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Answering the Call
BY GEORGE R. BOGGS
A few years ago, I was invited to deliver the commencement speech at Butte College in California. I can only accept a couple of these invitations each year, but it didn’t take me long to say yes to this one. I was on the founding faculty at Butte College in 1968, and the college and its people still have a special place in my heart. Severe weather and rebooked flights delayed my travel the day of commencement, but I landed in Sacramento in time to be whisked
up the freeway by campus police and dropped off just after the march near a stand
that had been erected on the football field. The commencement went smoothly and
was a wonderful celebration of student accomplishment with the usual expressions
of pride from faculty, staff, family, and friends that are often a part of community
college graduation.
As I was walking away from the field with some friends, a woman approached
and asked whether I remembered her. She looked vaguely familiar, but I did not
recall who she was. She reminded me that she was one of my very first chemistry
students and told me that she had just retired after a long career as a pediatric
respiratory therapist. She was in the audience for my remarks and wanted to thank
me for tutoring her and helping her through a difficult subject long ago.
I often think back on that day and that encounter. It was concrete evidence that
my work had made a difference for one woman—and all of the children she later
assisted. All of us in community colleges touch people’s lives. We make it possible
for people to achieve their dreams, we strengthen and protect communities, and we
are the engines of local economies.
Former U.S. Surgeon General and community college graduate Richard Carmona
told an audience at an American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) convention a few years ago his story about growing up poor in New York City. He told
us that a lot of his childhood friends were now dead or in prison. Carmona dropped
out of high school in 1967 and enlisted
in the Army. While serving in Vietnam,
he earned a GED. He had hopes of pursuing a career in medicine when his tour
ended, but discovered that his continuing education options were limited. He
enrolled at Bronx Community College
and graduated with an associate degree
in nursing. Dr. Carmona eventually
graduated at the top of his class at the
University of California Medical School
and went on to become the nation’s
top doctor. He is featured on a list of
distinguished community college alumni
posted to the AACC Web site. Each of
our distinguished alumni has achieved
amazing accomplishments during his or
her lifetime, and their successes often
can be attributed to opportunities they
seized while enrolled at community
colleges.
Community colleges have changed the
paradigm for higher education—from
one where students had to go away to
college to one in which students have
access to local, affordable, high-quality
education and professional training.
Community colleges are within commuting distance of more than 90 percent of
the U.S. population, and a growing
number of our colleges are making
education ever more accessible through
distance delivery. Community colleges,
technical colleges, technical institutes,
junior colleges, state technical community colleges, and university branch
campuses dot the American landscape
and are now expanding to other
countries.
George R. Boggs
High-profile education
The severity of the current economic
recession, along with President Obama’s
most recent call to increase American
educational attainment, has put community colleges in the national spotlight.
Major newspapers and network television news stories have focused on our
colleges and the challenges they face.
Major foundations are now investing in
our colleges, helping us to improve
student success and completion rates.
And student enrollments are surging.
In the face of increased popularity, we
are forced to deal with unprecedented
