What can I say? This summer has been fast moving and rather time consuming with travel. Hence, my submissions have been less than frequent.
Most recently, I was in Maryland attending the CCA (Career College Association) Leadership Institute. The six day leadership training program included 54 individuals representing colleges and institutions from the majority of the United States. I met many incredible people, some of which have been in the career college industry for years, and others like myself, have only recently joined the industry. But two themes ran constant throughout the conference...collaboration and caring. I met many folks who were from "competing" institutions, but at no time did we ever hesitate to share best practices or ideas to help make each of our schools better. The level of caring and concern for students within this sector was extremely evident amongst all of my new colleagues. There is definitely a needed space for schools like mine and those represented at the CCA Institute. It was great to see so many people examine ways to make improvements to better position their students and future graduates for success.
I left the conference feeling very fortunate to work in such an incredible industry. Despite the fact that career college's tend to fall to the bottom of the totem poll in terms of government support and recognition, I felt great about our place in education when I left. If the people that I had the pleasure to meet and work with over the six day long institute are an indication of the people I will be associating with over the next number of years, I feel great about the direction we are heading.
There is still a place for competition within the career college sector. But competition rooted in making things better for the students we serve will only make all of the players in this industry flourish to new heights.
