Good as gold

A great idea. A great event. Lots of energy in the room. Kids, older people, diversity. A mix of UIS students and people from the community. What more could we want? The Good as Gold event celebrated the great volunteer efforts of our students and people in the community. My favorite name goes to the Lunch Bunch, short for the Graham Elementary School Lunch Bunch Mentoring Group, a group of adults who mentor grade school students. This was the first such event, a collaboration between the Junior League and UIS. It's what UIS does: enriches lives and makes a difference in the world.

3 stories I really like

Our students at UIS are making a big difference in the world.

It's starting to look like this next generation is going to reach out farther and more passionately than boomers like me ever did. For example, UIS students set out to collect 2008 pounds of food for the needy this fall; our campus doubled that goal. Remarkable. And somebody else in the world identified one of our student's Jump for Joel project as THE ONE CHARITABLE PROJECT to support if you have to choose something. Yep, our students are making a difference. Very nice.

Also, UIS was named "fourth best in Midwest" in our category by U.S. News and World Report in its 2009 college rankings. It's the first year UIS was eligible for these rankings. Nice.

One other thing: we need to keep letting people know that for the first time, more than 1,000 students live on campus in our residence halls and apartments. That's more than some small private colleges. The atmosphere keeps getting more lively, but pictures tell this story much better than these words do.