Guest TigerBlog : Going Back

As you know, the space here is always open to anyone who has anything they'd like to say. Just write up 700 or more words, and the floor is yours for the day (with TigerBlog's approval of course). 

One person who has taken advantage of this opportunity before is Jess Deutsch, and she does so again. Jess, a member of the Class of 1991, is Princeton's Associate Director for Student-Athlete Services. An executive committee member for Tigers Together, she facilitated the student leader panel at the new student-athlete orientation Monday, and she shares her thoughts here:

 

 As an alum who first arrived as a Princeton first-year student thirty-five years ago, I have “come back” to Princeton many times. At first, in the “usual” (a word that has lost its meaning) back-to-school manner. Each return, my connection to Princeton, my team (tennis), my college (Rocky) and my major (English) grew a little stronger. Each year, my connection to Princeton friends multiplied exponentially, so that by graduation, there wasn’t any doubt about the “Princeton is for life” tagline. (I married a classmate, so I really took that one to heart.) When the time came, I jumped on the reunions train-- and every five years the time in between seemed to get shorter, while the number on the reunion tent got bigger. Later, I came back as a staff member, first as a pre-med advisor, and more recently for my current role, associate director, student-athlete services. I have come back to Princeton a lot.

 

Standing in front of 254 first year student-athletes on Monday in the newly renovated McCosh 50, I have never felt so emotional about the coming back. I am only beginning to know these newest members of our community. I hope I will get to know more of their stories.  I am grateful to know many of the junior and senior leaders who shared their perspectives with the first year student-athletes, as their captains and leaders. It was hard for us to hear each other behind our masks. I felt like the teacher in the Peanuts comics and worried that that’s how I sounded—mumbling unintelligible sounds. Junior and senior leaders from the Black Student-Athlete Collective, Asian Student-Athletes of Princeton, Athlete Ally, and the Varsity Student-Athlete Advisory Council, were the stars of the show—demonstrating how vulnerability and excellence co-exist on our teams and our campus.

 

Here’s what I hope first-year student-athletes took away from their orientation:

 

YOU—each and every one of you beginning Princeton as a student-athlete –have the capacity to make Princeton more because you are here. Your voice is important for your coaches, your team, and the campus community to hear – whether that means your literal speaking voice, or some other way you prefer to express yourself—in writing, in art, in music, or another form. You share the identity of student-athlete with all the other varsity Tigers in your class – but you also hold many other identities that are important, and interesting, and essential.  Comedian. Pianist. Blacksmith. Music producer. Chef. Activist. You check all those boxes, and many more. I want to encourage you to continue to explore and develop those identities as you move through Princeton. I know your high school experiences were deeply impacted by COVID, by growing awareness of disparities and injustice, by distance from in-person learning and friends and all kinds of family situations. That’s a lot to go through, and a lot to process. If my office can help you to make campus connections to help process the journey you have taken to Princeton or to navigate how you show up while you are here, I would be honored to do so.

 

WE – the coaches and administrators who are working to support you as student-athletes – have also been on a whole range of journeys. As a professional with skills in listening and empathy, I have done my best to absorb and support colleagues, family and friends navigating situations we wouldn’t have predicted. Illnesses, losses, isolation, worry. Reminders to just breathe. If I never again hear people talk about “unprecedented” amd “pivoting” I will not be sorry. But I want to say that I think the challenges, awareness, and resilience – the skills and experiences and reflection that we had time and space for – can make us better, more human, and more connected if we allow ourselves to do so. I would encourage you, the students, to check in with each other—and also with the coaches and faculty and staff you are getting to know. Ask the simplest question, “how are you?” and listen to the answer. Our new Athletic Director, John Mack mentioned this simple practice in his remarks, and you could feel that he would care what the answer is. We can do this. We can check in with each other. It will matter that we do.  This is where it counts that we use what Jason Gallucci, Director, of Performance, mentioned --- love and accountability. We have to have act from love – on and beyond our teams. And we have to be accountable, to ourselves, and to each other. Love and accountability. Both of them. All of us.

 

PRINCETON – this institution that is now us together – is imagined to be a magical place of endless possibility and ultimate accomplishment. It is also a barely known abstraction that could feel to some as distant and relevant as another planet. Somewhere in between is the truth – amazing potential, real flaws. All of it, together, is ours to engage with, to add our voices, to question and challenge and grow. Princeton Athletics is a part of a Princeton that can help us to find one another, to connect across differences of time, and interest and experience and identity. We are Princeton. Princeton is us. What else, who else can we lift up because we are here? What will we make of this gift now?

 

When the women’s soccer coach said that the students cheering made a difference in the outcome of the game this weekend, he was not kidding. When a captain of the softball team said that managing emotions is a skill that impacts performance, she was describing a phenomenon applicable to any high-pressure pursuit. When a leader of the football team encouraged you to try out classes that are outside your comfort zone, he was providing guidance that will make any human being just a little better at being human.

 

I am grateful to be back. I am glad you are here. I hope you will share what it is like for you. I will listen to you whenever you want to tell me. I hope you will listen to each other. You will learn so much from each other. You will make Princeton better because you are here.

 

GO TIGERS.