May 9, 2013 | SharkAdmin See You at the Graduation Ceremony I hope you all will come out on Saturday, May 18 for the 16th annual Northwest Vista College graduation ceremony at the Freeman Coliseum. Many of the students you have mentored, taught or helped along the way will be at the ceremony celebrating this milestone and will be thrilled to see you cheering them on! As you know, many of our students who are walking the stage have overcome significant obstacles on the way to getting their degrees. For example, Miranda Hoffpauir returned to college later in life with little self-confidence and now says that she has found inner strength and confidence along with her associate degree in Business at NVC. Kimberly Redgate was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at age 17 and thought her college dreams weren’t obtainable. She’s leaving NVC with an Associate of Arts in General Studies. These are just a couple of the stories students have shared about their journeys to achieve an associate degree. I am honored and uplifted each year to be there with our graduates celebrating their achievements. See you there! Get Ready for the New Garage As most of you have heard by now, the new parking garage is slated to open this fall. We will have 700 new parking spaces and for that reason we will discontinue the shuttle service and parking at SeaWorld. The shuttle will stop running at the end of this semester. The new parking garage, located in lot 6, is adjacent to Huisache Hall and the Boardwalk. It will be available to students, employees and community. Work is currently underway to establish a fee structure for the garage to make it affordable for students and employees, while allowing the Alamo Colleges to pay off the debt for the structure. More information about this should be available following a proposal that will be presented to the Board of Trustees at the May board meeting. The garage will be equipped with cameras for security and elevators for those who need assistance. Campus police will also monitor the garage as they do our surface parking. The logistics of parking with a new garage will take some time to work out, but it will help to alleviate the shortage of parking. Once the parking fee structure is approved by the Board, we will be rolling out a series of communication to students and employees, to include video, Web, email, social media and signs to alert students. I was reminded that we also need a name for our garage. I was wondering if we should have a wild flower name (as our surface lots have) or a tree name (as buildings have). If you have suggestions, send me a message with your idea.
