Last week, I attended the last coffee chat of the year. It was hosted by Blalock as he reflected on the past six years as house professor at Rose. Every 6 years, a new house professor is brought in and, unfortunately, Blalock’s time has come to an end. It was so inspiring to hear everything he was able to accomplish during his time here at Rose. He listed off so many accomplishments but the two that stuck out to me the most of were creating the scholar’s program and eliminating car accessibility on west campus by putting up the two lifting gates on each side. I had never even paid much attention to the fact that there were very little cars on west campus. However, he shared that pizza delivery cars used to be speeding on west campus every night. Though I do wish I could have fresh pizza delivered to the building instead of having to walk to baker flagpole to pick it up, I am even more grateful that we are able to walk around safely at any hour of the night.

One of my favorite parts of living in Rose is the fact that the staff is so caring for the residents and everyone else in the Rose community. Throughout the talk, you can really tell that Blalock dedicated so much time and effort into making this a better place for everyone to live and spend their time at. I’ve talked to him a couple times in the dining hall and he always makes sure to ask how we are doing and make sure that everything is running smoothly. Though I have only known him for a year, I am confident of how much of an impact he has made on this community and I’m sure his influence will live on for the years to come.