Due to COVID-19, the beloved annual “Empty Bowls” event was postponed from its usual spring date this year; however, dedicated community members are making sure the event still takes place, “COVID-style.”
The Ferrum College campus community and public are invited to enjoy a modified Empty Bowls event on Sunday, November 15, 2020 from 12 – 4 p.m. The event will be held in the Blue Ridge Mountain Room in the College’s Franklin Hall.
Attendees must pre-register for one of eight 20-minute time slots with each time slot offering a unique assortment of 100 handcrafted bowls, along with beautiful works of art. Each time slot will feature a different array of bowls so not time slot is better than any other. Twenty guests at a time will be allowed to view the bowls and artwork widely spaced within the room.
Tickets are free and there is no advance purchase required. Use this link to pre-register.
The bowls, handcrafted by Ferrum College students, community members, and professional potters from Floyd and Ferrum, VA, may be purchased for $15 each. The Blue Ridge Potters Guild and other local artists also generously donated 57 bowls and numerous original works of art, including a gorgeous large ceramic totem, paintings, pottery, jewelry, and more, which will be featured in a “set price” silent auction.
“I have been involved with Empty Bowls for many years now and am honored to be part of what is truly a community event,” said Nell Fredericksen, local potter and jeweler and co-coordinator of the event. “From the patrons that attend with warm hearts and open wallets, to the students making bowls, the support of Ferrum College, and the regional community of artists that are so generous with their time and talents – it is truly humbling. Through the efforts of everyone involved we have been able to support the food insecure children right here in our community for more than ten years.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a meal will not be served and attendees must wear masks. Tables will be sanitized between each time slot and restocked with new bowls by National Honor Society volunteers Atticus Cooper and Lily Fredericksen.
All proceeds from the event support Panther Packs, a program at Ferrum Elementary School that sends qualifying children home for the weekend with backpacks stocked with nutritious, non-perishable food.
Following is list of original art donated to the event, and the artists who created it:
In addition to the bowls made by the Ferrum College ceramics classes, professional potters and community members handcrafted more than 200 bowls for the event. We are grateful for the talents of: Hona Knudsen, Steve Mitchell, Ron Sutterer, Wendy Werstlein, Josh Manning, Nell Fredericksen, Liz Cooper, Atticus Cooper, Neil Fredericksen, and Lily Fredericksen.
Panther Nation:
We are only a few days from the 2020 presidential election. The usual ramp-up to November has been intensified this year by the uncertainly of a global pandemic, a public health challenge that has remade our world in a matter of months. It also comes at a time when our country is thinking hard about its history and how to reckon with racism and social injustice. While every election is weighty and momentous, this one is especially so for these reasons, and more.
I am proud of how our college community works together through difficulties, how we celebrate together in moments of triumph, and how we treat each other with respect and grace when we disagree. This always serves us well, and it will do so in the weeks to come.
For some of you, this will be the first election in which you are eligible to vote. What a memorable day November 3 will be for you! Others of us have voted for decades and next Tuesday will be no less important. Each of us goes to the polls with a commitment to the future and with a steady belief that the messiness of democracy is worth it. At the very heart of being an American is unwavering optimism that, as Harry Emerson Fosdick once remarked, “… there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.”
I urge you, if you are eligible and registered, to please vote. It is one small way we participate in self-governance, and one huge expression of gratitude for the women and men who have sacrificed their lives over the centuries to ensure we enjoy this freedom.
I urge you also to be kind to one another, to treat each other on Wednesday, November 4 the way you do today. As Lincoln stated in his second inaugural address: “with malice toward none; with charity for all.”
Inevitably, some will be more enthusiastic and hopeful about the elections’ results than others. But whether on Wednesday we celebrate or whether we are disappointed, we remain family and we need each other. Every day, this community embodies an array of ideas of how to build the future, of how to achieve “a more perfect union;” nevertheless, we are joined together by a fundamental belief that our lives are better, fuller, and richer, when we live them together, and when we live them for each other.
With Panther (and American!) pride,
David L. Johns, Ph.D.
President
In 2019, Ferrum hosted the NCAA Men’s Wrestling Tournament at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, VA. 2019 photo.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has announced site selections for national championship events for the 2023 through 2026 cycle, and Ferrum College has been selected to host the 2023 Division III Men’s Wrestling Championships. Ferrum will host the event Friday and Saturday, March 10-11, 2023 at the Berglund Center in nearby Roanoke, Virginia.
“All of us at Ferrum College are ecstatic to be chosen to serve as the host of the 2023 NCAA Division III Men’s Wrestling Championship” stated Ferrum College Director of Athletics John Sutyak. “The staff at Ferrum did a remarkable job back in 2019 and it is a testament to the hard work that happened here that the NCAA has rewarded us with another opportunity to welcome the world of Division III men’s wrestling back to the Roanoke Valley. This is an exciting time for Ferrum wrestling and a huge thank you goes out to Assistant Athletic Director Gary Holden, and our Head Men’s Wrestling Coach Ryan Riggs, for putting together a successful bid.”
“I’m grateful for the opportunity for Ferrum College to host the Division III Men’s Wrestling National Championships again in 2023,” said Riggs. “I’m looking forward to working with the Berglund Center event staff and VBR Sports again, making it a quality experience for the competitors, coaches, and fans. We have a lot of wrestlers from the Roanoke Valley and Commonwealth of Virginia who could be wrestling for national titles. It’s exciting! I want to thank President Johns, John Sutyak, and Gary Holden for all of the work they do.”
Read more in this article on Ferrum’s Athletics webpage.
Kyle Sturgis ’11
It’s no secret that farmers are used to a certain level of stress: crops are affected by too much heat, too much rain, insects, markets, and more. But Shore Breeze Farms in Northampton County, VA, which supplies hydroponic lettuce and other produce to local restaurants and schools, encountered a different kind of stress when COVID-19 closed area businesses.
Ferrum College alumnus Kyle Sturgis ’11 serves as the manager of Shore Breeze Farms, which was opened in 2019 by his father Steve, who has been professionally farming since 1979. At the time of the farm’s start-up, Sturgis was a location agronomist for a company that sold crop inputs (like fertilizer, seed, and chemicals) to local farmers.
“I was blessed to have that job since graduating from Ferrum in 2011. After eight years with that company, I decided I wanted to do something else with my life,” explained Sturgis. “I always had an interest in hydroponics and my father shared that same interest, so I came back to the family farm.”
Though mostly family-owned and operated, Shore Breeze does maintain a few employees and is offering a new intern program this season. Sturgis, who has a degree in horticulture and environmental science, oversees the hydroponic greenhouse facility, field crop operation, and the farm market.
“One of the challenges of my job is selling and marketing our products through social media, online, and through conventional sales techniques,” said Sturgis.
But when COVID-19 hit in spring 2020, the farm had to adopt some unconventional sales methods.
‘When COVID first started spreading in early spring, it was like someone put a brick wall up,” said Sturgis. “There were more questions than there were answers.”
When COVID-19 prevented local restaurants, schools, and farm markets from opening, Shore Breeze’s sales dramatically dropped off. So the farm got creative.
“We had to come up with another avenue to sell our lettuce, so we started online sales and curbside pickup. That sparked the idea of offering salad kits,” said Sturgis. “Now we offer a kit that has everything to make a delicious and fresh salad, including the croutons!”
This summer, Shore Breeze Farms received a $15,000 grant to continue expanding its hydroponic facility which will increase the farm’s production of leafy greens by thirty percent. This grant was Governor Ralph Northam’s first Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) Fund grant awarded to Northampton County.
“It is exciting to see homegrown companies like Shore Breeze Farms harnessing new agriculture technologies to bring fresh, local vegetables to their communities,” Northam said. “Shore Breeze Farms has long been known for innovative product offerings, and I am especially proud to see how they are branching into new markets during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis to offer pre-packaged salad kits to Virginians on the Eastern Shore.”
“I believe that it is so important to advocate for agriculture, as the average person is four generations removed from the family farm,” explained Sturgis. He stays active on several local and state boards and committees, serving as the chairman of the Virginia Farm Bureau’s State Young Farmers Committee which allows him to sit on the State Board of Directors for Virginia Farm Bureau; and as a director for the Virginia Soybean Association. He also won a seat as a director of the Eastern Shore Soil and Water Conservation District in 2019.
“The year 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone in the agricultural industry but farmers are resilient and will get through this,” he said. “But we’re looking forward to 2021!”
Sturgis and his wife Emily reside in Cape Charles, VA.
Read more about Shore Breeze Farms at their website here.
Learn more about the grant received by Shore Breeze Farms in this July 2020 Shore Daily News article.
Ferrum College officially launched “Socktober” on October 1, 2020. The campaign will run through October 31.
The campaign asks students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the College to pledge to give a recurring monthly gift of at least $19.13, which honors the institution’s founding year. In return, donors will receive a complimentary pair of custom designed Ferrum College socks which are available only through this campaign and cannot be purchased anywhere else, including in the campus store.
All monthly gifts of $19.13 are eligible, but the College notes the greater the gift, the greater the impact on Ferrum students and the campus.
Recurring gifts will go to the Ferrum Fund, which is made up of unrestricted dollars and helps provide key resources for student scholarships, academic programs, athletics, and more. Learn more about the Ferrum Fund here.
Donors are also asked to take a photo of themselves in their socks and post it to social media, tagging #FerrumCollege and #RockTheSocks.
Learn more and sign up to give a monthly gift at www.ferrum.edu/rockthesocks.
On September 30, SGA held a Zoom session with Aladdin Food Services, which provides dining options on campus.
In this semi-virtual world in which colleges are presently living to keep COVID-19 numbers at bay, Ferrum College’s Student Government Association (SGA) is striving to keep campus members informed.
Beginning in September, SGA coordinated town hall Zoom meetings during which students, faculty, and staff are invited to log on to hear from various departments on campus and ask questions.
“We want to bridge the gap between students, faculty, and staff. By hosting Zoom meetings, we are doing just that,” said SGA President Kintwon Pettiford ’22. “We want students to know their voices are being heard and that they are able to make changes, if needed.”
On September 23, 2020, SGA held its first town hall Zoom meeting, hosting Dean of Students and Title IX and Pandemic Coordinator Nicole Lenez. During the session, Lenez answered questions and outlined the steps the College is taking to continuing keeping positive COVID-19 cases low on campus. On September 30, SGA held another successful town hall Zoom session, this time with Aladdin Food Services, which provides dining options on campus.
The meetings will be held once a month, allowing SGA time to canvas the student body for topics that students want to learn more about.
Pettiford urges campus members to stay tuned. Upcoming Zoom meeting topics include a session on activities with Director of Student Activities Justin Muse ’05 and a session called “What’s Next” with President David Johns and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Aimé Sposato.
Meet the 2020-21 SGA cabinet members here.
A group shot of Lindsey and her True North Treks counterparts during their Green River Utah trek in September 2017.
If you missed the first showing on True North Treks’ “To The Stranger (Who Has Loved You),” you can watch it on Friday, November 13, 2020, from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. CST (8 – 9:30 p.m. EST)! Register to watch it here.
In 2013, just three months after graduating from Ferrum College with her Bachelor of Science in environmental planning and development, Lindsey Shelton Deitterick was diagnosed with cystosarcoma phyllodes, an extremely rare sarcoma of the breast. She was 22 years old.
“I was in shock,” she said. “Phyllodes tumors themselves are very rare, accounting for only about one percent of all breast cancers. It is even rarer for them to be malignant.”
But Lindsey’s was malignant.
As a student at Ferrum College, Lindsey had noticed a lump in her breast a few months before graduation. Upon evaluation, she was told it was a cyst; however, in just weeks, the lump had grown from the size of a marble or grape, to a the size of a bar of soap.
She initially underwent a biopsy which revealed a tumor so large that it bent the biopsy needle. Two weeks later, Lindsey had a lumpectomy which resulted in another follow-up surgery to remove even more tissue. She was offered chemotherapy and radiation but declined both because those treatments aren’t known to have high success rates for cystosarcoma phyllodes.
“It was actually more risky for me to take chemo or radiation,” she explained. “I might have gotten another type of cancer from the treatment.”
Lindsey eventually opted for a single-side mastectomy and then underwent reconstructive surgery, for a total of four surgeries at UVA.
After her surgeries, she went through a dark, deep depression for a while. “I lost a lot of friends during that time, people I had known since kindergarten, because they didn’t understand what I was going through and it scared them,” Lindsey explained.
She decided to temporarily relocate from her hometown of Nathalie, VA, to Roatán, an island off the northern coast of Honduras, where she lived with an aunt and worked on a tour boat for about two years. “It was a great relief,” she said.
Six months after returning from Honduras, she started trying to find other young adults who had battled cancer. She wanted to connect with people her own age who had undergone a similar experience. “At that point, I still hadn’t met anyone my own age that had been diagnosed with cancer,” she explained.
Lindsey found peace by practicing yoga and mindful meditation during the trek.
In her research, Lindsey came across True North Treks, a non-profit group who helps teens and young adults who have cancer or have survived cancer to connect with each other through backpacking and canoeing trips in the wilderness. She decided to sign up for one of the treks. There were only a couple of places left on a week-long trek to canoe the Green River in Utah. She read the qualifications: she had to be fit to do the trek, and she would need to be comfortable in front of a camera. This trek was going to be part of a documentary called To The Stranger (Who Has Loved You), which premiered in February of 2020.
“On a whim, I decided to go for it,” she said. “I was worried about putting myself out there, but I needed to do it at that point. I was one of the last people to get a spot on that trek.”
In September 2017, Lindsey joined a group of nine other survivors of various types of cancer to paddle 55 miles on Utah’s Green River. She was the youngest at 26 years old; the oldest was 34. “It was very rewarding,” she said. “I had never been that far out west. It was a great adventure.”
Even though she had prepared for it, having a three-person documentary crew follow her for a entire week was difficult. She was instructed to make video diaries and wore a mic the entire trip. Even her canoe was equipped with a Go-Pro.
“It was interesting, to say the least. As soon as we landed in Grand Junction, Colorado, we had a camera in our face. It was a little shocking,” she remembered.
While she was on the trek in Utah, Lindsey and the group delved into some very deep emotions. She said that sometimes the camera felt like an invasion. At one point, Lindsey and another survivor wanted to have a private conversation. “We found a bunch of huge boulders to scramble up. We were talking and we looked over, and there was a guy with a camera trying to creep over the side of the rock! Some of our conversation made it into the documentary,” she laughed. “I like having those memories now.”
After completing the trek, the documentary’s producers wanted to learn more about Lindsey, her life, and her backstory. Throughout the rest of 2017 and into 2018, she was followed and filmed intermittently, and completed her own video diaries for the documentary. In fact, one of the cameramen even attended her wedding to get more footage.
Once the trek was complete, Lindsey felt a renewal of herself and the return of confidence that cancer and treatment had initially stolen from her. “I felt more ‘me’ than I had since my diagnosis,” she explained. “I came into myself more.”
In fall 2019, Lindsey was able to bring her husband Ryan on the same trek she took in 2017.
That confidence inspired her to reconnect with Ryan, also from Nathalie, who had been asking her out for the last decade. She had always turned him down before, but in January 2018, she was the one to ask him for a date. “Among many other things, I also credit the trek to helping me step out of my comfort zone and ask Ryan out,” she said.
The couple married in September 2018 and are now expecting their first child in November, a son they will name Boone Avery. About a year ago, Lindsey was able to take Ryan on the same Green River trek she completed. “It was really gratifying,” she said. “My husband was able to see into the eyes of other survivors and hear their perspectives, not just mine. He is truly one of my biggest supporters.”
Now, Lindsey works at VIPKid teaching English as a second language. She’s been there since September 2019.
“I am good! I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Even though it sounds cliche, it’s the truth,” said Lindsey. “My health is good. I’m extremely healthy. I have yearly check-ups and now I’m seven years cancer-free.”
The documentary, To The Stranger (Who Has Loved You), will air again in the coming weeks. Check the True North Treks’ website to see air dates and times when they are announced.
On Thursday, September 24, 2020, after an extensive review, Ferrum College received a glowing approval report from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) team.
“We are assessed according to dozens of standards ranging from academic programs, faculty qualifications, budget and finance, planning and assessment, board governance, administrative leadership, student services, general education, and the list goes on and on,” explained President David Johns in a campus-wide email. “Almost always, an institution is given a few (sometimes many!) ‘recommendations’ that MUST be enacted in order to continue its accreditation.”
Upon completion of this rigorous and extensive review process, the SACSCOC team determined that Ferrum College is 100 percent in compliance with every standard set forth, and made no recommendations. Final approval will occur in June 2021 by the SACSCOC board of trustees.
“I wish I could convey…just how absolutely rare it is to receive such a final report,” wrote Johns. “We have all worked very hard over the last few years reshaping the College, encouraging leadership, and dreaming big.”
SACSCOC is the regional accrediting body for higher education institutions in eleven southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) and Latin America. Once every decade, a SACSCOC team made up of peers from other higher education institutions performs an extensive accreditation evaluation on SACSCOC colleges.
“We have been preparing for our ten year compliance report and the off-site and on-site visits for several years,” explained Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Aimé Sposato. “We brought together various groups of talented and dedicated faculty and staff to analyze the systems, protocols, and program offerings. I am delighted to share in the joy that our faculty, staff, and students feel across the campus. I am proud of our work, our dedication to our students, and our mission.”
“The best part of the process of preparing the report was getting to work with people from all over the College to tell the Ferrum College story,” said Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Kevin Reilly, who spent countless hours preparing for the evaluation. “So many people worked so hard and with such excellence because they love Ferrum.”
“The final SACS report with no recommendations is so gratifying,” continued Reilly. “It means that a team made up of our peers from colleges around the southern United States took a very close look at all aspects of our College and discovered that we are doing outstanding work here at Ferrum.”
Learn more about SACSCOC and the accreditation process here.
Read The Franklin News-Post‘s coverage here.
Last month, Ferrum College’s Nursing Division Chair Kimberly Brown was selected to share her presentation, The Impact of Academic Nurse Leaders’ Toxic Behaviors on Faculty, during this fall’s Virginia Nurses Association’s virtual conference. The conference, held September 23-24, 2020, carried the theme, Ending Incivility, Bullying, & Workplace Violence.
This was Brown’s first time as a presenter at the VNA conference; however, she has attended many times in years past. She described the conference as a “robust time of growing the knowledge of nursing – each event has a theme and content experts facilitate presentations and discussion around topics that are presented.”
Brown’s presentation focused on incivility in the workplace. “As it relates to nursing or healthcare, peer to peer incivility and student to faculty incivility is well documented in scholarly literature,” she said.
“Incivility and bullying in leadership ranks is an area where there is a gap in the information. The research team identified this gap, and based on personal past experience at various institutions, we agreed that toxic or uncivil behavior among academic nurse leaders is a phenomenon that should be studied for further understanding,” Brown explained.
Because of COVID-19, the 2020 conference was held virtually and all presentations were pre-recorded.
“‘Eating our young’ is unfortunately something that nursing has been known for,” said Brown. “As an academic nursing leader, it is my goal to nurture not only students but peers and faculty alike such that they embrace growth, feel valued, and flourish into all they can be in whatever role they are in.”
Learn more about the fall 2020 VNA Conference and its presenters here.
Click here to learn more about Dr. Brown.
Learn more about Ferrum College’s nursing program here.
Signs bearing the phrase “Engage for Success” are popping up all over Ferrum College’s campus this fall. These three words sum up the institution’s theme for the new quality enhancement plan, or QEP, which will be in effect for about the next decade.
This QEP topic was chosen after a yearlong process which included focus groups and surveys from students, faculty, coaches, and administrators. The general consensus was that campus members, particularly students, wanted to increase academic engagement on Ferrum’s campus.
“We believe that Ferrum students achieve more when they are more active in their classrooms, on the playing field, in worship, or other activities,” said Associate Professor of Political Science Ed Hally, who is leading the new QEP initiative. “Not only that, but engaged students adjust to college life better and tend to feel a greater connection to their fellow students, Ferrum faculty and staff, and the College as a whole.”
“Engage for Success” includes six subcategories of engagement:
Once the topic has been approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), “this upcoming year – year 0 – will be mostly about getting a snapshot of how engaged students already are in these areas,” explained Hally. “We’ll use this year to establish a baseline and then try to beat that baseline in future years.”
Hally and the QEP team plan to utilize an online app called “Presence” to monitor the program’s progress. With the app, event coordinators will be able to list their events, tagging up to two types of student engagement. Students will also be able to easily access an events calendar to attend gatherings.
Fall 2021’s goals include ramping up student engagement as much as possible with encouragement from student leaders, faculty, and staff; and prize giveaways rewarding the most engaged students at Ferrum.
(August 26, 2020) As students move back to college this month, the usual excitement and bittersweet goodbyes are being seasoned with apprehension and whispered prayers.
None of us are naive, we know this is going to be challenging. We know we must take extra precautions. We know everything could turn on a dime at any moment, and we all know it’s not 2019 any longer!
Every one of our schools has developed contingency plans and scenarios ranging from the likely to the apocalyptic. We are well aware that as Theodore Roosevelt once remarked: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort.” Returning to college this fall is going to require effort because, at the end of the day, it is worth it.
And it is worth it for at least three reasons: students, colleges themselves, and the communities in which our colleges are located.
First, no one stands to lose more than students if our colleges do not return to campus activity.
While colleges learned how to serve their students in unfamiliar yet effective ways, and while faculty performed the Herculean task of transitioning to remote instruction, all this has taken a toll that is unsustainable and undesirable.
One third of students in Virginia attend an independent college like Ferrum College. Although many news articles focus on flagship public universities or elite private colleges, most independent colleges have modest resources and depend mightily on tuition dollars and philanthropy.
We enroll a greater percentage of minority students, first generation college students, and students from families with economic need than do the others. This is not a criticism, but it is a fact. Vulnerable women and men are left in the lurch when our campuses are shuttered. Additionally, rebuilding our economy after COVID-19 will require that students continue developing skills of resilience, critical and imaginative thinking, and civic engagement.
Second, the return must work for the sake of colleges themselves.
Colleges are businesses that have a fundamental social mission. During the pandemic, a few have written that any college unable to survive a couple semesters without students on campus should close. This is the most foolish and ill-informed statement anyone could make. No one would suggest that a grocery chain or a clothing manufacturer was irresponsible for needing to sell groceries or clothes to continue operating. That’s what they do. Likewise colleges and universities.
The economic havoc brought about by COVID-19 will destroy many small businesses, and some of these casualties will be colleges. Losing them will cause irreparable harm to freedom and opportunity. Thus, the return to college must work in order to preserve these champions of learning, support, research and culture.
When we reach the other side of this pandemic, we will need an educated and prepared workforce to help rebuild our country and position us for tomorrow. And to prepare these women and men, we need healthy colleges.
Third, the return must work for the communities where our colleges are located.
A college in any town is an economic boon. Many of our independent colleges are located in small towns where they are a major employer. Even a college the size of Ferrum has a $100 million impact in our region. The college helps to sustain business and livelihoods in this area, as do the others in their hometowns.
It is understandable that communities are apprehensive about the return. However, the long-term damage to our communities and to thousands of families will be extensive unless we find a way to make this work.
Let’s face it: unless we are willing to remain in absolute home lockdown–every one of us–for the next 12 months or longer, then we are acknowledging there are other social and economic concerns to be balanced in addition to caring for our health and slowing the virus. We have an obligation to sustain our communities and assure a stable economy.
So, while we know this will be a challenging semester requiring effort from everyone, it will be worth it on several fronts–for our students, our colleges and our communities. The only way for us not to be defeated by COVID-19 is to live, to thrive and to stay focused on things that matter. We must be cautious and conscientious, of course, but we cannot lock ourselves away cowering in fear. This pandemic will destroy us, but only if we permit it.
Hard does not mean impossible.
This column by President David Johns appeared in The Roanoke Times and The Franklin News-Post. President Johns may be reached at president@ferrum.edu.
Panther Nation:
Welcome to the first day of class and the beginning of fall 2020!
For all students new and returning: we have been waiting for you and are eager to begin a year of discovery, challenge, and opportunity.
For all faculty and staff: today is the day we have been working toward and I am so proud of what we have accomplished and will accomplish together.
I would like to offer a few words as we launch this new year.
First: Ferrum College is a community, a family that is always stronger together. This has never been more true than it is today. We need to draw on that strength and that togetherness to have a successful semester and to stay safe and healthy. What we do on campus and away, what we do on the clock and off, impacts everyone else in our Panther Family. We have some challenges ahead, but hard does not mean impossible!
Second: Ferrum College is an institutional citizen in the Village of Ferrum, Rocky Mount, and the surrounding community. People are watching to see if we are practicing off campus what we are preaching on campus. So, I ask you, please wear a mask, maintain physical distance, and be respectful when shopping or eating in one of our local businesses. Understandably, some are nervous about all of us coming back to campus. Let’s show our neighbors that we think of their wellbeing also when we say: “Not Self, But Others.”
Third: Ferrum College is a diverse family, and this is one of our great strengths. No matter who you are–faculty, staff, student–take time this year to get to know someone from a background different than your own, someone with interests you know little about, and someone whose ideas lie somewhere else on the continuum than do yours. Through simple gestures like these we build a just and sustainable future.
Without a doubt, we are living through a very strange time in the world’s history–a once in a century public health challenge. Many great Ferrum folk are working hard to be sure that our life on campus is safe and healthy. But I want you to remember this: the COVID-19 pandemic will pass. We don’t know when, but it will not last forever. Of course, being neck deep in chaos every day can be discouraging, but never forget that there is ‘the other side’ of this time.
All of us at Ferrum College are committed to living, to thriving, and we will not be defeated! What we do here matters, and it is worth our effort to make it happen. “Ferrum Means Iron,” and as we know, iron is tough and resilient…and so are we.
Let’s have a great semester!
David L. Johns, Ph.D.
President
FERRUM COLLEGE
P.O. Box 1000
Ferrum, VA 24088
540.365.4202
president@ferrum.edu
Follow me: @ferrum_prezThe Ferrum College Fall Convocation was held virtually on Tuesday, August 25, 2020. Watch the archived video below!
