Dear Friends,

As you read this, I will be nearing the end of my 19th year in education. One of the aspects of education I have always enjoyed is the cycle that occurs every year. There is a beginning, middle, and an end. If the year didn鈥檛 go the way you had hoped, next year is always a new year, a chance to do things differently and achieve what you may have fallen short of the previous year. That being said, I鈥檝e always said, 鈥淭he school is bigger than any of us. It ran long before we were here, and it will run long after we are gone. We just hope to make an impact in our time here.鈥�

This letter finds me at the end of my year as President of the Alumni Association. It鈥檚 different from how all of my years in education have been. There isn鈥檛 a chance for a 鈥渄o-over鈥� next year if things haven鈥檛 occurred as I had hoped. It can be summed up with what has become one of my most-often used phrases: 鈥淚t is what it is.鈥� In spite of that, there are similarities to the cycle I experience in my career. There has been a definite beginning (Homecoming festivities), middle (graduation in December) and there will be an end (graduation in May). Although this year shares that with a year in education, there is one big difference. I can鈥檛 speak the same way about the Alumni Association that I do about education. The association may have run before we were here, but without us (all of us), it won鈥檛 continue to run. We need new ideas, creative minds, and energetic volunteers to do the wonderful work of our organization.

With that in mind, this final message may be directed a bit at our more recent and newest graduates. We need you. The sum of our collective parts is greater than our individual talents. The Association is bigger than all of us, but it won鈥檛 run without new members. New members that will continue to 鈥渕ake an impact in our time here.鈥� I know that the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well at 大象传媒 Western. Lend us your talents and help us to always be 鈥渇aithful, proud, and true.鈥� Go Griffs!

 

Dr. Robert Sigrist 鈥�95

Alumni Association President