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Naturalist, photographer and writer (and native of nearby Joliet, Illinois) Edwin Way Teale wrote “The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.” While Teale wrote this in a book about nature, it is certainly true of students as they finish the academic year in May.

This time of the year is an exciting time for many area high school students as they decide where they will attend college in the fall. I enjoy seeing on Twitter the many people sharing their college plans with the world.

As a community college, we know the importance of being connected to the community we serve. This includes strong connections with the school districts of our community.

Maya Angelou is credited as saying, “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all of the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter their color.”

This is certainly true at Waubonsee.

Our community experienced a terrible tragedy on Friday, February 15.

The start of the calendar year is a natural time to start new things. Many people start the year with a list of resolutions or life enhancements that they want to accomplish. These personal goals are almost always good and worth accomplishing and are designed with the best intentions. Even with all of these strengths at the beginning, these new year resolutions often end up unresolved. 

The holiday season is quickly approaching. Many people will soon be hosting and attending gatherings with family and friends. Food and gifts will be purchased and people will be looking for values as they make those purchases. Looking for value is a natural thing to do.

That is certainly true for large investments like education.

Fall is a wonderful time at Waubonsee. With the leaves changing colors, it is another time and opportunity for us to enjoy the Tree Campus USA designation that we earned, for the eight consecutive year, in the spring. Our four campuses are beautiful year round, but the bursts of fall colors in October adds something special.

September brings changing temperatures and scenery. While these changes happen around us, students are settling in to the routine of a still-new academic year on college campuses. This is certainly the case at all four of Waubonsee’s campuses.

I was drawn to a career in higher education because of the power of education to change lives. I was drawn to a career in community colleges because nowhere else within higher education is this transformative power so evident. In the coming weeks, thousands of students will arrive on one of Waubonsee’s four campuses to begin or continue their academic journey. Many of them are first-generation students and many are part of a long family line of college students. Many will attend class full-time, others part-time.

Each one of these students has a unique story that we can all learn from and be inspired by.