Moreover, it is appropriate today to
remember as well the generations of young women and now men who have
sought better lives under instruction from capable, caring faculty. A
legacy of caring at Midway College is personified in our third century
of service by many of our employees. Over the course of the last four
years Dr. Handley and I have been privileged to meet many of our
graduates both near and far. I recall one such meeting with a brilliant
woman on the West Coast who graduated from here several decades ago when
the school was operating as the Kentucky Female Orphan School. I
remember thinking, this woman must have left Midway and pursued a
Bachelor's degree and then on in academe. But no she hadn't. She left
here upon completion of grade 12. Here she had been exposed to the best
of literature, and was required to take advanced instruction in
mathematics, and composition. Midway faculty worked diligently to
prepare women such as she because they had no safety net other than
their ability to think. We serve many students in this same circumstance
today and our faculty is just as diligent and committed as they were the
past two centuries. To all of our alumni, I say we will keep the faith,
and require much of our students academically. We will also strive to
engender character, character that counts and give expression in
servanthood to humanity. We will retain the character of our pedagogy as
a Women's College while continuing to expand our accelerated degree
programs for adults.
I think our group project is going to find our service learning mission within this letter.
