Academics and Gratitude—The Tradition of the Fall Carnival

An epidemic of selfishness has poisoned higher education. This problem has been exacerbated by a concept in modern psychology called “self-efficacy.” Self-efficacy describes a state of mind—the belief in one’s own ability to succeed in specific situations or to meet their goals or achievements. Researchers urge those in secondary education to promote this concept throughout schools, stating that it improves “student’s performance and learning behaviour.” 1 However, higher education already leans towards selfishness in multiple ways. There is the student who attends college to party and take a four-year hiatus from real life. Then there is the industrious student who hides away from real life by studying non-stop. Both are participating in selfishness.

While there is nothing wrong with confidence or ambition in and of themselves, when left unchecked or encouraged without discernment, they can be dangerous. You must have confidence in the right things and be ambitious in the right way. Ambition and confidence—the ability to accomplish great things with excellence—must be tempered with other virtues. Among the most potent is gratitude.

Ambition and confidence—the ability to accomplish great things with excellence—must be tempered with other virtues. Among the most potent is gratitude.

Gratitude is rapidly becoming a lost art. This is in part because we tend to think that the world operates like a zero-sum game and everyone’s out to take something away from me. But a vast portion of our lives do not operate in this way. Relationships, for example, cannot be expressed in mathematical terms. We do not calculate exactly how much time our friend spends doing nice things for us to determine if we want to stay friends with them. We do not calculate the cost of the birthday present from grandma to evaluate the ROI of being her grandchild. Yet this is exactly what college students are tempted to do when it comes to a college degree, especially in looking for a degree that gets them a high-paying job.

Gratitude, real gratitude, is not just mumbling “thanks” to your professor on your way out the door (though even that is rare in higher ed). Gratitude must be tangible. Gratitude is incarnated in your daily life. Gratitude is not an emotional, gooey warmth that you feel towards a person. Gratitude must come into existence. So what does this look like for college students?

Gratitude is not an emotional, gooey warmth that you feel towards a person. Gratitude must come into existence. So what does this look like for college students?

At New Saint Andrews, students have a unique relationship with families in Moscow. First, all students are required to regularly attend church. NSA does not have chapel services. The students attend local churches, getting to know the families, pastors and elders, and fellow Christians in their community. Additionally, New Saint Andrews has a unique mode of student housing. Rather than having dorms, the students find housing in the community, which may mean boarding with a church family or renting a house from a local community member. These relationships are not insignificant: as an undergraduate at NSA, I was invited over for Sunday lunch by church families, and my roommates and I invited people in return.

All this means that students do not retreat into their own little bubble—another danger of higher ed. They are plugged into their community, and the community blesses them with fellowship and food. In return, the students of New Saint Andrews College have found a unique way to thank the families of their community. I remember attending this event back when I was ten years old, and I helped put on the event years later when I was an undergraduate. This annual event—the Fall Carnival—was started in October of 2004.

Lindsey Tollefson began the Fall Carnival in her junior year. “We wanted to do something that would bless our church community as NSA students,” said Lindsey. “And I wanted something that would be really fun for the kids.” That’s when she had the idea for the Fall Carnival. When asked why she began the event, Lindsey said, “College is such a fun four years. But college students can get a little narrow-minded and kind of focused on their own little goal that they have and their own little world of college... And that was the motivation to me, was to encourage my fellow students to think outside of themselves, to think outside of college and what we’re doing, and not be so self-focused.”2 This was an opportunity for NSA students to show tangible gratitude to the local families in the Moscow community.

What is the Fall Carnival? On a Saturday morning, NSA students set up carnival booths, games like a wild safari hunt with Nerf guns, or a maze, or a rock climbing wall, or musical chairs. Once families show up, the parents can fellowship while their children attend the booths and win candy for playing the games. Since it takes place in October, the college students dress up in costumes, often themed with their booth, and the kids dress up as well for a costume contest at the end of the day. The event is run completely by NSA students—they book the venue, build the booths, make food, and run the games.

Now, nearly twenty years later, the Fall Carnival still happens annually. Greta Grieser, who ran the Carnival for the past two years, points out the impact that the Fall Carnival has on the Moscow community: “The kids grow up knowing what it’s like to serve. They grow up going to the carnival every year. And as they get older, they probably realize, this is a lot of work!... They have this association with NSA students that NSA students serve, and that they give back. And hopefully, they grow up saying, ‘I want to be like that one day.’” Greta connects service opportunities like the Fall Carnival to the mission statement of NSA: “Being a leader is being able to serve others, and to take on that glad, sacrificial responsibility.”3

“Being a leader is being able to serve others, and to take on that glad, sacrificial responsibility.”

These college students are very busy, and the NSA workload is rigorous—I know, because I went through it myself. However, the students did not need to be told to practice their “self-efficacy.” They were shown by the faculty and NSA students from years past that they needed to abolish selfishness, and that the best way to do this was by showing gratitude to those who bless them.

The relationships these students build with their classmates, with their professors, and with the community are not zero-sum games. The students at New Saint Andrews are given the chance to pour themselves out like a jar of oil; and when they do, they always find they have more to give.

[1] Mart van Dinther, Filip Dochy, and Mien Segers, “Factors affecting students’ self-efficacy in higher education,” Educational Research Review, November 9, 2010, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1747938X1000045X.

[2] Lindsey Tollefson, interviewed by author, Moscow, ID, March 1, 2024. 3 Greta Grieser, interviewed by author, Moscow, ID, March 1, 2024.