Over the last few weeks, we have witnessed a renewed sense of energy at Northwest Vista College that occurs every new academic year. This fall semester brings added joy from NVC’s strong enrollment of 18,000 students, more than a million dollar growth in the NVC budget as well as an additional nine faculty and five staff members.
This along with NVC’s No. 1 ranking is compounded by the enthusiasm and determination that comes from welcoming our students and seeing their potential for success. It is exciting to see the students’ personal, intellectual, and creative determination that will carry them through their academic year.
Our mission as faculty and staff then is to help our students accomplish their goals, to celebrate their achievements and continually enhance and transform their educational journey. Our aim should be to continue to expand a student’s horizons, introduce them to new perspectives, and help them acquire the tools to succeed no matter what path they choose.
NVC is the place that instills in them the critical thinking, communication, cultural, and problem-solving skills that are essential for them to become the leaders we imagine they’ll be. It is very clear that our role as educators is not only to produce scholars, but also to provide our students with an educational environment conducive to the nurturing and development of caring and engaged citizens.
I look forward to the extraordinary things our students will accomplish this academic year as they realize that their lives have been positively transformed by a professor, a class, or an experience they had at NVC. I am confident we will have much to celebrate and promote regarding the inspirational ways that you enhance the educational and transformational environment of NVC.
We are committed to crossing the finish line with our students next spring by providing our graduates with the life skills they need to be successful and by identifying new ways to leverage our strengths, stimulate our thinking and build our momentum.
I want to encourage all of you to spend some time getting to know each other. Turn to your colleague across the hall or across the college and inquire about what they are doing professionally as well as how they engage their students.
Understanding the excellent work others are doing at Northwest Vista College will be motivating and enlightening and will solidify our commitment to communication and collaboration, much needed to solve today’s societal, economic and technological challenges.
To all of you, I want to express a heartfelt “thank you” for the extraordinary work that you do every single day. You are the reason our students succeed, you are the reason NVC is recognized as being No. 1, and you are the reason we will continue to exceed expectations. Have a great year.