Today, the Aspen Institute announced the top 10 finalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Though TCC was chosen as a top 25 semifinalist last month – a new part of the process this year – we were not chosen as a finalist for the prize.

I am sending this to you because I also wanted to share that the Aspen leaders took the time to express how impressed they were with how we have been able to achieve strong and equitable student success outcomes here at TCC. Our ongoing efforts on behalf of our students are contributing to a greater body of work in our field through organizations like theirs, Achieving the Dream, the Bellwether College Consortium, Excelencia in Education and others. You all should take great pride in knowing that the Aspen review committee believe that this has been the hardest year so far for them because so much exceptional work is being done by us and our peers.

I, for one, have never been prouder of our team, nor more hopeful for the future of our institution. TCC stands firmly among the best community colleges in the nation, and that standard of excellence, as well as our desire to continuously improve, directly benefits our students and our community. Please keep up the great work, and I look forward to celebrating many future successes with you all.