{"id":3384,"date":"2024-04-25T13:40:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T18:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/?page_id=3384"},"modified":"2026-01-29T09:37:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:37:45","slug":"life-on-purpose","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/life-on-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Life on Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2023, St. Olaf College was awarded a grant from the Network of Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) under its Vocation Across the Curriculum initiative.<\/h4>\n

At St. Olaf the project, entitled\u00a0Life<\/span>\u00a0On<\/span>\u00a0Purpose<\/span>, is being managed by the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community.<\/h4>\n

Over the past two years, the <\/span>Life on Purpose <\/span><\/i>project has engaged faculty and staff to equip students for vocational reflection and exploration in the classroom, in the workplace, in the co-curriculum, and in extra-curricular activities. Through communities of practice and pilot projects, over 540 faculty, staff, and students<\/span>\u00a0have engaged with what it means to live life on purpose for the common good.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you looking to learn more about the communities of practice and pilot projects that <\/span>Life on Purpose<\/span><\/i> has funded? Read more about them here<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you looking for resources to help engage students around questions of vocational exploration? Check our our Resource page here or reach out to Peter Carlson Schattauer, Interim Director of the Lutheran Center (<\/span>schatt2@stolaf.edu<\/span><\/a>). <\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t

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  1. Advancing the implementation of the holistic, developmental, individualized pathway program <\/b>that the For Every Ole initiative has been charged with designing.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Developing and sharing more resources for vocational reflection and discernment<\/b> for use across a variety of curricular and co-curricular experiences. <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Enhancing the capacity of participating faculty and staff <\/b>to provide (1) holistic, developmental, collaborative advising and mentoring, and (2) opportunities for vocational reflection and discernment.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Enhancing participating students\u2019 capacity for vocational reflection. <\/b>Piloting opportunities that will help students gain knowledge and skills that support vocational reflection; in course-based program pilots, the goal is that a majority of participating students will demonstrate meaningful vocational reflection in written work.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Increasing students\u2019 sense of belonging<\/b>. Provide vocational opportunities and\/or resources that increase student experiences of feeling valued by and connected to St. Olaf.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Increasing student retention<\/b>. Provide vocational opportunities and\/or resources that can be linked to wider efforts throughout the college to increase retention.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t
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    Communities of Practice and Pilot Projects<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t<\/header>\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
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    During the first year of the project in 2023-2024, the grant supported several communities of practice and pilot projects across college that infused vocational exploration into their work and created resources for use across the college. Learn more about these projects below:<\/h5>\n
    SOAR and Wellness Center Leader Training Dinner<\/b><\/h5>\n

    The Academic Success Center, the Wellness Center, and the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Providing the leaders tools and strategies for vocational exploration and reflection for themselves as student leaders and with students as they engage in their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Reflecting on Purpose, Pathways, and Equity through Reading and Writing About College <\/b>Transition Narratives: A Proposed Field Testing Program Pilot<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Diane LeBlanc<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The pilot is integrated into Writing-Intensive First-Year Seminar 120D, Creating Self during the Fall 2023 semester. The pilot, named \u201cIdentities and the Paths We Choose\u201d is a mid-course, three-week sequence that situates purpose and equity at the core of OLE Question 1, \u201cIn what ways can I understand the world and my role in it?\u201d (i.e. vocation)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Life on Purpose<\/i><\/b> in Music 237<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Rehanna Kheshgi<\/strong><\/p>\n

    This pilot incorporates vocation into the Music 237 course on Local and Global Musicking, by using it as a guiding framework. As the students develop their community engagement project proposals they will complete life purpose statements and reflect upon vocational statements by ethnomusicologists.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Solidarity and the Common Good<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Alyssa Melby<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Create an Ethical Engagement Module that will explicitly make the link between St. Olaf\u2019s current definition of vocation, <\/span>Life on Purpose. For the Common Good<\/span><\/i>, and ethical engagement with others, locally and globally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Center Directors’ Visioning<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Deanna Thompson, Kirsten Cahoon, Martin Olague, Jodi Malmgren, and Chris Chapp<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Center directors will develop a vision and map for ways in which a more coherent and coordinated approach by the Centers could provide meaningful, specific touch points for students along their four-year pathway and how to implement a more coordinated approach of student engagement with the Centers.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Literacies Framework Development<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Library and IT Services<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Develop necessary literacies for lifelong learning and provide students with flexible, transferable skills to support their future abilities to engage with the world in meaningful, ethical, and effective ways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Kierkegaard and Vocation<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Kierkegaard Library<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Kierkegaard Library will offer a three-part lecture series offering a Kierkegaardian philosophical and theological structure upon which to lean during vocational discernment.<\/span><\/p>\n

    TRIO Summer Bridge Writing 109: The Vocation of Being a Student<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Bridget Draxler<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A short series of vocation-themed events to support both the 6 Writing TAs (\u201cenvisioning\u201d and \u201cactivation\u201d) and 40 students (\u201cexploration\u201d) for the TRIO program.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Peer Educator Vocational Retreat\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Wellness Center<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Wellness Center hosted a retreat for their Peer Educators to reflect\u00a0on<\/span>\u00a0their work vocationally so that the Center can more fully infuse vocational exploration into the experience of Peer Educators.<\/p>\n

    Vocation and the Individual Major Programming<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Anne Berry<\/strong><\/p>\n

    To reflect on how vocation can be built into the \u201ccurriculum\u201d for those students pursuing an individual major.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Vocational Exploration in SOAR\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n

    Tara Hupton and Peter Schattauer<\/strong><\/p>\n

    SOAR Leaders and Interfaith Fellows will work to develop vocational exploration exercises to be used within SOAR lessons for the 2024-2025 school year. The exercises will help to empower SOAR leaders to explore vocation with first years, and will help first years think broadly about living life on purpose as college students.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t

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    Life on Purpose projects have created a number of resources.<\/p>\n

    The Literacies Framework<\/a> by IT.<\/p>\n

    Solidarity and the Common Good<\/a><\/p>\n

    Vocation in the First Year Seminar<\/a><\/p>\n

    Design Your Life as a Psychology Major<\/a><\/p>\n

    Design Thinking for Web Portfolios<\/a><\/p>\n

    Math and Vocation<\/a><\/p>\n

    Other course specific resources have been created. Please reach out to us if you have questions about what has been created.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10038,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3384","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3384"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4338,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3384\/revisions\/4338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}