Goal is to change the world for the better
Lance Bolton

Last fall as I arrived at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado, and as my presidency got underway, I talked a good deal about the need to turn around our enrollment. We had experienced three consecutive years of declines and last year made the fourth.

Although I wasn't an expert at much of anything here yet, it was clear to me that solving the enrollment riddle was critical to regaining our financial health and more importantly to restoring our morale and our pride in this great institution.

Today I am proud to report that our enrollment is up for this fall. We tally a final enrollment number after the last day to drop courses and this fall that number included an increase of 77 full-time students.

Our final number won't be known until the semester is complete because we add enrollment through community education programs and other short courses throughout the semester. The great news though is that our enrollment is definitely up this year.

I am especially proud of this accomplishment because it represents a terrific team effort at NJC. Our academic departments, recruiting team, residence hall team, coaches, counseling office, financial aid team, advising staff, and even grounds crew teams all pitched in with extraordinary efforts to help us achieve this turnaround.

This turnaround is definitely extraordinary. Last year at this time I was receiving reports indicating we had lost 64 full-time students versus the previous year. Therefore to not only stem the loss of students but also to increase student enrollment significantly really has been a terrific accomplishment for NJC.

I can feel that sense of accomplishment on campus today. Classrooms are close to capacity, our staff is gaining confidence, and faculty are ebullient. The beneficiaries of course are our students who find helpful dedicated people surrounding their activities.

I've been writing emails to some of our new freshmen at NJC this fall about their experiences so far. Here are some of the responses:

"Thank you for checking on me, my experience here has been great. I meet lots of new people along with keeping up with old friends. I'm adjusting to dorm life, the heat was not fun, but now that it is cooling off, it should get better. I get along well with the resident assistants (RA's) and hall director in Dowls; they are very nice and easy to talk to. My classes along with livestock judging are keeping me busy, however everything is going well."

"Hello, I'm getting along really well at NJC so far. I really like my classes and I love living in Herbie. All of us are like a family, we help each other with homework and hang out and have fun together. I've enjoyed being on my own and away from my family for the time being but I'm sure I will be more than ready to go home for Thanksgiving."

"This semester is going really well so far. I really enjoy Sterling. I am not taking any equine classes yet, I am trying to get those hard classes out of the way. But the classes that I am taking I really enjoy."

"College is turning out to be what I thought and I enjoy the chance of broadening my horizons and meeting new people."

Four typical students in their own words telling about their experience so far at NJC and they have all been positive. They've all overcome hurdles to be here engaged in learning and improving their lives. Their positive responses are a testament to our faculty and staff; it's a tangible result of the dedication we display everyday to our students.

It can become easy to drive past the NJC campus and take for granted our old buildings, almost all of which date from the unfortunate architectural fads of the 1960's, and take the institution for granted as well. It's easy to see the outside of the buildings and how they remain the same day after day and year after year.

No wonder then, that many people in our region don't really grasp the great work that occurs inside these buildings.

Scott Thompson is a professor of psychology and head of our Humanities Department. He typifies our great attitudes as he never misses the opportunity to tell anyone why we exist at NJC: "We are here to change the world."

And we do, in our own small way, every day. That is the joy of being a teacher whether in kindergarten, middle school, or college. You have the opportunity each and every day to change the world.

What I'm really enjoying right now at NJC is that I see people living this message who are actively engaged in changing the world every day. Like great teachers everywhere, we are engaged in not only teaching the course material, but also in shaping lives, developing character, and building the foundation of strong citizens.

If you haven't done so lately, give us another look, a deeper look. Find out how you can be part of this great college by studying here or supporting our work.

NJC is a great asset to

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