Thank you for the article on financing a college education (Spring 2002) and the role that Helen Nunn and her staff play in assisting each individual family to achieve their college dreams for their children.

I started at Susquehanna in the fall of 1987 following a traumatic series of events. During my senior year of high school my family learned that after [inflicting] years of emotional abuse my father had also lost all our money and our home. My mother had not worked in 27 years.

We moved to Columbus, Ohio, to live with my grandmother. It was an incredibly difficult and confusing time. We made the decision that I should continue with my plans to attend Susquehanna as a "normal" freshman. That summer we traveled to the university for the freshman summer testing day and met with Helen Nunn and explained our new situation. The information my father had originally submitted on the FAF had been inaccurate and did not even begin to correctly describe our new circumstances.

Both my mom and I remember very clearly sitting with Helen in the lobby of Degenstein Campus Center. She assured us that she would help us figure it out. My mother remembers well how Helen said that if anything became a problem, to just call her and she would find another way. There was something in the way she talked and acted. We knew she would live up to her word.

I remember how kind and respectful she was when we described what had happened to us -- not condescending, no raised eyebrows, and no attempts to change the subject.

Of all the people we interacted with over the next few challenging years, Helen Nunn is one of those rare individuals who stood out -- a person who did not pass judgment and someone who was extraordinarily kind and empathetic. All the way through college I never knew if I would be able to return to school the next semester. Never knew if we would have the money and grants to make it work. But I made it through thanks to Helen and her staff, graduating fourth in my class. Today I have a successful career in marketing and meetings management, and my own home. My mother also owns her own home.

When we talk about Susquehanna we always remember that day sitting in the lobby with Helen. I've written this letter and I hope it conveys our gratitude, but I also feel that there are not enough words to say how thankful we are.

ANY ONE who is considering Susquehanna University and is concerned about financing their child's college education should know that they will have a strong and diligent ally in Helen Nunn and her staff.

Sarah T. Galbraith, Class of 1991

Baby Pictures Missed

We are writing this letter as a follow-up to the letter written by Tammara K. Williams (Summer 2003) about bringing back baby pictures to the SU today. The response by the editor stated that the primary reason baby pictures are now excluded is due to limited space. We would like to understand how SU determines the appropriate size of the paper. We find it hard to believe that the adding of baby pictures could add more than a single page to the paper. It is difficult for us to understand why SU does not want to promote the birth of children by alumni in EVERY way possible as these children represent potential SU students.

While we fully understand the use of the Internet as a communications medium SU needs to remember that not everyone likes to use the Internet. We are all inundated with information from the Internet and email and it is nice to be able to take solace in the reading of news the old fashion way.

In closing we would ask SU to re-visit its policy on the inclusion of baby pictures. If SU still does not view baby pictures as worthy of being in the SU today perhaps it should poll the alumni directly by asking them to vote on the issue.

Tim and Shana Murray
Class of 93 & 94

Editor’s Reply: We are grateful for feedback regarding new policy on publishing baby photos.

We congratulate our graduates who are starting or adding to their families and encourage them to share photos through the online version of Susquehanna Today or the online alumni community. Due to the increased printing costs of our new four-color format, space considerations in the printed publication, and in keeping with an effort to focus on alumni themselves, we no longer print baby photos in the printed publication. Many of our earlier issues appeared with many baby faces larger than the faces of alumni in wedding and other photos.

In researching the policies of the colleges and universities Susquehanna considers its peers, we have also discovered that the very large majority of those institutions do not publish baby photos in their alumni magazines.