I am writing in response to Zach Ziegler’s Letter to the Editor on Thursday, April 19. His letter has provided me the perfect opportunity to elaborate on the benefits of participating in Superior Edge.

The hope of the faculty, staff and students who developed Superior Edge was to recognize students who are already heavily involved. Students involved to a lesser degree may have an incentive to do a little more, and students not doing much of anything outside of class might decide to change that.

The flexibility of Superior Edge allows students to determine how much time they can invest and allows them to finish at their own pace.

Once you are in Superior Edge, you will be provided with an array of opportunities that might not be available anywhere else on campus. We have been networking with community organizations and businesses to provide volunteer opportunities, internships, employment and diversity activities for participants.

The Marquette community is excited to have a program which provides them with a connection to active NMU students looking to further their educational experience.

In Ziegler’s letter, he mentions that some students are participating in activities just to log hours. Perhaps these students are trying some new experiences that they may not have otherwise.

Through these new activities, students may be learning something new or even having an experience that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Ziegler sounds like a forward-thinking person who cares about being engaged now at NMU and in the future. Ziegler and many other students will no doubt have great experiences to list on their resumes.

Superior Edge has defined learning objectives that are beneficial to the students and attractive to graduate schools and employers. Superior Edge also provides students like Ziegler an added opportunity to reflect on their experiences. I would like to quote senior Shawn Brown, who said it best:

“Superior Edge has allowed me to give structure to the activities I engaged myself in and also has forced me to go beyond the surface level in thinking about these activities and what effect they have had in my life.”

Superior Edge staff is ready and excited to assist students with finding opportunities to fulfill any of the four edges (Citizenship, Diversity, Leadership and Real World) through campus and community activities.

Rachel Harris

Associate director, Center for Student Enrichment