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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


I am honored, excited, and simply delighted to attend my first MCC Holiday Reception later today. The reception offers all of us the chance to gather with friends and share our cherished memories of the past and our hopeful plans for the future. As I look back on the memories of my first six months at MCC, I can't help but smile. The community--inside and outside of the college--has been so overwhelmingly warm and gracious in its welcome. If I were to catalog all the kindnesses my family has experienced since my appointment in April, the document would rival the old Sears Wish Book that many of us of a certain age remember fondly.

But, if you were to ask my children, the greatest gift they have received since moving to Rochester has been snow. It has brought them joy, laughter, very pink cheeks, and a whole new way of looking at the world--and it will make this holiday season unlike any other.

In many ways, this gift is the genesis of the gift my family wishes to give back to MCC: the Snowflake Scholarship. With this scholarship, we hope to open the door to a whole new way of looking at the world for deserving students.

When we first proposed creating a scholarship attached to the Holiday Reception, MCC Foundation Executive Director Diane Shoger came up with the idea to name it the Snowflake Scholarship because of an anonymous quote she came across: "Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together." The quote fit perfectly since the scholarship recognizes that all of us at MCC, working together, promote student success. My family is contributing $1 for each of MCC's 1,815 employees, and we encourage each employee to contribute at least $1 of his or her own. Each dollar donated will "stick" to ours and build an opportunity for students to receive the greatest gift of all: a stellar education.

So, thank you, thank you for the many gifts you have given us this year! We wish you the very best of the season and hope that your holidays are happy, warm, and bright!

As always, I welcome your thoughts. You can join the conversation at the President's Wednesday Message blog, <<https://www.monroecc.edu/blogs>>

Anne M. Kress, Ph.D.
President
12/16/2009