This will be a short blog post—once something has been said which speaks powerfully by itself, then to add to it is foolish.

As a teacher, I’ve always hoped that the assignments I’ve given and the projects I’ve had students do had meaning and significance. I don’t like busy work nor do I like meaningless assignments. So it was powerful to receive the description of a student project in Friday’s email. The student proposed a project for a class I am teaching by distance learning:

I would like to continue working with a group I am conducting and write about what they do and how the group functions. I am facilitating a group of high school students who have AIDS and who are doing well academically. They form a support group for each other and they are willing to talk with other students who have AIDS about staying in school and keeping up academically. I would like to write about this group. I hope this will meet with your approval.

Enough said. Res ipsa loquitor.

Brooke Collison is professor emeritus of counselor education and a former president of the American Counseling Association. He will be a visiting professor at Kenya Methodist University in Meru, Kenya during the September trimester. Joan Collison will be a volunteer with children in a social service agency during their four-month stay in Kenya.