Home for the holidays

Dec. 19, 2018

By NCTA Dean Ron Rosati, Ph.D.

Students have completed final exams and returned home. Faculty had a busy week and a busy weekend calculating final semester grades which were due by noon on Monday.

The holiday season is a long break for our students so all return home regardless of the distance. NCTA is enrolling more and more students from outside of Nebraska so, for some, the trip home is a long one.

Our faculty and staff do what they can to accommodate student travel needs. Perhaps one of the more extreme examples occurred last Saturday morning. A staff member came to Curtis to pick up a student at the residence hall at 2 A.M. to drive him to McCook so the student could catch the Amtrak to Denver. His mom met him in Denver so they could return to their family home in Southwest Colorado.

Most students are overjoyed to get back home to see family and renew acquaintances with friends. They enjoy the opportunity to relax and catch up on local events. Their parents enjoy sitting at the dinner table to hear about their student’s experiences over the past semester.

They hear about new friends who hail from various parts of the United States, and have new perspectives to share. Parents learn about the new skills or industry techniques their son or daughter developed over the past few months – how to select the best corn hybrid, new methods for branding calves, the best procedure for drawing a blood sample from a heifer or companion animal in the vet tech lab, or the most profitable way to market a hay crop. Some students, male or female, can’t wait to take dad out to the farm shop to demonstrate new welding skills.

Parents listen to these stories attentively. They are impressed and perhaps a bit amused by their son’s or daughter’s growing technical competence. But mostly, they are quietly thinking about how much this young person has grown during the past four months.

A parent doesn’t see the daily incremental growth that occurs when their child is living on a college campus. Instead, they see their high school graduate who left home just a short while ago has now come back as a maturing young professional. As a father to young adults, I am familiar with the thoughts going through the minds of parents as they sit listening to their child telling his or her college stories at the dinner table. At these times, parents are filled with feelings of pride, love, and for a few, relief that the transition to college is going well.

We wish all of our Aggie students and their parents a safe and restful holiday season. Students, enjoy the home-cooked food. Get your laundry done. And come back to campus on January 7 well rested and ready for another productive semester at NCTA.

Campus break for the New Year

All five campuses of the University of Nebraska system will be closed for student and staff holiday from Dec. 22-January 1. The “shut down” ends after the New Year when business offices will re-open.

Whether by train, airplane, car or pickup perhaps hauling a horse trailer back to Curtis, students will be returning after their well-deserved holiday break.

We also look forward to greeting several new students to NCTA as they begin or continue their college career in Curtis on January 7.

Additionally, congratulations to 12 Aggies students who are finished with their academic programs. We wish you well in 2019 and hope to see some of you return for commencement next May.

Happy holidays, everyone!

NCTA Mission:  The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture is devoted to a statewide mission of preparing students for successful careers in agriculture, veterinary technology, food and related industries. The college provides open access to innovative technical education resulting in associate degrees, certificates, diplomas and other credentials.

Ahead at NCTA:

Dec. 22-31– NCTA Offices and Campus closed

January 2019

1 – Happy New Year 2019 – campus closed

2 – Offices reopen

4 – Statewide Advisory meeting

7 – Spring Semester classes begin