Recently, I came across compelling words from Mahatma Gandhi:

“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”

In preparing students for interviews on college visits, I ask them to consider what concerns them about the world they live in: What do they see as important issues of today? What would they like to change?

When we discuss essay questions on college applications, there is often a question that asks the student to discuss an issue of personal, local, national or international concern and its importance.

At commencement, invariably, graduates will be reminded that they are the hope of the world, the next generation to improve upon what their forbears have done successfully or badly.

These are challenging times. As students in high school plow through the demands of the college selection process, they are necessarily intent on getting into a college of their choice. This goal is, for a time, all-consuming. However, it is only a small step to a larger purpose.

The questions addressed at an admissions interview or in an application are more than measurements. While the exhortations at graduation might seem to be high-minded words, they are much more. They highlight the expectations that are held for young adults entering college.

A college education is a gift and a responsibility. It brings talented people with youthful energy together to live and study in a community of peers. It is a unique opportunity to grow intellectually and to prepare to take a meaningful place in our troubled world.

So when a student is asked these questions and issued the commencement challenge, it is the time to look within and consider not only how to get to college, but also how to realize the gift and the responsibility fully, how to work toward becoming “the change that you want to see in the world.”

Listen to the thoughts of one of my former students, a recent college graduate, reflecting on her college experience.

"Certainly college helped me not only see what I could accomplish, but also gave me the resources to actually achieve these goals. As an international relations major, I not only learned about conflict and poverty, but also saw how I could make a difference in a tangible way. I worked in Africa after graduation, and while I could not predict how unique my experience there would be, I was prepared to face challenges with confidence and a critical eye. What had been a theoretical discussion in class was now an opportunity to improve the lives of those living in third world poverty. Even now, working in the private sector, I see myself as a global citizen. Every choice I make, or action I take, includes consideration of the impact it might have on the world around me."