A time to give thanks

The great German mystic and philosopher, Meister Eckhart, once wrote that “if the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”

We have so much that preoccupies us today that it is easy to take for granted those simple joys that are everyday gifts. I hope never to be so ungracious that I fail to express my thanks to:

- all of the students who trust us with their education
- all of the family members and communities that trust us with their students
-all of the faculty and staff who work tirelessly every day for the success of our students and our college
-all of our government officials, private sector partners, and colleagues around the state who help us to do our good work
-all of our donors and investors who help give us the resources we need
-all of the public safety officers, security personnel, and service men and women who help make us safe enough to do our work
I do appreciate the mission that Germanna Community College serves, but I appreciate even more those who make that mission real through their work every day of every year.

Thank you.

David

Happy birthday, Veteran's Day. Celebration of service, sacrifice and heroism is 90 years old today.

From Armistice Day in 1919 to Veterans Day today, Nov. 11 has been a day for honoring our military veterans ...

Today we express our gratitude to all U.S. military veterans and current members of our armed forces--those who are retired and remain with us, those who who have fought in the past, and as Gen. Douglas MacArthur famously said, "faded away," and those who protect us today at great personal sacrifice.
At the end of World War I, Woodrow Wilson proclaimed an Armistice Day for Nov. 11, 1919. Seven years later, Congress asked that the president issue another proclamation to observe Nov. 11 with appropriate ceremonies as "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.' "
Then it occurred to Al King, a Kansas shoe store owner and father of a World War II veteran, that Armistice Day should celebrate all veterans, not just World War I vets, and started a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia, Kan. Chamber of Commerce supported the idea and stores and some offices closed on Nov. 11, 1953, to honor veterans.
With the support of then-U.S. Rep. Ed Rees, an Emporia native, also helped push a bill making it a national holiday on and the bill was signed by into law by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954. Later that year, Congress formally changed "Armistice Day" to "Veterans Day."
Since 1978, a trend has developed which has seen fewer schools, businesses and offices close on Veterans Day.
Contact Joan Fischer at jfischer@germanna.edu about joining the GCC Veterans Club.
Germanna has seen a surge in veteran enrollment this year due to benefits extended by the new G.I. Bill. Please see post about that below and video post on homepage highlights at http://www.germanna.edu/.

MORE's Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was both humbled and honored today to be able to speak a few words at the Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sponsored by the Multicultural OutReach Effort (MORE). Here are my comments spoken at James Monroe High School:

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Thank you for the humbling honor of being in the presence of those of you who are heroes of America's Second Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and for the opportunity to combine some of my poor words with those great expressions by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” He knew that to have an education was to have hope. To have an education was to have a dream, to have the knowledge, skills and character to achieve that dream. He knew that if we were truly to be judged by the content of our character, it was education that molded and shaped that character.

Dr. King said that "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. [That] Intelligence plus character is the goal of true education."

Dr. King knew that, for most of American history, education had been used to divide the races, to keep a whole people from having and achieving their dreams for themselves and their children.
“It is precisely because education is the road to equality and citizenship, that it has been made more elusive for Negroes than many other rights,” he said. “The walling off of Negroes from equal education is part of the historical design to submerge him in second class status. Therefore, as Negroes have struggled to be free they have had to fight for the opportunity for a decent education.”

He said that the family ”is the main educational agency of mankind,” and that as long as the family was being undermined, dreams and hopes were often replaced by despair and hopelessness.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity," he said. And his entire life was dedicated to defeating ignorance and stupidity. His life serves as a model. He was educated and fought for others to be so educated. He saw his ministry and his activism as opportunities to teach with the entire nation, indeed the entire world, as his classroom.

His too brief life modeled his belief that “the quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.” His life is a beacon that shines a light on our successes and failures, and guides us from the shoals of failure towards his dream of a society and educational system where we can truly be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. Too many are still left behind. The beacon of his life glares a spotlight on what we have yet to do and aims us towards the way to achieve the dream of an empowering education for all of our citizens.

Annual Report provides glimpse at what makes Germanna Community College special

This year’s Annual Report, available now, celebrates the contributions and achievements of Germanna students, faculty, alumni. And it recognizes the generosity of community stakeholders whose contributions have become more important than ever as the state has been forced to make budget cuts.

Among those featured:

• Ninety-four -year-old Germanna computer science student Claire Ducker, for providing an inspiring example of what lifelong learning is all about.
  
• Associate Dean Judi Bartlett, whose selflessness in giving of her time sets a standard of going above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to caring about, taking a personal interest in, and helping students.
  
• Retiring English instructor Rob Sherwood, who brought an energetic, imaginative and fun approach to learning despite a long and debilitating battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
  
• David Rose, who has been a part of Germanna since the College opened in 1970 as a student, faculty member and a member of the GCC Local College Board.
  
• Hugh Cosner, whose generosity to Germanna earned him a statewide award for philanthropy.

We hope you’ll agree with us that the report provides a glimpse of the heart and dedication that make Germanna a special place, even in the most difficult times.

A Christmas message

Friends and Colleagues,

Here in Virginia, with the Blue Ridge as a backdrop and history alive around us, the snow falls, the skies suddenly clear, and the semester ends.

At year end, we take time to reflect, to celebrate, to remember, and to plan for the future.

Whatever holiday we celebrate, let us remember the origin of the word comes from 'holy day.' Let us remember that every day is sacred, an opportunity that comes to us once to live this particular day in the best way we can.

In this season of renewed hope, in a time of great challenges and opportunities for our nation and our commonwealth, let us remember that we work in a place of hope.

Let us remember the sacred trust we hold here at Germanna Community College. Every day we have been given the opportunity to make a difference in people's lives. Each student we meet presents us with this opportunity.

Each student we meet is the opportunity to fulfill hope: The hope of the individual student. The hope of the family who entrusts us with that student. The hope of our community that this student will be an effective and contributing citizen. Each student we meet gives us the opportunity to help someone find a dream and earn the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to achieve that dream.

Each student presents us with the sacred opportunity to pass on the ethic of service to a cause larger than the self, the ethic of shared leadership, shared responsibility, shared power.

We face great challenges with a strength that comes from this common commitment.
We are blessed to be in this business of hope, and I am proud and grateful to work with all of you at Germanna.

As we spend time with our friends and families, let us remember the lyrics of that wonderful Christmas song,

“Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams”

and recall the many men and women serving our country who will not be home for Christmas except in their dreams, and pray for their safety and that they come home before the next year ends.

I wish you all a blessed time with your families and friends, a safe and happy holiday season, and the bounty of a new year with more opportunities to serve at a place of hope.

David

APPRECIATION: Dr. Arnold Wirtala, Germanna's founding president, passes away at 85

It is with deep regret that I inform you of the passing of Germanna’s founding president. Dr. Arnold E. Wirtala died Tuesday at home in Fredericksburg, at age 85. He served as Germanna’s president from 1969 to 1980.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete this afternoon.
As Germanna’s first president, Dr. Wirtala led the college through some of its most challenging times, keeping the institution going when low enrollment threatened its very existence. GCC opened with 400 students in 1970, and struggled to meet enrollment goals in the early years. There was talk in the state legislature of closing the college. Dr. Wirtala’s efforts helped give Germanna the chance to grow and thrive as it has today, serving a total headcount of nearly 13,000, and spreading out over an area the size of Rhode Island with campuses in Fredericksburg and Locust Grove, a tech center in Culpeper, and the potential for the opening of a Stafford center in 2009.
When Dr. Wirtala arrived at Germanna in September 1969, he says in a history of GCC, “I found only stakes marking the location of the college.”
Germanna opened its doors in 1970. He called starting the college, “an exciting adventure.”
He said building a college in a sparsely populated spot such as Locust Grove “required an act of faith and a commitment to the future. The first years were not easy. …”
He said it was always his view that Germanna: “was here to reach out to young people who otherwise could not have the opportunity for a higher education. Also, it was to give another chance to those who had failed previously. Gov. Mills Godwin on many occasions cited success stories of Germanna Community College as examples of what community colleges are about.”
Dr. Wirtala was born on May 4, 1923 in Ashtabula, Ohio. He was the son of the late Ernest and Lylli Wirtala. He graduated from Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky in 1947 with a degree in Music Education. His college education was interrupted by World War II, and he served in the U.S. Army from 1943-45 overseas with the 117th Armored Group, 3rd Army Battalion in Normandy, France; the Battle of the Bulge, Rhineland, and in Central Europe.
He married Mary Grace Land in June 1947. They both enrolled and completed work in the Master's Degree Program in Music Education at the University of Michigan. They moved to Gainesville, Fla. in August 1948, where he was employed as an instructor in the Division of Music at the University of Florida. Dr. Wirtala received his Doctor of Education in 1954 at the University of Florida, and was then promoted to Assistant Professor of Music. He taught music theory, music literature, 'cello and clarinet. He was the cellist in the Faculty String Quartet and clarinetist in the Faculty Woodwind Quintet. He was the Associate Conductor of the University Symphony. He also served as the choir director at University United Methodist Church in Gainesville from 1957-1969.
Dr. Wirtala became the Assistant Dean of Men in 1962 at the University of Florida. He then served as the Dean of Academic Affairs at Central Florida Community College in Ocala from 1965-1968. He returned to the University of Florida as the Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Education from 1968-69.
After leaving Germanna, Dr. Wirtala and his wife Mary returned to Gainesville, Fla. to enjoy their retirement. In additional to traveling throughout Europe and the United Kingdom many times, Dr. Wirtala also served as the President of the Foundation of Music as well as the President of the Retired Faculty of the University of Florida, as well as remaining active in the University United Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his wife. He is survived by his daughter Cathy Keathley of Gainesville, Fla., his son and daughter-in-law Joe and Kathy Wirtala of Fredericksburg, and his five grandchildren-- Ben and Dan Keathley of Gainesville, and Sara, Tim and Amy Wirtala of Fredericksburg.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Germanna Community College Education Foundation, Inc., or the University of Florida College of Education Support Fund.
As the first president of Germanna Community College, Dr. Wirtala helped to create the foundation for the college that serves the region today. He will be deeply missed.
--David

Veterans deserve far more than a single day of thanks

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, there are 17 million surviving war veterans in the United States.

All of them have put their lives on the line for their country. All were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. And many must live with the memory of seeing their comrades do just that.

Nov. 11 has been designated as Veterans' Day, but for too many of us, it has become just a day off, just an opportunity to take advantage of sales at the mall.

Wherever we are, we should seriously contemplate the sacrifices veterans, living and dead, have made for us.

I ask everyone at Germanna to pause today at 4:30 p.m. to remember the brave men and women who have served and are serving our nation, those who gave a part of their lives or indeed their very lives to protect us and freedom.

As we sit in our classrooms we should express deep gratitude to those who protect us so we can teach and learn and live.

Today we thank all of America’s veterans, from those who fell during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars to those serving our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

But our gratitude is not limited to this single day. We should thank the veterans we meet each and every day.

They have earned our eternal gratitude and undying respect.

GERMANNA AVOIDS LAYOFFS WITH BELT-TIGHTENING PLAN RESPONDING TO GOVERNOR'S CALL FOR BUDGET CUTS

Click the link directly below to review the Governor's plan.
http://www.governor.virginia.gov/tempcontent/FinalPlan_10-8.pdf

It is with mixed feelings that we announce that Germanna has responded to Gov. Kaine's call for a 5 percent budget reduction by implementing a plan that will avoid layoffs while trimming $577,291 in state spending for fiscal 2009.

The cost-cutting will force the deferment of the addition or expansion of several new programs and therefore will limit our ability to meet our communities needs, but averted the prospect of what could have been large-scale layoffs.

We are pleased not to have been forced to lay off good people who help us do the critical work in making our communities competitive, prosperous and educationally strong.

There had been concerns that the budget for the Virginia Community College System could have been slashed as much as 10 or 15 percent because of a state revenue shortfall resulting from a weak economy. Cuts that deep would have required terminating programs and laying off substantial numbers of employees.

Thankfully, the state cuts were not that severe, and we were able to protect all the members of our Germanna family.

The College’s budget is $22 million, about half of it appropriated by the state. The other half consists primarily of tuition and fees from the college’s total enrollment of 13,000. Germanna employs 520 people.

I’m gratified that the fiscal 2009 cut was no larger than 5 percent, which was the best-case projection, because there is very little fat to trim from the College’s budget.

We greatly appreciate the governor understanding how important the investment in community colleges is in turning the economy around and the fact that he did all he could to keep the cuts from hindering the performance of our mission here. And we are thankful to VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois for his untiring efforts in keeping cuts to a minimum.

We are grateful that we will not be forced to lay any of our people off this year. We understand the severity of the budget situation and the necessity for all parties to participate and make sacrifices. But, in addition to the terrible human impact layoffs would have had on employees and their families, and the emotional blow it would have been for all of us at Germanna, losing good people would have made our job of helping prepare the region for economic resurgence very difficult.

Still, this new round of cuts underlines the urgent need we have for private donations now more critical than ever in helping us to serve our communities.


Even as we celebrate maintaining job security within our Germanna family, there remain sacrifices that must be made and belts that must be tightened.

The Germanna reduction plan includes:

• Seeking to replace state general fund spending on the costs of employing one nursing faculty member by finding a local sponsor to pay for that position. This will result in a savings of $80,000.


• Deferring improvements planned for its Automotive Lab to comply with NATEF certification requirements. This will mean a savings of $7,000.


• Eliminating discretionary travel and membership spending, thereby reducing those budgets by one third compared to fiscal year 2008. The savings will be $100,000.


• Cutting non-personnel spending by reducing spending on supplies, furniture and the cyclical replacement of equipment, for the largest chunk of savings, $330,291.


• Eliminating an incentive budget spent on training employees on its “learning college” concept and incentives achieving objectives related to that concept for a savings of $60,000.

We continue to go forward with plans to open a center in North Stafford in 2009 and to begin construction of a third building at the college’s crowded Fredericksburg Campus. Stafford County’s Economic Development Authority has approved a $300,000 grant to help with the opening of the center. The state has approved $23.3 million for the new building at the Fredericksburg Campus. But $2.6 million in local funds must be raised before ground can be broken for construction of the new Fredericksburg building.

We would be mortgaging our future if we were to put these plans off now because of the hard times of the moment and then had to turn students away later as a result. So we continue to seek local donors to invest in our area’s future by helping us build these facilities.

Even during these tough times, we see a bright future for Germanna on the horizon and we continue to move ahead.

The potential for more cuts lies ahead, so we must maximize our efficiency and look for savings wherever we can.

But for now, let us take a moment to breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate this, the most positive outcome possible under difficult circumstances.

--David A. Sam
President, Germanna Community College

Dr. Sam will hold open forums for all Germanna employees to discuss the Governor’s budget reduction and the impact on the college. The forums will be held on: Tuesday, October 14 from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. in Sealy Auditorium at FAC Tuesday, October 14 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. in room 503 at LGC.