It seems to me that I have heard the phrase “you’re welcome” less and less over the last few years. It has been largely replaced by “thank you,” ironically enough. When one says “thank you,” the response is often “thank you.” Such an abundance of gratitude is wonderful, but it can also seem a bit insincere at times. When I listen to HPR in the morning, I hear a journalist thank a guest, and the guest (or correspondent or other journalist) will reply, “Thank you for having me.” Same with late night talk shows and other such venues.
Language always evolves, and one as flexible as English, which has borrowed words from many, many other languages, seems to evolve at a faster pace than other languages. We’ve lost many words over the course of my lifetime, and some I certainly do not miss. Less frequently, we lose entire expressions, and though “you’re welcome” is not dead yet, it seems to be headed that way. It has been replaced not only by “thank you,” but also by “my pleasure” and “no problem,” neither of which delivers the same impact as “you’re welcome.”
Of course, we still do say “you’re welcome” when we actually welcome people, and at the university we welcome lots of folks: students, new employees, community members. We welcome them onto our campus and into our ‘ohana. I have had the opportunity over the last few weeks to participate in our admitted student receptions here in Hilo and on O‘ahu. In both cases, we did our best to make the students and their families feel welcome and to convince them that they belong in college, especially those students who may have doubts. We hope they will feel comfortable here, ask questions when they have them, and learn, grow, and fulfill their educational and life goals. We welcome them here to do all those things.
As was recently reported, we are also searching for many new employees, whom we will also welcome to our campus later this summer. Each will have an important role in making sure our students feel welcome, and we do our best to prepare them to fulfill that role.
Several years ago the RP group in the California Community Colleges identified “10 Ways Everyone Can Help Support Student Success,” and number eight was being proud to work at the institution, the logic being that if employees are proud, their students will also be proud to be here. Concentrating on our problems is an easy trap to fall into, and sometimes we all do it, but underneath it all, I see a strong sense of pride among our employees and our community for the educational institutions that we have here on island. Some folks find it unseemly to boast, and I was always taught to be humble, but pride in our institution and our community is something I try to hold close.
Introducing and welcoming new students and employees to our community includes making sure they know how to be good citizens, whether they are here for two years or 30. In addition to the traditional kipaepae ceremonies, we have several other welcoming programs. For students, we have developed a new course entitled “Kuleana and Community,” which encourages our students to learn about our community by being out in it and giving back. Similarly, our Bonner Program partners with community groups in a reciprocal relationship in order to develop leadership skills in our students.
Our employees benefit from our ho‘okama‘aina cultural onboarding program which introduces them to our ‘aina and community. All of these programs are imbued with a sense of malama pono, making sure that new members of the ‘ohana make themselves feel welcome by embracing the values of our community.
If all these programs and efforts are successful, our students will say “thank you” when they graduate, not just for the education they have received, but for the experiences they have had. They will be able to express gratitude for the citizens they have become, and we will be able to respond enthusiastically, “You’re welcome!”
Bonnie D. Irwin is chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Her column appears monthly in the Tribune-Herald.