There’s No Place Like Home

So many of the Graceland family I’ve met with over the past two years still refer to this special place as home. For most, home evokes feelings of safety, comfort, joy and family in whatever form that might take.

Two years in, and Jeff and I are feeling settled and comfortable in our home here on the Lamoni campus. We have been fortunate to host students, alumni, trustees and more in the Carmichael House for meals and fellowship; and last Christmas, we were excited to invite my extended family (all 14 of us!) to spend a chilly Iowa holiday with us. Now that the weather is warmer, the walk to my office in the Higdon Administration Building is not quite as bitter cold and it gives me a chance to enjoy the beauty of our little slice of heaven.

During the summer when I am writing this, the campus would normally be slow-paced, but it is bustling with excitement as the MSC is renovated and transformed into Newcom Student Union. That building is so central to the Graceland experience and the home that we share together here in Lamoni. I liken it to the living room of the Graceland home. And as that living room is reimagined, I cannot help but be excited about the experiences that current and future students will be able to enjoy in this new facility.

This issue of Horizons contains many different stories of home and how Graceland continues to create a place of safety, comfort and joy for our extended Yellowjacket family. I invite you to visit during homecoming, which takes place Oct. 25-27. Connect with friends, reminisce on your time on “the Hill,” and make new memories surrounded by the Graceland community.

Home is where the heart is and, for so many of us, that heart resides at Graceland.

Patricia H. Draves, PhD

President

@GracelandUPres