One commencement done and two to go this week. I can only hope the weather this week is as nice as it was in Blacksburg, VA on Friday night for the VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine event. The temperature was perfect and the energy from the 124 new doctors was high. The campus therapy dogs joined the ceremony. As you can imagine, they were a favorite of all.
A group of undergraduate studies directors, advisors, chairs, and members of the Academic Programs team met last week to talk about ensuring our students have the best experience possible, irrespective of how difficult courses might be. Our conversation focused on support structures to enable student success that range from dogs to peer mentoring to community building. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a classroom – a decade this month, in fact. These types of support structures weren’t part of my past, but times change and we need to adapt. Today’s students are resilient and with proper support can persevere through anything a rigorous curriculum throws at them.
Field day season is upon us. Chris Cochran reported a successful Strawberry Twilight at the Wye Research and Education Center last week. The event was hosted by the WREC horticulture program in partnership with Mengjun Hu and his lab. Collaborators from Penn State were on hand for a robotic spray demonstration. I am looking forward to attending a few new events this year as well as stopping in at a few I attended last year. A wheat field day at WREC is on my calendar for next week. This year will be my second year at Commodity Classic in late July. I don’t know my calendar well enough to know what else is scheduled.
I hope you get a chance to relax and enjoy the long weekend. After a long week of grading finals and projects then sending our graduates off for their next act, it will be nice to spend some quiet time remembering and honoring all those who have served our country and defended our freedoms.