by David Melton
I grew up in that rare American family where neither my dad nor mom drank coffee. From TV I knew about coffee that was “good to the last drop,” but I never saw it and never tasted it … until college. One chilly morning in the dorm I stumbled down to the commons area. Some guy had just made a pot of coffee and I could see the steam coming off the top. I said, “Give me a cup of that, would you?” And the rest is history.
Both at home and in my office, I think I’m pretty much “in the now” with my coffee. I’m a Keurig guy. You pick the little K-cup you want, you pick the brew strength, you push a button, and … voila! You get your coffee — how you like it, when you like. Hard to believe how the coffee experience has changed since my college days.
College has changed just as much. Here in Boston we live that every day. Note, I’m not talking about eternal truth — coffee is still coffee, so to speak — but it’s the way we get the job done that is so incredibly different.
There is no way in these 500 or so words I can adequately show you how hard we work and how we keep “making a better cup of coffee” at Boston Baptist College. But I can give you a taste! Every student has the opportunity to do part of our curriculum on our study trips — on the ground in Europe or the biblical lands. This generation of students wants to experience their learning. I cannot help but think of how our students from last year feel about the Epistle to the Philippians after learning about Roman Philippi on location.
How about figuring out biblical answers for the toughest kinds of questions? You can ask Boston seniors about that. Every graduate does Senior Seminar, which concludes by writing on a topic they draw (they don’t get to choose!). They study all sides of a topic and then analyze from a consistent, biblical position. Every senior has to work one-on-one with a professor to write an extensive position paper. Last spring I worked with Dan and Amber. Time will tell whether or not I get a Christmas card from either of them! But I know I poured myself into them and I believe they poured themselves into this innovative way of learning to think biblically, to convey biblical thought through words, and to articulate those ideas verbally in the exchange with a seminar jury in front of an audience! This just isn’t your grandpa’s coffee pot!
Want some collegiate K-cups? Try our Best of Boston program that gives our students a chance to take specialized courses at scores of colleges in our area. The options, like for a Keurig, are almost endless. This is the way we do coffee and college these days in Boston. And at the end of August let the brewing begin again!