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Native Studies 30th Anniversary Association President's Message Trent's Outstanding Research Record Convocation 2000 Photo Collage What's New in Academic Programs |
by Liz Fleming '77I've been thinking about change lately. It may be the time of life I've reached. With one son heading
off to high school and another to junior high, I've been feeling
a little off-kilter. Wasn't it just last year that I was in high
school myself? It sure feels that way sometimes. The weather is changing too. Fall is definitely in the air.
It seems only a few days ago that I rooted my shorts and t-shirts
out of the back of the cupboard and soon it will be time to tuck
them all away again. Change ... can't we ever keep up? I think that we as alumni are resistant to the very suggestion
of change when it concerns Trent. When we think about our University,
we tend to focus on the moment in time when we loved it best
and reject the very idea that it might not always remain the
same. But Trent, like any other vital educational institution,
is forever changing. It's the nature of the beast. As much as
we would like to believe that we could return to our residence
rooms to find that missing sweat sock, the reality is that our
rooms and our colleges are now vibrating to the sounds of new
music, other lives and other ideas. Students are changing, the
campus is growing and Trent is evolving. And, that, as the syrupy Martha Stewart would say, is a good
thing. And what is our job as alumni? To accept as gracefully as
possible the inevitable changes that occur, to offer our suggestions
for ways in which the essence of Trent can be preserved without
stifling growth, and to support our University and its students
as they make their way into the future. Bob Dylan knew ... the times they are a'changin'. |