With no shortage of doom and gloom around, I’m going to focus on the positive today.
Congratulations to Brookdale’s sister college, Essex County College, on turning around some negative judgments by our regional accreditor. Essex has been through a lot over the past few years, some of it self-inflicted, but that doesn’t change the fact that the people of Essex County need their community college.
Here’s hoping that a few years from now, its recent troubles will be an implausible memory.
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It’s heartening to see good people get recognized. This week, two of them did. Aneesa Cheek, my erstwhile Aspen colleague, was named president of St. Cloud Technical and Community College. And Tom Bailey, the founder and longtime director of the Community College Research Center at Columbia, has been named president of Teachers College there.
Both are dedicated to improving outcomes for students, including the students who need it most. Both have done their homework, and both know why they’re doing what they’re doing. Kudos to two boards that made excellent choices.
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We had our scholarship reception this week, at which the donors who fund private scholarships meet the students who won them. That never gets old.
If you find yourself ever starting to get cynical about people, just look at the faces of donors who have named scholarships after lost loved ones when they meet the students they’re helping. You can see their gratitude for the opportunity to turn a painful loss into something positive. They honor a cherished past by helping to build a better future for someone else.
Even after all these years, it still gets me.
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We had yet another midweek snowstorm this week, resulting in two snow days for the kids. On Thursday I asked The Girl how she spent her snow day. She replied “practicing piano and putting away towels, but mostly writing.”
Mostly writing. I couldn’t be prouder.
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Winter does end eventually, right?
