The fourth line of the first verse of the “Yellow and Blue†says we come to South Dakota State University “Brimful of vigor and vim.†We don’t say things like that anymore, but the sentiment remains. Students come young, energetic and full of enthusiasm to experience all that a university has to offer. Today we might say that young people come full of potential.
Potential.
Students come to universities ready to experience all there is to learn and do at a university. Some come with a plan, while others come as more of an open book looking for guidance on how to chart their course. They come with potential, and they come to grow their potential. The pages of this magazine talk about former students who came here and are now working to push the boundaries of their potential to succeed and give back.
Universities, the institutions themselves, also have potential. The potential comes from the people at the university, the research they are conducting, their teaching and the work they do every day. In 2018, South Dakota State University will kick off a new strategic plan to stretch its potential. Goals and targets will direct the work of our alma mater over the next five years.
We all came here with potential, but we took different paths to grow that potential. We came to have our potential stretched, some did that through research and academic study, some did that on the field of play, others did it through student activities. A growing number have done it with the help of a job or two while they are in college. Every step along the way, someone was there to push us and inspire us to realize our potential.
You hopefully have continued to stretch and have embraced the opportunity to be a lifelong learner in your field of study or by broadening your horizons in other areas of interest to you. Hopefully, you have also found someone or someones whose potential you could push and stretch to help make them better. I have the opportunity to meet alumni of all ages, young and not as young anymore, and the thing they seem to have in common is that many, if not most or all, are still very much “brimful of vigor and vim.â€
With loyal hearts so true,
Andi Fouberg
President & CEO of Alumni Association
