News

My name is Priscila Vargas, Waubonsee Student Trustee. I am currently into my second semester working on my Associate of Science with a concentration in Nursing. I would first like to thank everyone who voted for me to become the 2021-2022 Student Trustee. My goal is to make everyone at Waubonsee proud of what we will accomplish together this upcoming academic year.  

As I was leaving my office for spring break last year, little did I know that I would not return to my office for a very long time. My beloved office where students stopped by to chat and have a cup of coffee or tea. Sometimes they needed help and other times, just to decompress from the rigors of being a student. The sounds that came out of my office are sorely missed. Laughter, small talk, sometimes a few crying sessions, and even impromptu violin concerts spilled into the halls of Akerlow Hall. I miss the interactions that occurred in my office and I yearn to return to normalcy.

During the last year, we all learned more about vaccines, viruses, and infection than we ever anticipated. The terms social distancing, PPE, and herd immunity are heard in conversations over dinner and on family Zoom calls. What we don’t hear as much about are the names and stories of the countless women and men who have worked around the clock for the last year to help keep us safe and supported the families who lost friends and loved ones to COVID. In honor of them, and as we celebrate Women’s History Month, I want to share with you the story of a pioneering female physician who changed my life even though she died before I was born.  

While I was growing up in India and going to school, math and science were my favorite subjects. I found that they just seemed so logical and came more naturally to me. I was probably also biased at that time, as both my parents were science graduates. Science was woven into the fabric of our everyday lives. As I grew older my love and passion for science increased and I went on to follow a research career in Physics. It was not until I started teaching as a physics faculty at Waubonsee Community College in 2013 that I began to appreciate how well my scientific attitude and critical thinking had helped me achieve all that I have in my life. I realized, at that time, my responsibility to bring that scientific thinking into the lives of my students.

It was a Sunday evening, 10:30 p.m., and I’d spent the entire weekend glued to my chair working on a paper that was due in a little over an hour. My husband and kids anxiously awaited the sound of the words, "I’m done." For it meant I could transform back into wife and step-mom again. This scene describes one of the many days in my current life as a student, working on a doctoral degree in community college leadership.

As a sociology instructor, my job is to educate my students on the science of understanding society and social forces that affect them. Every day, students encounter (either personally or observationally) events and phenomena that demand inquiry and explanation. Other events and phenomena have been key to shaping their identities and experiences throughout their lives. This affects all students, all people.

Greetings from Professor Emeritus, Jim Armitage. The day I decided to retire, I experienced a single moment of career reflection. 30 years of my working life flashed by in mere seconds. What I saw was both amazing and concerning at the same time. Let me explain.

2020 has definitely been a year that will remain in all our memories forever. If you were just getting ready to start or have just recently started along the path to a college degree, you may be thinking about reconsidering. Even with the economy slowing down there are still lots of great, high-demand and high-paying jobs out there. Waubonsee can be your path to them.

Artist, author, and entrepreneur Vivian Greene wrote, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain…” Our nursing students could have easily decided to wait out the storm, but they accepted the challenge to learn to dance in the rain. Since the spring of 2020, students have learned many dances. They have learned the dances of patience, collaboration, adaptability, and perseverance.

In 2018, we surveyed the community and received responses from more than 1,500 people. In this needs assessment, we learned that our stakeholders did not know the scope of our offerings and many hoped for new programs to be developed at the college. Feedback from this survey helped us create our FY2020-2022 Strategic Plan which includes new program development as one of our key drivers with the goal to design and deliver community-responsive programming.