Southern Vermont College

Axinn Award Winners

There are many well-documented and oft-mentioned joys of spring – newly blooming flowers, the smell of cut grass, mud season (if you live in Vermont), and the start of the baseball season.  On campuses across the US, spring is also when we enjoy the many celebratory events that lead up to Commencement.

On the Southern Vermont College campus, the month of April is filled with these events.  Some examples: the Axinn Community Scholar Leadership Dinner, the Sports Banquet, and Honor’s Convocation, which includes the Alphi Chi induction ceremony and scholarship donor recognition.

Each of these events presents an opportunity to remind ourselves – as individuals and as a collective — of the successes of our students.   We can reflect on their cumulative achievements in academics, community involvement (both near and far) and athletics.  Each celebration recognizes the multi-faceted talents of our student population.

As important as these events are, and they are important, they can mask the remarkable effort, over an extended period, which is required for students to achieve success.  Lots of time and hard work by the students stand behind the successes we reward this month, and there is accompanying time, hard work and effort from their faculty, staff, and coaches.

I think as these formal spring events approach, it is easy to lose sight of some of the smaller, less formal, ongoing recognitions of student support that we deliver at SVC day-in and day-out.  A positive email, a special hello in a hallway, a conversation in the dining hall, an extra meeting to go over a paper, some added help on a project, an inquiry about their health or their family’s well-being – these are all ways to build self-esteem, to provide encouragement, and to create an atmosphere where let students know we believe in them – sometimes before they believe in themselves.

As we welcome in spring this year, I am reminded that we don’t have to wait for new bulbs to sprout or new leaves to unfurl for us to remember that successes within the academy – both big and small — are a common occurrence, worthy of recognition across all seasons. 

So, please join me for our many events this spring, in the spirit of celebrating, and with renewed effort to celebrate, the year-round, diverse successes of SVC students.