Community College Diversity

I spent Wednesday afternoon with a Human Relations class at Minneapolis Community and Technical College in downtown Minneapolis. The twenty-five students are working towards an Associates of Arts degree in Business Office Administration. Their instructor, Margret Lydell, asked me to address issues like leadership and diversity.

I spent two and one-half hours addressing those and a good number of other issues like creative problem-solving, critical thinking, attitude and motivation. We had a great session and, at the end of class, they asked several very good, thoughtful questions.

There were several things that stood out for me, but one of the big things was the diversity and the number of immigrant students. At one point, I asked how many students were born in a country other than the United States. By far the lion's share of the students are first generation immigrants.

They told me there are eighty different languages spoken at MCTC! I don't know exactly how representative of their population this particular class is, but it just struck me how such a diverse group of young people are studying at one small, post-secondary institution in the middle of downtown Minneapolis. I think it's great!

They obviously understood me because of the questions they asked, the conversations I had with a few of them after class and the comments a couple of students made to their instructor, Margret Lydell.

After the students had all gone, Margret told me a couple of great stories about what students had told her.

Another good day, doing what I absolutely love. Another reminder I'm not done yet!