Recently Geneva College experienced a temporary power outage that left students in their apartments on a hot summer evening without electricity. If you had passed the president’s house a few blocks from campus, you would have noticed that the lights were on and that there was a crowd of students in the living room. When First Lady Amy Troup heard from her daughter Hannah, a senior at Geneva, that her friends needed power to work on their homework, she welcomed them to an air-conditioned study space.

Stories like this may be uncommon in higher education, but the literal and metaphorical cups of cold water Amy Troup offered members of the college community that night represent just a small part of the hospitality she hopes to cultivate along with her husband, Calvin L. Troup, in his presidency at Geneva College.

Amy (Spear) and Calvin both graduated from Geneva in 1983, and their continued involvement as alumni and college parents is proof they’ve never really left. They have attended almost all homecomings since graduating, and often, on homecoming day, the extended Spear family gathers for a picnic on campus. As fans of both athletics and music, the Troups make it a point to attend as many games and campus concerts as possible—Amy notes that she enjoys football games more now with Calvin sitting beside her rather than playing on the field. “We love college life,” she says. “We always have.”

Thanks to Amy’s firsthand experience at Geneva College, she can instantly connect with current students when it comes to campus traditions like the Genevans concerts or humanities classes. At the same time, she notes that the real value of her Geneva education has become even clearer to her since graduation.

With grandparents, parents, and siblings who have attended Geneva, Amy enjoys that she can share college memories with so many of her extended family. Yet she also appreciates the chance Geneva gave her to make her faith her own. “College is an important time for figuring out whether your faith is your parents’ faith or yours,” she notes. And having grown up in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, she values the familiarity with the broader church she gained through Geneva’s diverse student body.

With all four of her children having studied at Geneva, Amy can now appreciate her alma mater’s educational goals from a parent’s perspective. She describes it as “coming in the front door” and rooting for Geneva to provide her daughters with learning and memories as good as her own. Calvin and Amy encouraged all of their children to apply to several colleges but hoped their searches would eventually lead them back to Geneva as they discovered its strengths for themselves.

Amy thanks her alma mater not just for preparing her for graduate education and for her work as a librarian, but for helping her “learn how to learn”—particularly in core classes like the humanities. What impresses her are the personal investments Geneva’s faculty make in their students. In contrast to many educational experiences, Amy observes, “The faculty here really love the students, and I felt that.”

The inauguration of Calvin Troup as Geneva’s 20th president is bringing the campus even closer to these two individuals. As excited as the Troups are to help shape the future of Geneva College, they are quick to emphasize that these new roles are not primarily about them. Both Calvin and Amy describe their goals in terms of ministry and hard work in faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. This is a reminder that the best kind of leadership comes through servanthood. Though this ministry may be grueling at times, it includes plenty of joy.

“I think high schoolers and college kids are fun to be around,” says Amy, and it is clear that Geneva students already think the same of the Troups. Once students realize that the college president and his wife want to get to know them personally, students’ eyes light up as Calvin and Amy chat with them after chapel or meander through the dining hall at lunchtime. Whether their ministry takes the form of inviting sweaty students into a cool living room or cheering the loudest at Golden Tornadoes games, the Troups have demonstrated their desire to continue in a new role as loving and lively members of the Geneva family.

“When your heart is in a place because you really believe in the mission,” Amy says, “then it’s a good place to be.”