♪
We'd like to get started.
My name is Ka-Pi Hoh,
and it's an honor for me to serve
as the Chair of the Lakeland Foundation's
Board of Directors.
Welcome to our 21st annual Donor-Scholar Breakfast.
For those of you who have attended this breakfast
in the past, you know this event
is one of the highlights of our year.
It's always great to hear from supporters like Tom Offutt,
who like so many of you in here today,
have made a real difference in the world
starting right here at Lakeland.
And it's always wonderful to hear from the students,
many who have navigated some challenges in life
and now are on course to succeed through Lakeland.
So thank you for joining us this morning.
For the program today,
we'll first hear from Dr. Laura Barnard,
Lakeland's Executive Vice President and Provost.
Then Bob Cahen, the Lakeland Foundation's
Executive Director will introduce
each of our featured speakers.
We'll then conclude the breakfast with remarks from
Jason Wuliger and, I think, Dennis Eckart.
Jason and Dennis are Co-Vice Chairs
of our foundation's board.
And they'll have interesting news for all of us.
Now, we've promised to conclude the program by 9:30,
so Jason and Dennis are gonna be under some tight orders.
Before I invite Dr. Barnard to the podium, we want to
recognize all our wonderful supporters in audience.
Firstly, all who are donors to the Lakeland Foundation,
please stand and be recognized.
(applause)
All who are students at Lakeland,
please stand and be recognized.
(applause)
And to many of our younger students,
you may not be donors to the foundation today
or to Lakeland today, but we hope that some day
you'll return the favor and pay it forward
and be standing as one of our donors at a future breakfast.
With us today, we have the following members
of the Lakeland Foundation Board of Directors.
Tom Benda, Don Daly, Dennis Eckart, Dale Fellows,
Nancy Guthrie, Richard Iafelice,
Dave Kalina, Kay Malec,
Andy Meinhold, Mark Ruth, Alyson Scott, Dede Storer,
Jason Wuliger.
Please stand and be recognized.
(applause)
We're also pleased to have members
of the Lakeland Community College Board of Trustees.
So Dave Kalina, Kay Malec, Kip Molenaar,
and Roger Sustar-- please stand and be recognized.
(applause)
We also have several members of Lakeland Community College's
Alumni Hall of Fame.
Jessie Baginski, Lori Kilpeck,
Dale Fellows, Paul Hach, and Kip Molenaar.
Please stand.
(applause)
I would also like all of Lakeland's employees to stand.
(applause)
Thank you to the employees for making a difference
for all of us everyday,
whether it's donors or by ensuring that our foundation,
the financial aid office, the business office,
and all the college's efforts come together
to enhance our students' success.
Lastly, I'd like to recognize the elected officials
who we are honored to have with us this morning.
So we have State Senator John Eklund
and Lake County Commissioner Dan Troy.
Please stand.
(applause)
So a final thank you to everyone,
the students, the donors, Lakeland employees,
elected officials, and board members.
We appreciate the impact that you're making at Lakeland,
and it's an honor for me to be part of the Lakeland family.
At this time, I would like to invite Dr. Laura Barnard
to come up.
(applause)
Thank you so much, Ka-Pi.
I'm honored as well to be a part of this year's
Donor-Scholar Breakfast.
I'm certain that as everyone arrived this morning,
you saw the very large construction site--
a new building on the front of campus
that is not quite yet complete.
While it is currently still a work in progress,
this state-of-the-art facility
will house a range of new programming at Lakeland.
To me, it is a symbol of the amazing work
that all of us, including everyone in this room,
has done over the past 50 years to make Lakeland
the outstanding educational institution that it is.
Just as important, it symbolizes how together,
we are turning our hopes and dreams for Lakeland
and our community into reality.
I would like to take just a few minutes of your time
to talk about the major role that the Lakeland Foundation
has played in Lakeland's past and present.
The foundation supported, in an extraordinarily meaningful way,
including financially, the college's capital bond
issue campaign approved by the Lake County voters in 2015,
which yielded many of the dollars that are making
the new construction possible.
For many years, the foundation has also helped fund programs
that touch every part and corner of Lakeland.
In the past year alone,
the foundation awarded over $40,000 and 15 grants
through its Faculty Challenge Grant Program,
the Thomas W. Mastin Fund,
and through additional funds which make numerous programs
on campus possible.
The foundation has for many years played a vital role
in awarding of student scholarships.
So far this year, a total of $414,929 has been awarded
in scholarship assistance from funds raised by the foundation,
which averages out to about $1,200
per scholarship recipient.
The foundation works continuously to develop
new scholarship and program funds.
In the past year, the foundation established
the Basic Police Academy Minority Scholarship Fund
in response to the community's desire
through its Begin The Conversation Program,
to promote the hiring of more minorities
onto the area's police forces.
And in the past year, the foundation worked in partnership
with Lakeland's faculty to develop the Lakeland Faculty
Endowed Scholarship, which is quickly growing
through generous donations from faculty members.
There is so much to celebrate and look forward to
as Lakeland crosses its 50-year milestone.
The new construction and renovation of the existing
Health Technologies building will serve as the catalyst
for bold and exciting classes and programs
that will enhance student success
and train workers for positions in the very important
healthcare industry,
including for positions that didn't even exist
five years ago.
We are also positioning ourselves to be ready
to respond to the workforce needs of the future.
New state-of-the-art equipment will be installed
on which students will learn and be trained.
A unique and innovative greenhouse classroom
and makerspace, will provide innovative
learning opportunities across all academic disciplines.
The Lakeland Foundation is, and will continue to be,
an integral part of that future
and help bring all these programs to life.
You'll hear more specifically about this
at the end of today's program.
I would like now to acknowledge someone very special,
who after 22 years of working at Lakeland,
is retiring at the end of May.
Lynn Axten, would you please stand?
(applause)
You can stay standing.
This tribute is a well-deserved one, all for you.
Lynn is the college's Assistant Director for Financial Aid,
and is responsible for processing all institutional
and outside scholarship requests.
In the past five years alone,
Lynn has awarded over 2.7 million dollars
in institutional scholarships and grants
to student applicants.
During her time at Lakeland,
she has helped with the development
of two major scholarship databases,
which resulted in an easier, more efficient way,
of applying for and processing scholarships.
Thanks to her efforts,
our scholarship applications went from approximately
300 per year to the current number of 1,419.
Talk about making a difference in many people's lives.
We would like to recognize her for her dedication
to the college and the foundation,
and we wish her all the best in her retirement.
She has touched so many lives over the past two decades
and we were so fortunate to have her as an integral part
of our college community.
Thank you so much for your service, Lynn.
(applause)
In closing, I would like to thank all of you here today,
to our donors for your support,
and especially our students,
for allowing Lakeland to provide you with the education
which will put you firmly on the path to success,
both today and in the future.
I'd like now to ask Bob Cahen to introduce
our student and donor speakers.
I don't know about you, but what really comes to me
every time I see this event is how this mix of students,
students that work so hard to succeed,
donors who put in some dollars,
our volunteers, and the staff at Lakeland,
work together to make this magic.
I don't know what it is, but it's what keeps me around here,
coming to events like this every year.
So thanks, everybody, for being here.
So here's the highlight of the program.
We have four students this year
who we want you to hear from.
I'll call on each of them,
and after that, we'll hear from our friend Tom Offutt,
one of our donors.
So first of all, Andrea Burse.
Andrea, come on up.
So Andrea graduated from Brush High School.
She's attending Lakeland, hopes to graduate in May, 2018.
Then wants to continue her education
and earn a bachelor's degree.
She plans to be an entrepreneur,
and would like to open a non-profit organization
that provides educational and recreational programming
for children.
Andrea, that sounds very ambitious,
let's see what you're gonna do.
(applause)
Good morning, everyone.
Have you ever been in a position where you hit rock bottom?
Where you were down, depressed, and had no sense of direction?
That was who I was in the summer of 2015.
I was currently laid off by my employer,
and I honestly did not know what to do.
I always wanted to go back to school to pursue my dreams,
but I never made it a priority,
simply because I did not have the time, of course,
and I feared failure.
Now that time was forced upon me and fear wasn't an option,
I decided I wanted better.
Not only for myself, but also for my daughter as well.
I enrolled in Lakeland Community College
fall of 2015, and that began the reconstruction of my life.
On the day of orientation, I was handed a letter
from the Women's Center.
So I decided to stop there after orientation concluded.
After I was lost for give or take 20 minutes or so,
I finally found the place that has become the foundation
of my experience here at Lakeland.
Victoria Williams was there to greet me,
she was so energetic and friendly
it was like she was waiting on me.
I feel she was familiar with all my problems in life
and wanted to help me in any way she could.
Miss Vikki then introduced me to Mary Goss-Hill
and Gloria Lane.
At this point I am thinking, "Wow, are these women
always this nice to everyone, or is it just me?"
From that point on, I felt very comfortable about my decision
here to come to Lakeland.
The Women's Center introduced me into a lot of things
I would probably have overlooked
if it wasn't for the women of the program.
My first semester, I signed up for the Smart Program,
and it was extremely helpful.
The Smart Program was my motivation
when I felt like giving up,
my navigation when I became lost,
an ear when I needed to vent,
and a shoulder when I needed to cry.
It was everything I needed being a new student
who had no confidence in herself
and no sense of where she was going.
After the Smart Program concluded, I was devastated.
But luckily the Women's Center kept their doors open
even after you've completed the program.
Through the center, I was introduced to
Professor Meryl Soto-Schwartz, an English professor.
Professor Soto-Schwartz was very tough,
but it was what I needed.
She always pushed me to my fullest potential,
she encouraged me to never give up in life,
and one statement that she made that will always stick with me
is, "Andrea, I believe in you.
I can't wait to see you get your doctorate's degree."
I never told her that I planned on furthering my education
to that level, but she always found a way to encourage me
to do things that I never thought I was
capable of accomplishing.
Being a student here at Lakeland has helped me in more ways
than one can imagine.
I now feel my future is bright and promising,
and I am not afraid to endure change.
Overall, I have become a better person,
and more importantly, a mother that is better to a little girl
who is watching me every step of the way.
And for that, I am forever grateful.
Thank you.
(applause)
Andrea, thanks.
Feel better now?
(laughing)
Alright, so our next student speaker
is Gabriele Baltrunaite.
Did I say that right?
-Yes. -Yeah, okay.
Gabriele attended the Electronic Classroom
of Tomorrow, ECOT, she's a student at Lakeland.
After Lakeland, she plans to graduate from Cleveland State
in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in business administration,
and sees here career path
as focusing on human resources and finance.
Gabriele.
(applause)
Thank you, good morning, everyone.
I am Gabriele Baltrunaite.
(laughing)
My family and I emigrated here from Lithuania in 1998.
Then after coming here, my mother decided to go to college.
English was her third language.
It took her about six years to get an associate's degree.
Through those six years, she accumulated a lot of debt.
Now, she can not afford to help me and my siblings
pay for tuition.
When I first started school,
my parents told me that my American name
is Gabriella Baltrunas.
In high school, I wasn't very engaged.
My teachers knew this and thought I would drop out.
My Spanish teacher, Mrs. Romero Mora,
she teaches here, so some of you may know her,
she pushed me to do better.
She shamed me when I did awful.
When I graduated, I wasn't considering college,
but my mother pushed me.
And perhaps, she knew something that I did not know.
I stared Lakeland in fall of 2014.
I was undisciplined and I was not ready.
That first semester, I also received the Pell Grant.
The next year when I came back,
the Pell Grant wasn't there for me anymore.
I had to figure out ways to keep tuition costs down
and my income up so that I could afford my tuition.
I found out about the officers in clubs that get benefits.
I joined in the spring of 2016,
shortly after I found out about that.
I became an officer of student government
and I am now vice-chairperson.
That first semester, I received the Homer A. Cole Scholarship
and it helped me-- it helped me to work less
and pay more attention to my education.
As an officer, we all attended meetings and programs.
One of the programs is that we're required
to take a leadership course.
And in that course, we had a project to shadow someone.
This shadowing helped me to be less intimidated
by professional people.
Another portion of student government
is that we were allowed to go to the Poverty Simulation.
And there, I learned about how poverty affects people
and how it affected me when I was young and in school.
My biggest accomplishment is that I rewrote the bylaws
of our organization.
There were mistakes in there
that went unfixed for seven years.
Another program that I really enjoyed
was a motivational speaker.
He has taught me to say my name right
and to make people say it correctly.
(laughing)
Mario Petitti and Christina Corsi
worked very hard to make students and clubs leaders,
and I appreciate them very much.
Three years ago, I did not expect my path today.
But now, I am getting an honors degree.
Because of Lakeland, I do not take an education for granted.
It can set you free, and my mother knew all along.
I want to thank all of the professors,
the advisers, and all of the donors.
Through your kindness and contributions,
we students become the citizens we have always dreamed of being.
And please don't ever forget,
kindness is not linear and will always come back.
Thank you.
(applause)
That was terrific.
I don't know if I should try to say your name again or not.
(laughing)
Thanks, Gabriele, or something close to that.
So Victor Meza, come on up.
Victor graduated last year
from Harvey High School in Painesville.
He attends Lakeland.
He's majoring in psychology.
And he hopes to graduate from Lakeland
by the end of 2017.
His career goal is to be a researcher
in cognitive psychology-- that's quite a thing.
Victor, come on up.
(applause)
Hello, everybody.
My name is Victor and I hope everybody's
enjoying their breakfast.
To tell you a little bit about myself,
I'm very much in to the social sciences.
I love knowing why people interact the way they do.
Why certain phenomenons occur
such as like racism, homophobia,
and anything just related to that.
Something else I really like,
I love music-- any type of music, honestly.
Love to play music and writing music.
The way I kind of mix social science and music
is the way I look at music.
In the case of pop music, it has the power to unite
and tackle topics to pull attention to these, um...
It has the power to unite and tackle topics
that we are uncomfortable to talk about.
Beyonce's Lemonade album was about deep Southern culture
and the discrimination that black people have received
throughout the ages.
So pop culture in America has more to offer
than just talentless family,
but this isn't about the Kardashians.
(laughing)
Thank you, I'm here all week.
Literally.
But now you can see why I gravitate towards
the social science and music and how they relate.
But on a lighter note, me and my siblings
are the first generation born in America.
My mother's from Jalisco, Mexico,
and my father's from Oaxaca, Mexico.
My mother told me about her struggles
about crossing the border.
She continuously and cautiously walked for days in the desert
through extreme heat and extreme cold.
But with nothing--carrying nothing but a bag of clothes
and a hope for a better life,
not only for herself, but for her children.
Knowing that my mother would go through these lengths
to give me and my siblings a better life,
is very inspirational.
She inspires me to not only chase my dreams,
but to value the things and people who help me get there.
One of the people here at Lakeland that helped me
achieve my goals was Lissette Piepenburg,
the Hispanic Coordinator of the Hispanic Club.
And she helped me get into a community health worker program
at Cleveland State, which I used to help other people.
I volunteered at TriPoint and Red Cross.
Someone else that I also really admire
is Professor Jeanette Quinn.
She teaches sociology here and chemical dependency.
She also received an Excellence in Teaching award recently
and that was honestly well deserved.
And yesterday even with the Green Group,
we picked up trash around the school
it really just--it just felt really good for my soul.
But when I was asked to speak here,
I kinda--I leapt at the opportunity
because I'm a go-getter and just like thousands
of other Latinos in America, they are also go-getters.
And to me, people who work for their dreams
and go after what they really want
is personally my American dream.
And because of Lakeland, I wouldn't have grown as much
as I have or had the experiences that I have.
So I would very much like to thank
all of the donors here today for their contribution
and for Bob for giving me the the opportunity
to voice my experience.
Thank you.
(applause)
Thanks, Victor, that was terrific, thanks.
And the last student today is Tiffany Jackson,
come on up, Tiffany.
Tiffany graduated from Jane Adams Business Career Center
in 1993--1993.
She'll be graduating from Lakeland next month
with an Associate's Degree in Applied Science
and Human Services.
She wants to enter the workforce on graduating,
but wants to continue her education,
move toward becoming a licensed social worker.
Tiffany.
(applause)
Good morning, everyone.
We are here today to honor those who make it possible
for others to realize their dreams
at Lakeland Community College.
Due to your generosity,
students like me have an opportunity
to experience Lakeland.
What I mean by experience Lakeland is this,
I attended another school in order to become a nurse.
And I realized even though I could do the job,
it didn't fulfill me.
So I made the decision to follow my heart's passion
to become a social worker.
Wanting a change of scenery,
I decided to transfer to the school
that I'd heard so much about called Lakeland.
When I stepped into the A building,
I said to my husband who was with me,
"There's something different about this place."
That feeling was confirmed over and over again
as I met with different people
while going through the transfer experience.
No matter who it was, they were genuinely kind
and tremendously helpful.
And this has been my experience
throughout my educational journey here at Lakeland.
All of my professors have come with exceptional backgrounds
in the subjects they teach.
And when they say they are here to help you succeed,
they really do mean it.
During my first semester, my mother-in-law--
her health took a turn for the worse
and she passed away.
That required me to miss three weeks of school,
not too long after it started.
I took all of my books and laptop with me to Columbus
so that I could keep up with the work
and stay in touch with my teachers.
But with missing so much class,
they were skeptical about me doing well.
I asked them to trust me that I would pull it off,
and I did.
At the end of the semester,
I had made straight As.
I was very grateful to them for giving me a chance
and for allowing me to prove myself to them.
Also throughout my experience here,
several professors have also written reference letters
on my behalf for various reasons,
and they were always so glad to do it.
As you can see, I am not a traditional student,
and I come with a lot of responsibilities--
being a wife and mother of four children
with two being special needs.
However, this school's atmosphere makes you not only
want to learn, but to also participate.
Which is why I joined Phi Theta Kappa
International Honor Society.
And when the opportunity presented itself,
I became an officer.
Being a member has allowed me the honor
of being a recipient of a PTK scholarship as well.
Your donations don't just stop right here at Lakeland.
Even though I have a lot on my plate,
my experience at this school has made me want to do more
for my community, which is why I started a volunteer service
that helps already existing organizations
meet the needs of vulnerable populations.
And there are many, many more students
with the same testimony.
Upon my graduation in a few weeks,
I plan to enter the field of human services
and work towards my bachelor's degree in social work,
then to my master's so that I may become
a marriage and family therapist.
Everything that I have experienced here
will always be a part of me,
which is what I mean when I say,
"The experience that I've had at Lakeland."
The experiences here will allow us as students
to give back to our community
and will allow them to also experience Lakeland.
So again, on behalf of all
present, past, and future students,
thank you.
(applause)
Thanks, Tiffany.
Good job.
Well, now you've heard from our students,
and now hopefully you have a good idea of why
people like us spend so much time--spend so much money--
on making Lakeland a better place.
We do it because we're changing lives of those students.
What a privilege, as Peter Klausen always says,
what a privilege to be able to do that sort of thing.
Now I want to introduced Tom Offutt.
Tom, you can start your way up.
You know, the same way as we have remarkable students,
we have pretty remarkable donors.
And I wanted you to meet one that I think is one of
the most remarkable, and that's Tom Offutt.
So, Tom's had a pretty amazing life.
He worked for the Trust for Public Land,
acquiring land for the Forest Service,
National Parks Service and state agencies.
In that role, he also acquired Euclid Beach,
as it became a state park.
Remember that, anybody?
He acquired many parcels that now make up
the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
He's long been associated with Yellowstone Park,
this is the most remarkable, maybe,
having served on both the Yellowstone Foundation Board
and the Yellowstone Association Board.
He serves now on the board of, and a secretary of,
the Mather Charitable Trust.
In that role, he's been part of many grants
to Lakeland over recent years,
and making a difference in such areas as photography,
enhancing math skills, and enhancing soft skills
for Lakeland business students.
Most recently, Mather provided funding for Lakeland's new
Mobile App Accelerated Pathway program,
which I can't explain at all, but thank God we're doing it.
And as a result, training people and making jobs
for more people-- what could be bad about that?
So Tom, let me help you out.
(applause)
What a group.
Last year I was one of you, you know a participant sitting there
and listening to all these good people.
This year I'm a beneficiary.
I'm in a nursing home and I'm surrounded by young people
that are Lakeland students and who are working for a career
in the health sciences.
Thank you, Lakeland.
They really do make the day tolerable.
Bob said I could tell a couple of stories.
He told you that I worked for the Trust for Public Land,
and I did.
I not only acquired Euclid Beach,
but the Garfield House.
Local things were fun, but the ones that were the most fun
were the ones that involved working in Washington
on projects that were important to the people that worked there.
Dennis Eckart will know that there were people there
that were fun.
I worked for Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia
on a number of projects,
and I'll tell you about one of them.
He found an abandoned railroad property
that ran along the Potomac from West Virginia
down into Washington DC, and he thought,
"Gosh, this would be great as a hike/bike trailway
to get people to come up to West Virginia."
So at any rate, I negotiated it and worked with the company
and everything looked good, and we got it all fixed,
but I couldn't get the chair of the board to sign.
Well, Senator Byrd had said, "Tom, any time you want
to talk to me, come on by at 6:00 in the morning,
there are very few people around then
and we can get things done."
So I showed up at 6:00 and he was there
and I told him I couldn't get the chairman of the board
to sign the dang papers.
And he fussed around on his desk
and came up with the telephone number
and dialed the chairman of the board,
who was asleep in bed in Richmond, Virginia,
and said, "Hayes, I need your signature on those papers
on the abandoned railroad property on my desk
by noon today or we re-visit
the railroad retirement act, got it!"
Bam.
He told me, he said, "Come back at noon."
So I came back at noon and the papers were there,
all signed and everything else.
And Senator Byrd was amazing.
He went out a door at the back of his office
out onto the floor of the senate,
said, "Mr. President, what a privilege.
I'd like the records to show that we're thanking
the Trust for Public Land for acquiring this really important
piece of land that used to belong to a 20 ton wet sponge
known as CSX Railroad."
Any rate, I enjoyed working with the people in Washington.
I also enjoyed working in Yellowstone.
At one time years ago, I found out that the teachers in Montana
had to go to Colorado to be recertified every five years.
And that seemed silly.
So I worked out a way in which they could be
trained in Yellowstone Park and have the rangers do the work.
The superintendent was a remarkable man
named John Townsley, and he liked the idea.
And he said, "Tom, come for brunch every Sunday."
So I was sitting there at brunch and the phone rang,
his special phone,
and he picked it up and said-- this was the conversation.
"Senator, so good to hear your voice, sir.
Yes, sir.
Yes, I know all about the fire,
it's south of Yellowstone Lake and it's in a let burn area
and not a real problem.
Well, I know it's heading towards Cody,
but there's a mountain in the way
and it's not gonna go over that mountain, I promise you.
Well, Senator, I'm sorry you feel that way
and I you know I know how important it is to you,
but actually I can't do a thing, 'cause you see,
I'm actually on annual leave and I'm not the superintendent.
I'll name somebody superintendent
and I'll have them call you, goodbye."
Boom.
Dials the phone, "John, is it true that you're still gonna
retire at the end of this month?
Well, John, I think before you retire
you ought to have a week as Superintendent
of Yellowstone National Park.
And I'm, so I'm authorizing this.
And your first job is to call this telephone number,
and that's the senior senator from Wyoming
and he's gonna tell you to get the Forest Service
to come in here and put this fire out.
And you're gonna tell him to go right straight to hell."
(laughing)
I can't help but remember all of these wonderful things
and sharing them with you is a great thing.
One story, the Mather Foundation is absolutely wonderful
and we're very, very fortunate to have had Mr. Mather
in Cleveland in the late 1800s, early 1900s.
He was incredibly successful,
more so than John D. Rockefeller.
And this story was told to me by Jay Rockefeller.
He said that in 1890-something,
a board of citizens came to Mr. Mather and said,
"Mr. Mather, we need a really good hospital in Cleveland,
and we're gonna call it University Hospital.
We got the land, we got the university to cooperate,
and all we need is two million dollars
to get started on the thing."
And they talked on for a while.
So finally Mr. Mather said,
"Okay, two million dollars, you've got it."
Called his secretary in, said,
"Write these gentlemen a check for two million dollars
and have a good time."
And she said, "Um, Mr. Mather, from which account?"
Anyway, those were the good old days.
(laughing)
Thank you for what you do.
It's so wonderful to see these names up here
and I look forward to next year.
(applause)
Thanks, Tom.
So, this is one of, as I've said,
one of our most wonderful donors.
But there's stories all over the place that are fascinating
and those of you who have come to this event before
have heard some of those stories
and we hope in the future you'll hear more.
But Tom's one of a kind as you can tell.
Thanks, Tom.
Finally today, Jason Wuliger-- Jason, come on up.
Jason will conclude the program today.
He's a Co-Vice Chair of our Lakeland Foundation Board
and he has some things to tell you.
(applause)
I assure you that applause is very premature.
Let me start off by saying that
there's some people in this room
who need to be thanked for what they do day in and day out
for Lakeland and for our students.
And that's the staff of Lakeland's business office
and financial aid office.
Of course, Laurie Principe, Jennifer Smizer,
Tracy Morris, Nancy Brooks, Maureen McGuiness,
Amy Sabbath, Kevin Malecek, and the indomitable Bob Cahen.
(applause)
Laura Barnard mentioned in her remarks
the inescapable activities that are occurring
just outside of where we are today,
and that's the construction of the new building.
We need to be thankful, and I am grateful to the voters
of Lake County, for giving us the funds
to build that building.
But what has to happen next,
is we have to fill that building.
And how we fill that building is up to us.
It's up to every single person in this room,
some of Lakeland's greatest supporters,
to decide what's gonna go in there.
You've heard about our aspirations from Laura.
The makerspace, where we could put in equipment
that will inspire another generation of entrepreneurs
right here in Lake County,
that can provide them with the tools and equipment they need
to be first rate participants in the 21st century
manufacturing economy.
The health portion of the building
that is training the folks that are working with Mr. Offutt,
as he mentioned in his remarks.
That are gonna train the folks
that are gonna take care of all of us.
Do we want to give them first-rate tools
to give them a leg up in the job market,
and to give all of us a leg up when we need them?
It's up to every single one of us to fill that building
and to fill it the right way.
To reconstruct lives, as Andrea said.
Because at the end of the day,
we can put the equipment in there,
but it's the students that are gonna do all of this.
So I thank you all, Lakeland's greatest supporters,
and I can assure you, you're going to be hearing from me,
from Dennis, from Bob, from Laurie,
from Kevin and Amy, from all of us.
But, you don't have to wait.
You can come to us.
And I hope that with the stories that you've heard today,
you start to think about the impact that you can have
and the impact that you want to have.
And if we don't hear from you soon,
don't worry, over the coming months you'll be getting a call.
And thank you in advance for all that you're gonna do.
(sparse laughter)
And let me conclude by encouraging you
to not run off, but stay at your table,
enjoy the rest of breakfast.
Get to know the folks at your table
that you don't already know well.
And enjoy yourself.
And with that, that concludes our formal program.
Thank you so much.
(applause)
♪
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