Now that I am back from a few days of vacation in Colorado where it was at least pleasant enough to have dinner outside in the evening, I realize our summer vacation is rapidly coming to a close. There is much activity on campus; students going through the registration process, maintenance and repair work on several projects and preparations to welcome faculty, staff and students here for the 2012-13 year.
This week I was pleased to meet with our housekeeping, grounds and campus police staff to say thank you for the ongoing work they do to keep our campus in good shape. I am grateful to Teresa Huether, our College Achieving the Dream leader, who joined us to provide an update on the ongoing ATD work and share video clips of students talking about our well taken care of environment.
We all know that working in a well-kept, clean, safe environment is important to each of us and is the first impression of our campus – thanks to our great team.
Next week, we look forward to welcoming our new faculty as they will participate in a week-long new faculty orientation session. New faculty from across the College district will be introduced to the variety of locations which makeup St. Louis Community College, meet staff at those locations, and get ready to focus on our students.
We will be hosting an Amnesty Day on Wednesday with Better Family Life and Mid-America Transplant Services, two of the College’s community partners. Over the past several years, this innovative community service project has helped thousands of individuals who struggle with the burden of outstanding traffic tickets and misdemeanor warrants. These activities will happen in the PE building from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday is also a big day for our colleagues in the Workforce Solutions Group as they will host the third annual “State of the St. Louis Workforce” Report and Conversation at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Last years’ event was a sellout and we look forward to a repeat this year.
Work to begin the relocation of the Metro bus stop should begin within the next week and a half or so. The plan is to do some major road work on the north campus road, which runs in front of the theater building and then locate two stops along that roadway. In our survey of students on campus last year, the strong preference for the bus stop location was in that area. I know this work will create major traffic headaches and we will do our best to get information out quickly about what is happening. Stay tuned.
Tidbits:
- Just as a reminder, the College will get an update to the Blackboard system; it will be unavailable August 10-13 in order to get it ready for the new semester.
- Also, if you haven’t seen the Service Week schedule for fall, click this link: http://users.stlcc.edu/departments/fv/Service_Week_FALL2012.pdf
Enjoy what remains of the summer. I will be back to blogging August 17.
The Eco- Garden that was once the old baseball field has been moving right along. Several students have had walkers stop and ask, ” Will the garden be open to the community so they can get involved. I explained to them that the insurance problem and red tape we hope will be resolved by Spring of 2013. This summer has been extremely hot, dry, and challenging. Which has allowed the students and faculity to show FLOW’s Motile Never Quit Trying.