I enjoy the privilege of communicating with each of you through this newsletter. As I begin to think of what to write for this edition, I begin to think back over the past year and all the challenges and accomplishments that we have encountered. We started last year with many new classes, travel trips planned and an active group of clubroom members. As you all know, that changed in the spring when we had to temporary halt our in person classes. This was a challenge to move everything online but a great accomplishment to be able to do so and to continue to provide quality instruction to each of our students. I must take a moment to say thank you to every instructor who challenged themselves to learn new ways of teaching and new technology. I personally, thank each of you. It was a sad time when we had to temporarily close our OLLI clubroom, cancel our day trips and cancel our trips to Italy and Alaska; but a new year is just around the corner. The new year brings excitement to our team, instructors and our students. We are now ready to start planning again. It has been wonderful to see students returning to the classroom and now, we are almost ready to start planning more trips for our OLLI students.

I am so thankful that through this time, our OLLI, Personal, Test Preparation courses and our Intensive English program have continued to support students and their needs. As our team starts to plan for the
spring and summer, I would ask for your input. What new courses are you interested in taking? I have spoken with several people that took up a new hobby during this time and are now ready to share that hobby or master their new skill. Please email me with any course ideas that you have. You may email me at pwalke43@kennesaw.edu and we can discuss the possibility of offering a new course that you have suggested. Our best ideas come from those of you reading this newsletter.

One of my favorite hobbies is traveling and I love to share that experience with our students. Where would you like to travel? We are excited about soon starting to plan our next domestic and international trips. We all have a bucket list of where we would like to explore and experience. Italy has always been close to the top of my personal bucket list and I hope we will soon be able to schedule this trip again. Let me know your bucket list and we can begin to plan for future trips together.

I wish each of you the happiest of holiday seasons and a Happy New Year! Many people are ready to see 2020 end, but I am very excited to see what 2021 has to offer for us at the College of Graduate and Professional Education. Our opportunities are limitless!