When faced with the challenge of planning and executing their senior leadership capstone project, Baylor students Avery McIntosh and Sarah Spence Morgan decided to keep it in the family – the Baylor family.
When faced with the challenge of planning and executing their senior leadership capstone project, Baylor students Avery McIntosh and Sarah Spence Morgan decided to focus on the Baylor family.
In January, the duo invited members of Baylor’s housekeeping and dining hall staffs to an elegant night of dinner, music, and even a little dancing to show their appreciation for jobs well done.
Twenty-five invitations were hand-delivered to staff members, and nearly all were accepted, and the first course was a hand-written “thank you” note, waiting for each guest at their place setting. The menu included pork roast, rotisserie chicken with all the trimmings, and several dessert choices, all prepared in Lowrance Hall’s new kitchen. Avery’s brother Jeff, a student at Texas Christian University, provided musical entertainment at the dinner, and it didn’t take long for many of the guests to join in singing and dancing.
Avery, a resident of Lowrance Hall from Charlotte, N.C., said she notices the work that goes on behind the scenes on Baylor’s campus. “Being a boarding student, I notice that the dining hall staff is always there for us and making Baylor feel like home. They have always been so kind to me. And every morning when we wake up here, the buildings and the campus are always clean and beautiful. I don’t want to forget the people that make that happen.”
Sarah Spence, a day student and daughter of former Baylor faculty member O.J. Morgan, was her partner for the project. “I really like planning events,” she smiles, “and Avery is super-organized. The projects brought our interests together nicely. Being a day student, I didn’t know our dinner guests as well as Avery does, but now I have several new friends at school. It was great getting to know them.”
Senior capstone projects can also be, and often are, fundraisers or service projects in the greater Chattanooga area. Avery and Sarah Spence decided to lead and serve right here at “home.” And though the project was a lot of work, they both agree that it was also a lot of fun. “I was worried that they wouldn’t want to come at first,” Sarah Spence begins, “but,” and Avery joins in, “it turned out way better than we thought.”