Please enjoy this video, highlighting our 3rd Annual Lighting the Quad.
As I stood at the end of the tunnel at the Hoop last Saturday before commencement, a mother approached me with a message. She was full of emotion and gratitude for her daughter’s experience at Tech. She said faculty members had supported her daughter in extraordinary ways, and she credited our care for her daughter’s success.
If I had interviewed other parents and students there, I’m sure I would have heard similar stories. Student success drives us, and I don’t want you to miss the message that this year we entered a special time in our history.
We’ve planned for the future, now this is the moment that we enter the future and serve students to our fullest potential.
We are writing the historic chapter that changes the course of Tech’s story with the support of our Board of Trustees and our commitment to students.
We have taken significant steps toward demystifying the process of going to college, paying for college, finishing college, and having a successful career.
With our revised mandatory fee structure and significant reduction in our out-of-state tuition rate, we have a clearer, more compelling message. Combined with a full-time tuition model under discussion, you see a coherent, bold set of transformative approaches.
We are fulfilling the best predictions for locally governed institutions when they were formed, showing we can be agile and responsive for our students. The changes will lead to a campus more diverse in many ways.
Next year, we will launch our Student Success Center, a student-centered, comfortable place to serve freshmen and undeclared students. We are putting the finishing touches on spaces we’ve dreamed of for years and planning a grand opening celebration for the new student fitness center. Next, we will see the lab sciences building auditoriums open their doors.
I can’t help but think of Jake Hoot and how it seems in just a few weeks on “The Voice” he became a star. The truth is Jake became a star through a long journey of living, working and singing each day with purpose. But there’s a moment where the world stops and celebrates that your name is called and you are changed forever.
As we close the semester and year, thank you for your hard work. It’s our moment to celebrate Tech and the changes that are transforming the university for the better.
Wings Up!
