Dear Students,
Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful, restful break. I spent some of the time off thinking about what this new year holds. I'm not big on resolutions, but time away from work affords time for reflection. I caught myself thinking about all the plans I had for the fall semester, all the things I wanted to get done and fell short. But then I came across a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that he said in 1967 to a group of students that changed my thinking:"Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are."Sometimes I spend so much time thinking about quantity (how much I want to accomplish) and not enough time on quality (the impact of what I did actually accomplish). With that standard I saw the fall semester in a whole new light!
This MLK, Jr. Day, I hope you'll take the time to reflect on all the things you accomplished last semester and look toward this semester as a way to make a big impact for yourself and those around you, not necessarily check off every single thing on your to-do lists.
A great way to start is to join CNS and the Cockrell School of Engineering at the Annual MLK Community March. Students, faculty, and staff from both schools will join the Austin community to march from the MLK statue at UT to Huston-Tillotson where there will be further events and celebrations.
Best,
Dr. Vanden Bout
Joke: What do you call iron blowing in the wind? FeBreeze.
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