I’ve used this space in the past to share with you the view from behind the glass of the Alumni Center windows looking out on Sylvan Green. How fall is my favorite time of year on campus with the leaves changing, sweater weather and football. The excitement of students returning and looking forward to welcoming alumni back for Hobo Day. But this is 2020.
2020 has been indiscriminate in its unrelenting list of challenges, but so many of you answered the call. For SDSU, bringing students back to campus is the great group project of our age. I watched from behind the windows as campus administrators, faculty and staff worked diligently to bring students back to campus safely.
The challenges that 2020 has afforded us have left no corner untouched, but I have come to refer to 2020 as the year we build resiliency. We are all growing our ability to handle change and adapt to unknown circumstances. You have certainly done things this year that you never imagined you would do, and they have changed you.
This is not easy. Sometimes we don’t know the right answer, there is only a best answer at the time. Sometimes despite all the planning that goes into something, it still doesn’t work. I am not someone gifted with unbridled certainty in the decisions that I make, and sometimes, smart people will disagree about a path forward.
We have dedicated this issue of STATE to introducing you to some of the students navigating the uncertainties of college life in a pandemic. As we talked with new students in creating this issue, their excitement about being at SDSU and all the possibilities their futures hold, it felt like fall in Brookings.
With loyal heart so true,
Andi Fouberg
President & CEO of Alumni Association
