We Are Lighthouses

Today’s topic is lighthouses.

Yes, you read that right. Several of us from NOVA attended the annual meeting of our accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. There, we had the chance to hear opening plenary speaker, author and businessman Steve Pemberton. His remarks centered on his remarkable journey from being a neglected and abused foster child, to winning a full-ride scholarship to Boston College, to having a successful career in business and writing. He identified individuals throughout his life whose persistent and focused care, guidance and belief in him transformed his life: a woman who passed along used books to feed his love of reading; a teacher who told him he was “college material”; a spelling bee judge whom he later encountered in an Upward Bound program; a counselor who connected him to scholarships and even took him in as a foster parent. He calls them “human lighthouses” and labels the extraordinary impact these “ordinary” (his word) people have “the lighthouse effect.”

These lighthouses had a lasting, positive influence on the direction of Steve Pemberton’s life — and he was frank in sharing what might have happened had they turned their lights away. He attributes his success to their actions, big and small: he was seen, and that made him see himself in a different way — giving him hope for a different, brighter future.

Our College is radiant with the glow of thousands of lighthouses.

Every day at NOVA, you shine your light on our students, illuminating their talents and potential, giving direction to their journeys and helping them to find their ways. Whether the days are sunny or stormy, whether the nights are star-filled or pitch dark, your commitment to teaching, advising, mentoring and supporting our students is far from ordinary. It is truly extraordinary, exceptional and transformational.

Thank you for being the lighthouses our students need.