On May 15, Riverland celebrated the end of another academic year and the achievement of 566 graduates in the Class of 2009. The end of the year also provides the opportunity to celebrate the success of our students, employees and college. The following highlights just a few of many accomplishments.

Riverland Community College students Machele Michels (Staples), Mark Wachlin (Austin) and Rustom Zufarov (Uzbekistan) were named to the 2009 All-Minnesota Academic Team in recognition of their academic achievements, leadership accomplishments and service to their college and community.

Five Riverland students placed first in state SkillsUSA competition, which qualified them for the national SkillsUSA contest in Kansas City, Mo., later this month. Gold medal winners include Sergio Hernandez (Walters) for Extemporaneous Speaking; Dylan Kuntz (Waterville) for Auto Refinishing Technology; Brandon Nelson (Ellendale) for Prepared Speech; Matthew Steiner (Brownsdale) and Ivan Okhin (Ukraine) for Web Design.

Riverland’s Phi Theta Kappa honor society chapter, Zeta Eta, won several distinguished awards at the International Convention held in Grapevine, Texas, in April.

This year, more than 500 chapters competed for the society’s most coveted awards. Riverland’s awards included a Leadership Hallmark Award, Top 100 Chapter Award, a Paragon Award for new advisers for Sue Grove and an Administrator Award of Distinction for Gary Schindler. I was honored to be one of nine college presidents to receive the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction.

Riverland athletics had an outstanding year. Our women’s basketball team finished second in the state and in NJCAA Region 13, and our softball team finished fourth and third respectively. The 2009 baseball team set records by emerging from the state and NJCAA Region 13 tournaments undefeated, which led it to the Junior College World Series in Tyler, Texas.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system awards recognized two Riverland programs for exceptional accomplishment in diversity leadership, programming and services. The Be Your Best College Prep Academy won the Outstanding Student Organization Diversity Award, and the Riverland Community College Gay and Straight Alliance/Stage Left received an honorable mention for the same category.

In January, Riverland received 2008 awards for Excellence in Facilities Management and Financial Management.

These awards have become much more rigorous in recent years; earning them is satisfying evidence of the outstanding work that our employees in this division do for our college as judged statewide and illustrates their commitment to excellence in service to others and in support of teaching and learning.

Another exciting accomplishment is that Owatonna became Riverland’s third campus. Although Riverland has been present in Owatonna since 1971, the purchase of the Owatonna College and University Center by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system in December officially established the state system’s 54th campus location.

This year, the North Central Association’s Higher Learning Commission affirmed Riverland’s accreditation status through 2015-16.

There are many other accomplishments, too numerous to mention in this space. However, I hope you see the pride in what we do and our continuing commitment to excellence in teaching and learning.