While teaching here on visiting professorship, I am required to be in the lab Tues and Thurs. However, I review with the students Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sat with the following mentality:
“You show up, and I’ll show up.”
Now, each Saturday I assume no one will show. It is the weekend, right? Who would spend 3 hours in a lab on Saturday, when they aren’t required to be there?
About 40 people, it turns out.
For three hours, we laughed and quizzed about the cranium, head, and neck anatomy. They are responsible for every bump and crevasse, every named axon group, every named arterial branch. So, I learned the students’ names and held them accountable as we discussed relationships of the anatomy.
We all went the extra mile – and we all felt immensely better after we did.
As I walked outside and immediately saw the ocean, I was still in awe that these eager and bright students took three hours out on Saturday morning to learn their anatomy. That made me want to go the extra mile in every aspect of my life –with my family, work, school, and training. Going the extra mile seems to always go pretty well.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley