Goodbye Summer

Day four! 

Is it sad that I'm celebrating four measly little days of working out?  Does that really even count?

Big day tomorrow - M starts first grade!  Yes they start on a Friday. I know, I think it's dumb too.  Of course, she doesn't know the difference. She's just excited to get to show her sparkly tank-top to her new friends. 

Big day for me too -we have our freshman mentoring orientation tomorrow and then our whole program orientation. I cannot believe it's here already. This summer went way too fast. I think we got a lot accomplished but it was kinda a whirlwind. We spent the entire summer trying to get some new programming in place. I think we're ready but I could have used just a few more weeks. 

Of course, I don't know when it will ever not be busy - every time I think we're getting close to where we want to be I see another gap or something that we're not doing. During in-service today we had a session on higher education accreditation. There are some big changes coming for our college. And I realized that we should develop some learning/program outcomes. I mean, I have a strategic plan but I think we need to step back, look at everything we do, and then outline what kind of result we want from that service and then measure - are we getting that result? If not, why not?  What can we do to change it?  I don't know, we do an annual performance report but that doesn't really help you get a better program...

I have ideas, I know what I want our program to be - getting there is the problem. I lack direction and resources. And time. And sometimes a reality check. Sometimes I catch myself getting into all that stuff and I have to step back and remind myself that we are really not there yet. But gosh, we're entering our third year - shouldn't we be there by now?  

I had a wonderful meeting with some colleagues the other day, a three hour exchange of program ideas and discussion. I walked away feeling that we were doing things right but I didn't get any solutions to the challenges that we face.  And I guess I felt better knowing that we share the same challenges but really, what does that do for either one of us?

Okay, going to continue those thoughts tomorrow at the office. Tonight, I've got a backpack to prepare and clothes to dry because tomorrow is a school day!