undergrad degree and lived at home. Classes were one thing I did amid a week of work, church involvement, and hanging out with my friends. So, in my late twenties, when I was ready to change from youth and camp ministry, I was told I would make a great RD and could use my “transferable skills” to make the leap to working at a Christian college. When I accepted a part-time RD job at Wheaton College in 1987, I was passionate about discipleship with young people, overseeing programs that help others grow, organizing the details of creating meaningful experiences, and managing staff. Around that time, I took a class at my church where I discovered my spiritual gifts were shepherding, administration, and leadership. This made sense! The RD job and the student development profession fit me and my spiritual gifts! Understanding, developing, and using my gifts was essential to a fruitful and fulfilling ministry for over three decades, much more so than any personality or strengths assessment I have taken. Knowing how the Holy Spirit gifted me has freed me to say an enthusiastic “yes” to things that align most fully with who I am as a servant in Christ’s Kingdom. Sure, there were responsibilities I had that weren’t in my gift areas. But it has been deeply fulfilling and most fruitful when I have served in my gift areas.

Knowing how the Holy Spirit gifted me has freed me to say an enthusiastic “yes” to things that align most fully with who I am as a servant in Christ’s Kingdom.

Second, two pictures hung in my office at Westmont. The first is called “Standing at the Crossroads.” It was a gift to me when I left Wheaton College after 21 years in student development. It shows the front lawn on campus, going up from the Billy Graham Center to Blanchard Hall. You can see intersections on the sidewalk with offshoots in different directions. Anyone walking the path reaches these decision points and chooses one way or the other, depending on their destination. The second picture has a similar theme. It is of the formal gardens at Westmont College, with its paths going in various ways – maybe over a bridge or to a bench under a tree. To me, both of these pictures symbolize the unparalleled privilege we have in student development as we stand with students at the crossroads in their lives. The years between 18 and 24 are developmentally rich. Students establish their identity, explore vocation, mature cognitively, and deepen their ability to create meaningful, lifelong relationships. They encounter key moments when they go in one direction or the other, making a particular decision that sets the trajectory of their lives. It could be a decision about faith, a job, a relationship, or their family. It might be a joyful experience we get to witness and celebrate with them, such as passing a class, deciding on a major, getting asked on a date, or graduating. It could be a student learning how to respond to a difficult season, such as the divorce of their parents, a significant illness, an emotional crisis, financial uncertainty, or a hurtful breakup. We can stand with them, be present when words aren’t enough, offer guidance and wisdom, hold them in prayer before God, and sometimes hold them accountable for their actions. They are learning to steward their lives with the free will God gave them – to choose and take responsibility for their choices. We get to hold scriptural truth before them and encourage them from our own learning and life experiences. 

Early in my career, I had many individual “standing at the crossroads” encounters, almost on a daily basis. As I moved from one position to another in student life, I became responsible for environments and programs that created these kinds of opportunities for staff and faculty to effectively stand at those crossroads with students and do what I personally love to do. I have come to value these moments as tremendous entrustments from God and the families of these students. Whether it was having one-on-one conversations myself or establishing policies, programs, or a campus ethos to nurture these interactions for others, I will always treasure that this is the essence of our work – walking with people on the journey and standing at the crossroads of life with them. It’s part of what “loving my neighbor” is all about in the profession of student development. Through this means of loving people, we love God and bring His kingdom into fuller reality in the here and now. 

I have deep gratitude as I retire – for the opportunity to use my gifts in meaningful ways that matter, for the many students who have allowed me to share life with them, for my colleagues and partners in student development work, for how I have grown through this ministry, and for the change to have been part of this profession. I am indeed a blessed child of God.