New Semester

Tomorrow is the first day of the spring semester at College of the Sequoias, where I teach History. It's a community college in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. Our main campus is in the city of Visalia. I'm always genuinely excited to begin a new set of classes. I guess when I'm not it will be time to hang 'em up. I'll be teaching classes in US History since the Civil War and Western Civilization before 1648. I feel there's so much to learn from the people who preceded us. Their legacy is a big part of who we are today.

I appreciate the effort a lot of our students are making to come to college. We serve the poorest counties in the state, most of Tulare and part of Kings. A lot of our students have small children. A lot of them come from homes where the first language they learned was not English. A lot of them are the first in their families ever to go to college. Most of them have jobs, and not particularly well-paying ones. Somehow they have to juggle these responsibilities and pay for books, transportation, child care, and find time to study and come to classes. It's not easy and I respect them for it.

Those who hang in there and get a vocational certificate or Associates Degree or qualify to transfer to a four-year school enjoy a greatly enhanced income level for the rest of their lives, according to all the statistics. And a lot of the younger ones who come to us right out of high school and then shortly leave us (that $8.00 an hour job might look pretty good when you're 19) come back to us later with a whole lot of motivation. It's really neat to see those students in their 30s and 40s on the first day. They're usually among the most dedicated students you can imagine.

So I'm looking forward to the new semester, to sharing ideas and helping open people's minds to a subject I love, to helping people achieve their dreams. It's a wonderful way to make a living.