Recommendation letters: Students often need them for graduate school and I am usually happy to help them out. I have written who knows how many, but getting a thank you is rare, and I definitely remember those. Sometimes students will write a thank you email. Sometimes, pretty rarely, a handwritten card.
Two students have given me chocolate--great idea, fortunately Godiva and some amazing South American chocolate. One student made a gift mug with candy and mini office supplies and a Starbucks gift card. Another student who was heading to environmental architecture programs gave me a mug that you can write chalk messages on with some mini spa products-- lovely!
Okay, so apparently, upon reflection, I have received a ton of thank you's! And I have, and they are deeply appreciated and remembered as you can see. I'd estimate maybe one in ten students goes that extra mile for a thank you, and as you can see, they stand out, and I suspect they will have outstanding careers as they are so savvy this early on! The thank you gifts are always a surprise.
This summer, a student heading to an engineering program emailed to track me down and said he wanted to give me some mangoes to say thank you for a rec. letter. He said the mangoes were from a tree in his yard and said how sweet they were. I was excited; as a South Floridian, I know that fresh mangoes in season direct from a tree are a true treat! However, when he brought the bag to me, I was even more shocked. The mangoes were so beautiful. The fact that he went out of his way to bring the mangoes was very overwhelming to me and then he was standing there, showing me this dozen or so beautiful mangoes-- and telling me how good they were.
After hearing all this and tasting the delicious mangoes, Mr. Wonderful said, okay, my wife will write recommendation letters for mangoes... They were the sweetest and juiciest mangoes, and once they were finished, I unabashedly took the student up on his offer for more. He so kindly brought another bag, and this time, we decided that these mangoes should continue.
I just planted a seed and we have two left-- will definitely be planting those too... not that we have space for a mango tree, but you never know. Will keep you posted on the mango seed progress...They are supposed to be beautiful houseplants. :)
Any special thank you's that stand out for you?
Have a blissful day!
xo xo,
Miss Bliss
image 1 and 2, ours-- THE mangoes!
image 3 source: here
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What a thoughtful gift! Thank-you's always mean a lot. Enjoy your weekend! xx
ReplyDeleteHi there friend! I absolutely LOVE mangos, I have one at 3pm almost every other day. They are a must on my grocery list. so yummy. I love the drawing you have up in this post, so pretty.
ReplyDeleteas far as thank yous, I have gotten quite a few from my kiddos at the university and I am always touched. I just left my job in SoCal in March to move to a new one in Monterey and I was so touched by how kind and sweet the kids were when I told them I was leaving. Thanks for the thoughtful post.
So, I live in Michigan, where of course, there are no mango trees - but I can still dream about someone bringing a lovely helping of them! What a wonderful thing to do!
ReplyDeleteWhat/Where do you teach? I teach writing at Michigan State University - I always love coming across fellow blogger/professors!
Anne, your work would always be a nice thank you!
ReplyDeleteSeaLaura, not surprised we are both into mangoes and not surprised that your students were sad you were going...
PLW-- I teach writing/business communication at University of Miami and try to have fun here! :)