[Music] NC Community Colleges Creating Success
For me much of my life's joy comes from being in the classroom.
[Music]
In the community college system, I'm able to teach, and I don't have to worry about publishing.
The publish or perish mantra does not apply to me. I'm able to go into class
every day of the week and
do what I love to do -
engage in my craft. When we're in the process of looking for individuals to come to our college
to meet the many needs that are there for our students and to really advance our community forward,
we look for one thing first, and that's a passion.
From day one
It's always been about the students and the passion that I have for making sure that
we help every individual to move to a higher level.
We know that we can have an impact on their lives, their families lives and generations to come.
There's a very open attitude here. There's an open-access attitude.
Everyone is welcome, and there are so many people here,
advisers and instructors who will work with you to get done what you came to get done.
I spent more than three decades at a leader in the IT industry and when I retired
I thought it was my responsibility to pass the baton, and so I came to Wake Tech to teach.
What I can do for the students I think is to share with them industry
examples and give them skills so that when they complete even two years of training
they can go into the workforce. They can
apply practical skills.
Because these skill sets are changing so much in our environment.
No longer is it acceptable for somebody to go five years without changing a lesson plan or
changing their curriculum based on how they engage with our students.
We work from a philosophy that if you demonstrate to somebody that you care about them,
you have a chance. You have a chance to work with that individual, you have a chance to help that individual
reach that next level of competency. It's amazing to see how much effort every single
faculty member
puts into making sure that the people who graduate here
have a, have a good chance at get finding a job afterwards. I have a student population
that is very, very diverse and that also drew me to the community college system.
It's not just 18, 19, 20 year-olds. It's 18, 19, 20 year-olds, 30 year olds, 40 year olds, 50.
We are community. We know these people or we know some of their friends.
We know some of their relatives because we also live in these communities with them.
We go to church with them, we're in community organizations with them. Our boots are on the ground
every day. And every evening our kids are growing up in that community.
So we want to assure that every person who is
functioning in that community has the ability to do it at a very high level.
I never thought I would actually do well in school. I never thought I'd be an A student.
I never thought I'd make the presidents list. I never thought I'd have the achievement
I have now . Community College has definitely changed me for the better.
I think if we value our communities, then we will start to value our teachers and community colleges more.
NC Community Colleges Creating Success