At Lorain County Community College, it’s my goal to provide all people with the opportunity to earn a degree that helps them fulfill their dreams. For today’s college student, getting from the start line to the finish line is rarely a straight road. For most students, there are stops, starts, zigzags and barriers along the way. The things that can help students keep going are personal connections with someone on campus paired with the right support services. As president, that’s why I’ve made it a priority at LCCC that our culture of caring delivers each student an equitable opportunity to earn a degree. It’s about LCCC being student-ready.

A Dream That Keeps Truckin’

For more than a decade, Shontae Jackson from Lorain took LCCC classes as her schedule and her life circumstances permitted. As a mother of three children, she had a lot on her plate, but she dreamed of owning her own food truck. When a life change caused her to get serious about completing her degree, she returned to LCCC determined to make her dream a reality. While she had the personal commitment and drive to succeed, she also benefited from a mentorship from LCCC’s culinary program director Adam Schmith who saw in her a spark for creating complicated dishes with ease. By connecting with LCCC’s student business support center, NEO LaunchNET, Shontae soon found herself the owner and operator of the Steel Magnolia food truck. And when she needed help staffing the truck, her classmates in the culinary program volunteered their time and skills to support their friend and classmate.

SAILing Past Road Blocks

When Jared Jones graduated from Vermilion High School in 2015 he felt unsure about starting college. When he applied to LCCC’s Student Accelerating in Learning (SAIL) program, he found the customized support he was looking for. Jared was excelling in his courses when he was faced with a serious heart condition that required two surgeries. He then was forced to deal with the death of two grandparents –  all in the same semester. Setbacks like these can cause a student to leave college and not return. For Jared, it was his connections with his instructors and his SAIL advisor, Cynthia Arrendondo, who helped him move past the road blocks he faced and continue his education. He’s now back in the classroom and maintaining his high GPA on the way to earning an associate of arts degree.

A Dreamer with a Goal

Corina Barranco was only 5 years old when she and her family walked from Mexico into the United States and eventually settled in Lorain, hoping for a better life.  As she completed her senior year at Lorain High School in May of 2018, she dreamed of attending LCCC to study police science. Corina excelled in her high school classes and qualified for an LCCC scholarship, but she was afraid to apply. As a DACA recipient, or Dreamer, she faces unique challenges with financial aid. Corina’s story was chronicled in Time’s story “A Dreamer’s Life,” including the hardships she faced in funding her college education. The attention received widespread attention and community members flooded the LCCC Foundation office with financial donations to ensure Corina would have the opportunity to earn a college degree. The monetary support was so great, in fact, that a new LCCC scholarship was created specifically for students like Corina. Thanks to the community and our financial services team, Corina is now enrolled in her first semester at LCCC.

Like Shontae, Jared and Corina, each student’s experience is unique, and each person requires individual support to help them reach their goals. At LCCC, providing equitable, tailored support has been a hallmark of our campus culture for years. The populations we serve at LCCC are as varied as our program offerings and include students of all ages, races and socio-economic demographics, and many are tasked with nontraditional college student roles, such as raising a family and working full-time jobs. In fact, research shows that nearly 74 percent of all undergraduate students in the country have at least one factor that qualifies them as “nontraditional” students. When these students enter the classroom, they bring with them all the qualities that make them unique, again confirming that a one-size-fits-all approach does not apply in higher education. This objective takes us back to the roots of LCCC, which was founded in 1963 with the goal of creating equity of opportunity for everyone in Lorain County through higher education.

Moving the Needle

By proactively meeting students where they are in their personal and academic journey, the college has increased the overall number of degrees and certificates awarded by 79 percent since 2011. Through intentional design and a culture of caring and support, the number of degrees awarded to Hispanic/Latino students increased by 149 percent during that time, and the number of degrees awarded to black/African American students increased 123 percent.

While I’m proud that we are moving the needle, we recognize that there is still a distance to go as we continue to shift our focus to equity of outcomes.

 

With our focus on equity and individualized service, we invited Dr. Tia McNair to our fall Convocation to share her views on the need for higher education institutions to become student-ready. Taking the dated view that students must be college-ready prior to enrolling in courses and flipping it around, McNair challenges each college to become student-ready and be prepared to support individuals in the ways they need. By changing the focus and responsibility from the student to the college, we are able to laser-focus our sights on continuing to develop our culture of caring at LCCC.

It’s my belief that every student’s dream matters, no matter where they begin their journey or what barriers they may face along the way. By focusing on equity, our campus is able to break down barriers that students face while also bolstering their potential and confidence – leading to a positive future for individuals and a prosperous future for our community.

And that’s what it’s all about: providing the right support for each student so they can focus on achieving their dreams.

Have you experienced a culture of caring, or are you working toward equity? Tell me about your experience on Twitter at @PresBallinger. I’d love to hear from you.

Read more about the students we serve at LCCC on our new stories page: www.lorainccc.edu/stories.

There are moments in time that leave marks on your heart – a few split seconds so remarkable that you know you have to take a minute to breathe it all in. I’ve been lucky enough to have quite a few of those moments lately.

The most recent of these was during Lorain County Community College’s 54th Commencement ceremony.  We celebrated a class of 2,018 graduates – yes, 2,018 graduates in the year 2018! – and the many discoveries they’ve made about themselves along their path to a degree. As we cheered for the graduates, and the final glimmer of confetti hit the floor, I found myself truly overcome by the elation in the room and the great pride I feel for our students. Everything our students work toward culminates at graduation – the long hours studying, the times they pushed through doubt and the support they receive from our campus. LCCC is the melting pot of our community, and as I looked out on the cheering crowd of graduates comprised of all ages, races and socio-economic statuses, I was filled with joy for their success and hope for the future our community.

Earlier this year, I felt that same sense of esteem when I heard LCCC was announced as the national winner of the Award of Excellence in Student Success from the American Association of Community Colleges.  I was in attendance at the AACC conference in Dallas when our college’s name was called out and I’ll never forget that feeling of delight for our college, for our students and for our community. At LCCC, student success is everyone’s business and we’ve infused that focus into every facet of the student experience, from redesigned advising models to creating program and career pathways that always keep the students’ end goals in sight – while saving them time and money along the way.

That mindset translates to LCCC students having the highest three-year degree completion rate in Ohio for two years running. Additionally, students who transfer from LCCC to a four-year university have a higher rate of degree completion than students who did all four years at a typical university. That focus on student success directly led to our largest ever graduating class this year, and I know they will continue to discover paths for themselves.

After they graduate or transfer, our students go on to great things. Many keep in touch with me – and I love that! Some students, however, have phenomenal stories that I have discovered almost by accident. One such person is Michael Brown, who was a featured speaker at the American Association of Community College Trustees conference that I attended last October. I had never met Michael Brown and I was certainly not expecting the chain of events that unfolded. During his remarks, I heard him mention the state of Ohio, and The Ohio State University. He then mentioned that he began his education at a community college in Northeast Ohio – and I just knew at that moment that he was an #LCCCProud alum – even before he announced that he grew up in Grafton and attended LCCC.

After Brown’s speech, I introduced myself to him and heard the amazing story of how he started at LCCC and is now the president of Barrick Gold USA. After attending LCCC in the late 1970s, Brown earned a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and an MBA from The George Washington University. He worked in the US Treasury and now for the largest gold mining company in the world – and yet he regretted that he did not earn his associate degree from LCCC before he transferred to OSU.

Brown joined me on stage during LCCC’s Commencement ceremony and delivered a keynote speech that was thought provoking, inspiring and downright funny! He encouraged the graduates to be bold, to make a stand for social justice, and to never forget their roots. During Commencement, I presented him with his associate of arts degree from his first alma mater, LCCC. Seeing the genuine happiness and joy on his face was a moment I will not soon forget.

Brown told the crowd that the 2018 Commencement ceremony was actually the second LCCC graduation he had attended. While a student at LCCC, he served as a student senator and was required to attend the 1978 graduation ceremony, even though he was a class short of earning a degree himself. The sting he felt 40 years ago as he watched his classmates cross the stage and earn their degrees was still present, he said. Even though he went on to earn advanced degrees, he always wished he had completed his first degree. With his continued college coursework, Brown met the requirements to earn his associate degree and it was an honor for me to a part of his full-circle moment, as he received the degree that began his path of discovery.

All of these life-is-good moments I’ve had over the past several months all come back to student success – the core of who we are at LCCC. I believe that every student’s dream matters and helping students reach their goals in a quick and affordable manner is the hallmark of our campus. I look forward to what the realized dreams of our graduates will bring to our campus, our community and our world.

If you’ve had a life-is-good moment lately, I’d like to hear about it. Tweet me @PresBallinger or email me at president@lorainccc.edu.

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, I’m reminded of the sentiment that has become wildly popular in recent years:

She believed she could, so she did.

A woman’s mind is an unrelenting force once it is set on an objective. But before a woman can reach the “so she did,” she must first begin with “she believed she could.” As president of your community college, I make an effort to encourage everyone – especially women – to reach for their dreams because every dream matters.

How do we help a woman move from the first step to goal achievement? The answer, I believe, is in building a strong support system. In fact, I propose we update that adage to recognize the vital component of support:

She believed she could, she built a support system, and so she did.

I recently had the honor of meeting Sharonda Hall, a woman from Lorain. Over the past two years, Sharonda has changed her life – and went from making $12 an hour at factory job to making more than $30 an hour at Columbia Gas and becoming a first-time homeowner. I asked Sharonda what the difference is in her life between two years ago and today. Her answer: Believing in herself.

She believed she could …

Like most of us, Sharonda’s life has had many ups and downs. She attended LCCC right after high school in 2001 but left before earning a degree because life happened. She started back several years later, but withdrew due to family obligations. By 2016, she was in her 30s and had two children depending on her. She was earning just above minimum wage at a factory, but her expenses didn’t leave much left over for planning for the future.

“It paid the bills but it wasn’t enough to move forward,” she told me about her paychecks.

She felt stuck. And, more than anything, she felt alone. When she was younger, she said, she had support from all around her. Once she was an adult with children, that support faded.

When a friend sent her information about the WE3 program, she was skeptical.

“At first, I didn’t have an open mind. I thought I didn’t have time for this,” she told me. Furthermore, she worried that a decade-old felony on her record would prevent her from finding a better job.

The WE3 (Women Empowered, Educated and Employed) program is a United Way community collaborative focused on helping hard-working single moms increase their earning capacity and become economically secure. LCCC is the lead partner in the 12-organization partnership. More than 30 percent of Lorain County families headed by single mothers are living in poverty. The six-week WE3 program seeks to empower these women with the tools to improve their economic condition. At the end of each WE3 reporting period, more than 50 percent of the participants find gainful employment and several enroll in college or vocational training. In 2017, 58 women completed the WE3 program, participating in three cohorts held throughout the year.

Helping these women improve their families’ current economic conditions is critical for the future. A study by the Equality of Opportunity project found that a child born in Lorain County to a family with an income in the bottom 20 percent has just a five percent chance of making it to the top of the income ladder by the time they reach adulthood. (I talked about this study in depth in a previous blog.)

She built a support system …

What Sharonda found when she walked through the doors at WE3 was a community of women ready to lift her up.

“The women at WE3 were friendly, welcoming and supportive. Seeing that there are people who want me to be successful, who embrace me and my kids: that experience was like nothing I’d ever felt before,” she said.

For those engulfed in generational poverty, believing they are capable of moving up the economic ladder can be a challenging first step. That’s where community organizations make all the difference. It’s my personal belief community colleges and other organizations must meet people where they are; to adjust and adapt to the needs of the students and people they serve. In Sharonda’s case, that meant WE3 meeting in her community, and providing the supports she needed, such as a childcare and job training.

The immediate support from WE3, including from Cynthia Andrews, who at the time was the executive director of Oberlin Community Services and is now president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Lorain County, and LaToya Miller, WE3 project coordinator at LCCC, helped Sharonda shift her mindset from feeling stuck to feeling empowered.

“Cindy and the others saw in me what I hadn’t seen in myself. They helped me become a positive person,” Sharonda said.

WE3 participants undergo job skill preparation and learn to look for jobs that may be outside of their current comfort zones. When the group heard about job openings for field technicians at Columbia Gas, Sharonda was intrigued. She likes working with her hands and finding solutions to problems. The fact that the position came with a company car was an added bonus, she said.

The application process was rigorous. Math test. Personality test. Strength test. She made it through the initial rounds and was invited to orientation.

“Here I was in a room of 50 people, and I was the only woman,” Sharonda recalled. “But it was okay. I knew what to expect because WE3 prepared me for being the only woman in that room.”

She landed the job and began work in April 2017. She’s already had several promotions and said she is far from reaching her maximum potential. At her workplace, Sharonda’s found another support system.

“Columbia Gas is a family. They want you to succeed. This is not a job for right now, it’s a career for a lifetime,” she said.

And so she did.

Sharonda bought a house last year. Prior to WE3, homeownership hadn’t crossed her mind. With her career at Columbia Gas, she found herself thinking of buying a home, but she didn’t know where to start. Again, she turned to her mentors at WE3 who guided her in the process.

The day I met Sharonda was her daughter Ariana’s 18th birthday. Ariana is a senior in Lorain County Early College High School – a tuition-free, four-year combined high school and college experience located on the LCCC campus. When Ariana graduates in May, she’ll earn her high school diploma and an associate degree at the same time, and I know that Sharonda will be in the front row cheering her on. Ariana will be the first in their family to earn a college degree. She’s been accepted to The Ohio State University and will study international business and accounting. After she crosses the stage at graduation, the family will come home to celebrate.

“We will have her graduation party at our home,” Sharonda said with pride.

 

Now that Sharonda has found success through WE3, LCCC and her employment, she is ready to be a support system for other women. She encourages the single mothers she knows to give WE3 a try – it could be the push they need to start believing in themselves. And once a woman believes in herself, anything is possible.

“WE3 means empowering women for success. It means building a sisterhood,” she said.

“I used to worry if I would be able to pay my bills. I worried if I would be able to eat. Now I’m not stressed,” she told me. “WE3 changed my life. I believe in myself now and this is just the beginning for me.”

In other words: Sharonda believed she could, she built a support system, and so she did.

Are you building a support system? Or are you supporting other women? I want to hear your story! You can find me on Twitter, Instagram or email me at president@lorainccc.edu.

As you know, it is my philosophy that every student’s dream matters. I believe the role of Lorain County Community College is to help our students achieve their dreams – no matter what the student’s challenges are.

As we prepared for the start of spring semester, our campus hosted David Dodson, president of MDC, Inc. and a leading figure in the research of social and economic mobility. Dodson hosted sessions for both our campus faculty and staff, as well as with key community stakeholders. He began each session with the simple question, “Do you believe that where a person is born should determine where they end up in life?”

The question seemed simple enough. Of course, where a person begins their life should not define where they end up. And yet, that’s exactly what we are faced with here in Northeast Ohio and in many other areas around the country.  In fact, a child born in Lorain County to a family with an income in the bottom 20 percent has only a five percent chance of making it to the top of the income ladder by the time they reach adulthood. A five percent chance. That statistic stopped me in my tracks. If social and economic mobility is the American Dream, then the American Dream is in serious jeopardy right here in Lorain County.

See the map and full data on the Equality of Opportunity Project website.

Thankfully, a college degree can be the golden ticket out of poverty. According to research by the Pew Charitable Trust, earning a post-secondary credential dramatically lessens the chances that a person born at the bottom will remain at the bottom. Without a college degree, there is a 47 percent chance the person will stay stuck in the bottom half of income distribution. By earning a college degree, the likelihood of remaining at the bottom shrinks to just 10 percent. Read the Pew Charitable Trusts’ full report on economic mobility.

Lorain County Community College was founded to serve the community and provide access to higher education for Lorain County. These statistics on social mobility drive home more than ever the importance that all people in our county must have an equitable opportunity to achieve their goals through higher education – regardless of their race, age or economic position.

And while there is a long way to go, we have made great progress in recent years in helping local people access the education needed to reach their goals and provide for a better future for their families.

In the past 25 years, degree attainment in Lorain County has risen from 19 percent of Lorain County residents with an associate degree or higher to 33 percent of residents with a degree. To achieve this 14 percent increase, we’ve revamped advising models and restructured developmental courses to better serve the needs of students and decrease the amount of time it takes to earn a degree or credential. Additionally, the College Credit Plus program at LCCC has expanded course offerings and partnerships with local school districts, leading to 43 percent of Lorain County high school seniors to graduates with college credit in 2017 – credits they earned for free.

These statistics are great, but it’s the real people behind them that matter the most. Last month, I met Thomas Smith and his father, Christopher, at the Lorain County Urban League’s holiday luncheon. Christopher is a disabled veteran and told me that he used to work at the college setting up chairs in our conference center many years ago. After working here, he became inspired to go back to school and eventually encouraged his children to earn college degrees — and did they listen! His two daughters, Parris and Chynna, earned college degrees while still in high school. Parris graduated from Lorain County Early College High School and Chynna earned two LCCC associate degrees while she was a student at Clearview High School.

Thomas told me that he had been attending Cleveland State University when he needed supplemental income to support his journey. He turned to LCCC and our real estate program. He took real estate classes on weekends while going to school full time at CSU and holding down an internship. Talk about a drive to succeed! He told me, “Not everyone is made to play football or even sell houses, but we’re all meant to do something great and LCCC helps make it happen.”

The Smith family shows what can be possible when the proper supports are available to provide an equitable experience for all.  As we continue to move the needle on degree attainment, there are areas that deserve additional attention to equity – especially in helping minority and Pell eligible students complete their degrees. To ensure equity for all students, LCCC has created the Equity for Students Team (EST) to oversee and monitor the implementation priorities, strategies, and interventions that are intentional on closing the achievement gaps for students of color and underserved populations.

As we confront the obstacles hindering equity and social mobility in our county, Dodson reminded us that we may face a new set of problems – he calls these adaptive challenges – that arise as we shift away from the status quo. The answer to these challenges, he says, is community collaboration between organizations. Lorain County is home to number of outstanding organizations that work closely with LCCC.

During our session with Dodson, a panel of local community leaders participated in a discussion moderated by Michael Collins, vice president of Jobs for the Future. During the discussion, Cynthia Andrews, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Lorain County; Lorain El Centro Executive Director Victor Leandry and Lorain City Schools CEO David Hardy, Jr., all confirmed that residents — especially those in poverty — require connections and partnerships to succeed.

LCCC is committed to doing our part to pursue our vision of empowering a thriving a community for all. If you would like to become a part of this ongoing conversation, please visit www.lorainccc.edu/connection and share your information. I look forward to hearing from you.

Educational institutions focus much of their energy on making sure a student is college-ready, but it’s my personal belief that a college also needs to be student-ready. We need to be prepared to help students overcome any barrier they face while creating a welcoming community that supports every learner. So, when I learned that 13.3 percent of people in our county are struggling with hunger, I knew Lorain County Community College had to do more to help students overcome this barrier.

And while more than one in 10 people dealing with hunger is far too many, data suggests that community college students experience hunger at a much higher rate. A study by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab found that hunger and food insecurity among community college students is more prevalent than previously thought – with up to 40 percent of community college students reporting that they regularly experience hunger or food insecurity. The March 2017 study surveyed more than 33,000 students at 70 community colleges in 24 states and defined food insecurity as the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or the ability to acquire such foods in a socially acceptable manner.

These statistics certainly resonate on our campus. At a recent open forum, I asked students to identify the largest barriers they face in achieving their educational goals. Hunger was one of the most frequently cited barriers and at that moment, I knew that even though we offer an on-campus food pantry, called Commodore Cupboard, we weren’t doing enough to address this crisis. Our students often have to decide between buying food or paying rent. Students should never have their academic efforts undermined by the effects of hunger. Addressing basic needs for students is vital to their degree completion and overall quality of life, and it’s our responsibility to help.

The positive side of illuminating this crisis facing many of our students is that it is sparking action. LCCC students recently decided that fighting hunger on our campus is a priority. And so, together with students and the entire campus community, we issued the #HungerFreeLCCC challenge and asked students, faculty and staff to donate food, money or volunteer time to Commodore Cupboard. Almost immediately the pledges began pouring in, demonstrating the caring community LCCC embodies.

Helping the college in this effort is Chicks Against Hunger, a grassroots organization, that hosts food drives and works with food pantries throughout Lorain County. The organization donated more than 450 pounds of soup to for our #HungerFreeLCCC challenge. Not long ago, I met Kim McDonald, a co-founder of Chicks Against Hunger, and she told me about her dream of creating a hunger free Lorain County. It’s my hope that our work on campus will create a ripple that spreads throughout all of Lorain County and eliminates food insecurity for everyone.

The results of the #HungerFreeLCCC challenge were unveiled during our Commodores Care Day earlier this month and I can’t tell you how proud I am of our campus. In just a few short hours, the LCCC campus donated more than 3,000 pounds of food and more than $3,700 to benefit Commodore Cupboard. An additional 28 people pledged to volunteer at least 10 hours at Commodore Cupboard to help serve students in need. These donations will go a long way to helping Commodore Cupboard expand its hours and create more a holistic approach to ending hunger on campus.

As we move into the holiday season, our campus continues to support the Commodore Cupboard. At a recent event for the LCCC Culinary Arts Institute, the donation tables overflowed with nonperishable food items for Commodore Cupboard. And I know the support will continue to grow as our campus community rises up to support students in need.

If you would like to join us in fighting hunger on campus, please donate to Commodore Cupboard at www.lorainccc.edu/cupboard.

Fall semester is well under way and right now more than 11,000 students are hard at work in LCCC classes. These students are bravely taking steps toward improving their quality of life, providing for their families, and pursuing their dreams. And judging by the excitement surrounding our faculty and staff this semester, our campus community is ready and willing to help all of our students succeed.

There has been a lot of buzz lately within the higher education world surrounding the phrase “student success.” At Lorain County Community College, we have identified student success as our top priority – but many of you may be asking, what does this really mean? We have learned that for our diverse student body, the term “success” can evolve during the course of a student’s life. At LCCC, we personalize our approach to each student – helping them identify their goals and define what success means to them.

There is a lot of behind the scenes work going on daily to ensure our students’ success through innovations in teaching, redesigning advising, and enhancing student services and career planning. Our recently unveiled nine academic and career pathways offer a much more streamlined and personalized approach for students that connects them to their own personal advisor from day one. But the real magic happens when our faculty and staff connect to our students on a personal level.

Take Kenneth Glynn for example. Ken spent 10 years in the United States Army and 19 years working in the steel industry before starting his higher education journey through LCCC’s SAIL (Students Accelerating in Learning) program. At first, the Elyria resident wasn’t sure about college, but with the help of SAIL assistance and his advisors’ and instructors’ support, he is well on his way to achieving his goals.

Ken addressed a group of LCCC faculty and staff in August where he shared that he and his classmates, including former co-workers from a steel plant who were laid off at the same time as him, simply would not have made it through math without their LCCC instructor, Carolyn Gang. Carolyn went above and beyond to assist them – even staying after class and tutoring on Saturdays to ensure they understood the material.

“I had never been exposed to any of this math before in my life. It had been 30 years since I had been in school,” Ken said. “When I was first in Mrs. Gang’s class, it was like a roller coaster ride for me. The first hill I took, I yelled and screamed and wanted to get off the ride immediately. But Mrs. Gang had a compassion for us older students in the class. Without her support and the support of the SAIL program, I never would have earned my associate degree.”

Carolyn claims she was the one being motivated by her students. “Seeing their raw determination to master math they hadn’t looked at in 30 years, or in some cases had never even seen, made me just as determined to see them succeed and complete their degrees,” she said. “These students were a real source of inspiration to me.”

Although he was unsure of himself at the beginning of his studies, Ken said he gained more confidence each semester. He attributes his success to his “LCCC angels” including his advisor, Ursula Delahunty.

Ken graduated in May 2017 with his associate degree in business administration and is continuing his education through LCCC’s University Partnership with Cleveland State University to earn a bachelor of arts in organizational leadership. He is the first person in his family to earn a college degree. I am so proud of Ken’s hard work, as well as our faculty and staff who rallied around him. These are the stories that truly represent the heart of who we are as an institution and why I am so honored to be serving as president of this great community college.

June serves as a time of reflection for me – the academic year has ended and I am quickly approaching the completion of my first year as president of this great institution. We have made great strides within the past year regarding student completion and access to education, and our work is supported by a changing national perspective that people are viewing community colleges as their first-choice option.

A recent survey by New America asked 1,600 adult Americans about their views on higher education and it demonstrated the following results:

• 83 percent believe community colleges contribute to a strong U.S. workforce
• 82 percent believe community colleges are worth the cost
• 80 percent believe community colleges prepare people to be successful

These survey responses truly represent a changing mindset regarding community colleges. Throughout the country, individuals are recognizing the important role community colleges play in the success of our communities and our nation.

At LCCC, student completion is the number one priority of our Vision 2020 Strategic Plan. Recent data shows that LCCC leads the state’s 23 community colleges with a rate of 61 percent of first-time students earning degrees by the end of their third year, persisting at the same institution or successfully transferring to a four-year institution. The state average for community colleges is 47 percent.

We’re proud that 1,532 more students earned their associate degrees last month and another 321 students earned their bachelor’s or master’s degree through LCCC’s University Partnership. While these numbers certainly demonstrate the impact our student completion focus is having on our community, it is the individual stories that really speak to the power of this community college to change lives.

The students we serve are the reason I am passionate every day about LCCC, and I hold strong to my philosophy that every student’s dream matters. Our students are remarkable – and I am so proud of each and every one who has committed to advancing their future through hard work and education. In case you haven’t heard, more than 1,500 LCCC students made the Dean’s List this spring!

I invite you to spend a few minutes watching this short video featuring five of our 2017 LCCC grads. I’m sure you’ll be as inspired as I am by their stories.

As we celebrate Community College Month in April, I think it’s important to recognize and honor our nation’s unique institutions of higher education.

The nation’s America’s approximate 1,200 community colleges are considered by higher education scholars to be one of America’s greatest educational successes of the latter half of the 20th century. From the 1947 Truman Commission Report that mandated equal opportunities for higher education as a part of a national social justice agenda to 21st century workforce development efforts, community colleges are recognized as portals to opportunities. Our missions during the past 60 years have expanded from the traditional lower division transfer courses and vocational education to take on a more significant community role as a catalyst for change and problem solving. The community colleges’ social mission extended their reach beyond education to ensure that a focus was placed upon social and economic justice.

Today, more than half of all undergraduate students in the country are enrolled in community colleges. LCCC alone has served more than 350,000 students since 1963! What began as a movement to train workers for unfilled jobs has emerged into 1,462 innovative and dynamic community colleges adapting to serve the changing needs of their own communities across the country.

Many of these community colleges are connected through the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) whose annual conference I am attending this week in New Orleans, La., alongside representatives from 1,200 other community colleges. I am honored to be a presenter at this conference, sharing the impact community colleges and the many successes of our students.

Joining me here at the AACC conference is one of our college’s very own success stories, Daniel Truitt. Daniel received the highest score of all community college students in Ohio in the All-USA Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team competition. As the top student from Ohio, he was named a 2017 New Century Scholar, one of only 50 students in the country to win the award. He received a scholarship and was recognized at the AACC Presidents Breakfast Monday morning. At the state level, Daniel was named to the All-Ohio First Academic Team.

As the valedictorian of Firelands High School’s class of 2014, Daniel Truitt’s options for selecting a college were wide open. While taking LCCC courses through a dual-enrollment option called College Credit Plus during high school, Daniel met LCCC Professor Kathy Durham who piqued his interest in biology. Daniel told me, “Dr. Durham’s courses sparked something in me that I didn’t know was there. When I found out that I could continue with Dr. Durham at LCCC and earn a bachelor’s degree in biology through LCCC’s University Partnership, it was like all the pieces came together.”

By taking full advantage of College Credit Plus and LCCC’s University Partnership, Daniel earned a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University in December 2016 – at the ripe old age of 20!

He has accumulated zero debt and a lifetime of experiences, preparing him for his next adventure into medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine this fall. I am so proud of Daniel and can’t wait to see what he is able to accomplish with his life.

LCCC student Brandon Holcomb from Lorain also won national recognition as a Silver Scholar in the All-USA competition. He was also named to the All-Ohio First Academic Team. Brandon is a senior in the Lorain County Early College High School, a four-year high school located on our campus that provides an amazing opportunity for motivated students to earn their high school diploma and associate degree simultaneously – and tuition-free. Brandon is doing amazing work as part of the Early Scientists HIV research group on campus.

Daniel and Brandon will both march in the LCCC Commencement ceremony on May 13. I can’t wait to shake their hands as they cross the stage!

Lorain County Community College, like many other institutions throughout our country, has adapted to serve the needs of our community. With the changes within our shifting industry base, we increased targeted skills-based training programs that prepare students for unfilled and high-paying jobs. Additionally, we’ve encouraged students to consider making their own job through entrepreneurship and have created a broad-based entrepreneurial support network. LCCC’s robust portfolio of resources for entrepreneurs and innovators led the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship to recognize LCCC as one of five community colleges across the country with an award for demonstrating excellence in entrepreneurship. I had the honor of accepting the award today at the AACC conference. That’s part of the fabric at LCCC … to grow talent and grow jobs.

From our roots, our number one priority was to meet the needs of our community and I am proud to be part of driving that legacy forward.

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, I’m reminded of the wonderful contributions women have made to the creation of Lorain County Community College and the success of our college and community. The advocacy efforts of Lorain County’s League of Women Voters in 1963 led to your community college receiving the charter for the first permanent community college campus in the state of Ohio. It was this early group of women, along with local business and community leaders, who saw the potential for education to improve our community, create leaders, and empower women.

Earlier this week I was honored to be the guest speaker for our local WIMODAUGHSIS (Wives, Daughters and Sisters of Master Masons) chapter. I was invited by Jane Norton, one of the College’s longest supporters and champions, and I was delighted to engage with this wonderful group of dedicated women in a conversation about the state of higher education in our county. Similar to the League of Women Voters, WIMODAUGHSIS has a rich history of supporting local causes that foster equality and provide assistance to those in need and I was impressed at how deeply this group truly cares about advancing women.

Over the past five decades, more than 100,000 women have earned college credits and advanced in their lives thanks to their education from LCCC. While the numbers are grand, it’s the woman behind each number that I believe is so important. Women like Patty Rone, Kristin Hohman, and Char Wray.

I met Patty two years ago when she was a Licensed Practical Nurse working in home health care and wanted to get ahead in her career and in life by earning her RN degree. Her determination, perseverance, dedication, and commitment to overcoming barriers have inspired me beyond words. Equally inspiring is Kelly Gruscinski, who works in our Office of Accessibility Services, and partnered with Patty to help her cross the finish line this past December to complete her degree. I was thrilled when Patty called to share her news that she passed her NCLEX exam in February and is now employed as an RN as Mercy Health Center.

Kristin serves as Editor-in-Chief of our Collegian student newspaper. I’ve gotten to know her throughout the past year as she and I each assumed our respective new roles. Earlier this month she interviewed me about my views on Women’s History Month, and I decided to turn the question around and ask her about who has inspired her at LCCC. She immediately lit up and told me about an experience during her first semester here when she connected with faculty member Tammy Bosley, who teaches Communications. After a hiatus from attending a university several years earlier, Kristin wasn’t sure how she might fit in at LCCC. The tremendous support that Kristin felt from Tammy that first semester and the continued mentoring have demonstrated to her that women supporting women has made a meaningful difference in her career decision.

We are fortunate to have many women in teaching and leadership positions at the College, as well as several women serving on our Foundation and District Boards. Char Wray, a member of our Foundation’s Board of Directors and a member of our Health Careers Advisory Committee, was named President of University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center in 2015. As the first woman to be appointed to this role, Char is truly a role model for women in our community. And wouldn’t you know – Char got her start right here at LCCC where she earned her associate of applied science degree in nursing. She continued her education through our University Partnership, earning her bachelor of science in nursing from The University of Akron and enabling her to advance her career.

Patty, Kelly, Kristin, Tammy and Char embody what this month is all about – empowering women to succeed in life and positively impact our society.

One of my personal goals as president is to ensure we are doing our part to create leaders – within our College, our community and our students, and I welcome your ideas on how we can continue supporting those facing challenges in their lives – regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, or ethnicity. Every student’s dream matters and it is our responsibility to continue creating equal opportunity for all.