September 5, 2008

Boy, these four-day work weeks go fast! Here we are at Friday again. I hope you all had a terrific Labor Day weekend.

I had an e-mail late last week from a young lady (19 years old) who had dropped out of school before the 9th grade and realized she needed to return to school to complete her education. She was initially interested in one of our high-school programs, and I explained she needed to get her eight high-school credits first. I told her if that wasn’t possible through her home school, she should certainly contact our Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) program to get started on her GED preparation. I congratulated her on recognizing the value of continuing her education and wished her the very best. The fact that she contacted us first made me think of our vision . . . “To be the premiere choice to prepare a world-class workforce for new and renewed careers.” The great thing about education is there is no wrong time to get started, and I’m proud that OHP has offerings to assist people at all stages of their lives.

Wednesday at the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting, I was able to present a letter of thanks to the Chamber for their very generous donation to our Scholarship Fund as a result of hosting the “Rally at the Peak” (formerly Honda Homecoming) Vendor Fair on our campus in July. I assured them it will help many of our students to continue their studies and to contribute to a strong and healthy economy in the region as high-skilled employees. Because the contract we have entered into for our House Bill 264 energy-saving loan fund does not allow our property to be used for profit-making activities, we will no longer be able to host the Vendor Fair. But I have offered the new organizers (Honda will no longer be involved) the use of our campus for other activities related to the event. My sincere thanks to the many students and staff who volunteered to assisted with the event over the past two years (and to JoEtta Spain for organizing them all!) Your willingness to help has clearly brought benefit to our students!

At Kiwanis on Thursday, our guest speaker was State Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton. Contrary to what I might have expected, she did not give a re-election speech (even though she is running for re-election) and did not give us a rundown of the mundane aspects of her position. Instead, she focused on how she has been blessed through her work to be able to advocate for adopted children and the mentally ill. She ended with a story about her missionary parents, a stranger who helped them in time of need, and how that assistance has come full circle in her life. It’s a wonderful story with an amazing twist at the end that illustrates how we never know the impact of even our smallest acts of kindness. If you Google “Violet Moon Story,” it will take you right to a U-Tube video of Judge Stratton telling the story. It’s well worth 7 ½ minutes of your time!

Speaking of Google, the Columbus Dispatch reports that September 7 is the 10th anniversary of the founding of Google . . . “before which finding the population of Uzbekistan, the state bird of Maine, and the height of Napoleon Bonaparte might have taken us more than 60 seconds.” (Know the answers to those?) How did we ever live without Google?!?

Thursday evening was the 25th annual Adult Education Graduation Ceremony for the Nancy J. Knight School of Nursing. This is always such a touching ceremony, and this year’s was no exception. At the beginning of the ceremony, I saw what appeared to be a brother and sister, probably about four and six years old respectively, squeezed into one chair in the front row of the Seminar Center. I have to say they looked bored to death during the typical introductions and speech-making (particularly mine) that started the evening off. But when their mother walked across that stage to receive her diploma, they gazed up with huge smiles in absolute awe and admiration for her. What a proud moment for that family, and what a great example she set for them as a lifelong learner!

We had a smaller group of PN graduates than usual this year (21 graduates) because it was just our daytime PN class. But next year, with combined daytime and evening classes from Main Campus and our satellites in Marysville and Urbana, we’re anticipating over 80 graduates! Think about the impact the many hundreds of graduates from this program have had on the healthcare industry in our communities over the past 25 years. Our PN staff has to be proud of that—I sure am!

It looks like we’re finally going to get some rain this weekend! I’m grateful mostly for the sake of the farmers, then for those of us who like to garden, and finally just for all of us who have lawns that look like straw mats. The cooler weather will be welcome as well. Enjoy your weekend!