We are excited at 鶹 Tech for our record-breaking growth. In four of the past five years, the college has grown by at least 8%. In three of those years, growth has been over 10%, including this year. I’ve been asked several times what I attribute that growth to. My answer: “It’s personal.”
The relationship between a student and her college is personal. The relationship between a student and his faculty is personal. The relationship between students and their advisors and success coaches is personal. When we say you are “Right Where You Belong,” it is more than a motto; it describes our commitment to making the college experience personal.
Dr. William Dallas Herring (1916–2007), a Rose Hill native often called the “father” of North Carolina’s community colleges, championed an open-door approach built around people, not prestige. He famously urged colleges to “take the people where they are and carry them as far as they can go,” and he described education as “total education” rooted in “the incomparable worth of all human beings.” It’s personal.
At this year’s Dallas Herring Lecture (https://belk-center.ced.ncsu.edu/partnerships-and-convenings/dallas-herring-lecture/), Dr. Jason Wood reminded us that the most meaningful measure of student success is what happens after commencement. His challenge was both blunt and compassionate: “We don’t graduate people into poverty.” He pushed leaders to see education for what it truly is: personal. Because students’ lives are personal, how can education be anything else?
At 鶹 Tech, we strive to think of students as family. So, we don’t just hand them a schedule and say, “Good luck.” Our success coaches and advisors help students develop a plan: a purpose, a pathway, the right support, and a strategy to pay for college and life while they’re in school. That is the heart of 鶹 Tech: meeting people where they are, understanding the barriers they carry, and designing the college experience so that a credential leads to real opportunity, stability, and hope. It’s personal.
We recently conducted a student focus group to hear where we’re doing well and where we can improve. One student shared that he was in a difficult class and struggling with the concepts. He asked his instructor for help, and the instructor told him, “Don’t worry; we’ll get through this class together.” It’s personal.
The week before the January ice storm, a staff member heard that a student was without electricity and heat. Our team worked together to connect her with resources and get her power restored the day before the storm hit. It’s personal.
Each college program partners with local businesses and industries, aligning our courses with real career opportunities. One department has been working with a local machining company to make sure our machining courses and program match what they need for successful employees, because graduates need jobs. It’s personal.
At 鶹 Tech, we will “take the people where they are and carry them as far as they can go,” because we believe in “the incomparable worth of all human beings.”
It’s personal.
Visit to explore career opportunities. You may just find that 鶹 Tech is Right Where You Belong.
