POLKcast: President Garcia Falconetti & Trustee Bell Barnett kick off season 3
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Welcome to season three of Polk cast
Polk State College’s official podcast.
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Enjoy this exclusive episode with Polk
State President, Dr. Angela Garcia.
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Falconetti as our host and special
guest, trustee Ashley Bell Barnett.
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Welcome, trustee Bell Barnett,
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thank you so much for joining me today
to launch our third season of our Polk
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Cast,
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which is a very exciting opportunity for
our institution to get to know people
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like you a little bit better.
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So we’ve had two seasons
of the Polk Cast thus far,
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and the two seasons have
included students and faculty,
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and this is the first time
we’re spotlighting amazing
community members like
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you.
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It’s such a pleasure always to be
here, to be on the Polk State Campus,
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and just to be able to be amongst students
and all the wonderful things that are
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happening here. And, uh, thank you for
having me today. It’s such an honor.
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Well, thank you. We’re honored
by your service to the college.
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And for those of you who are listening,
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I would like you to know that Trustee Be
Barnett is our immediate past chair of
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our district, board of Trustees,
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and I had the honor of serving alongside
her last year as she served as chair.
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And that year in particular,
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we exceeded our goals for the
legislative session as a result of your
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leadership, the college
community, all the trustees.
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I had a little bit to do with it,
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but really I wanna thank all of you
for everything that you’ve done and
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really those who are listening, I also
would like to highlight that this, this,
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uh, episode is going to be focused
on not only Trustee Bill Barnett,
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but launching the future for
our future alum videos and also
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podcasts that we’re gonna have
in place moving forward. That’s.
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So exciting. It.
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Is. But I, you know,
we’re, we’re thrilled.
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But I wanna thank you again so
much for your service. What,
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talk to us a little bit about, um, you
know, your experience with the college.
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I know you pursued dual enrollment
coursework with us when you were in high.
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School. I did. It was so long
ago. It was, uh, in two thousands,
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and I think it was in early 2000.
Reggie Webb was, time flies was still,
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I know Reggie Webb was my advisor Oh my,
that time. I know Reggie. Yes. I mean,
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he has been there with me through thick,
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thin and like through immaturity
to here. So I have to give, uh,
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a large thanks to him. But I did back
in, uh, when we had dual enrollment,
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it was piped through classrooms and, and
through a little TV with a little, uh,
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uh, call, um, messaging machine
that we could kind of two-way here.
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And it was a great, um, it was just a
great avenue for me. I lived in Fort Mead,
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which is about 35, 40 minutes
away from each college.
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And so my mom had the
foresight to enroll me early.
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So by the time I graduated from high
school, I had 60 credit hours, which was,
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was so great to be on,
be for myself to be on,
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to go to another institution
with that aa um, under my belt.
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But I have really great memories
at Polk State. Uh, not only that,
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they respected me and, um, as a
younger, uh, student in the class,
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but still held that
accountability for me to, um,
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be able to pursue and work at the
same coursework as other students.
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So I think some of my favorite classes
was humanity. We had Dr. Massey at time,
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it was a long time, and went on field
trips down to the Ringling Museum Wow.
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Down in Sarasota. That is
something I remember. And,
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and also the speech classes,
being able to, you know,
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stand up in front of audiences and,
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and which led to skills
that I utilize today.
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So Polk State has always
been a part of our family.
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Even dating back before dual enrollment
was kids at college. Right. And, um,
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we’ve had the pleasure of sending our
own daughter there now, but, uh, we,
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you know, things from creative
writing to art skills, um,
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it just always was embedded into
our community from early age.
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And now it’s just such an honor to, uh,
work through the college to fruition,
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to serve under such an amazing leadership
and amazing staff and students.
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And, uh, that’s just been kind of
a story in a nutshell, but, uh,
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what a great privilege.
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Wow. Well, you are a testament
to our institution, really.
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I’m amazed by your connections
to the institution,
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the passion that you continue to exhibit
based on your previous experiences.
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And again, for those who are listening,
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it’s pretty remarkable that Trustee
Bell Barnett now had the privilege of
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serving,
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appointed by the governor to serve on
the board and served as chair of the
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district, board of trustees. And you
said you even sent your daughter. I know.
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I have sent mine now to kids at college.
It’s in the family, right? Yes,
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it runs We’ll own you. If that’s all
right. Please claim me. you we’ll own you.
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Please.
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Claim me completely.
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I we’ll own yourself, but I know.
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I know. We’ll definitely
claim you. It was, uh, I,
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I had served on the foundation board
for quite a long time under, um,
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advisement of, well, just
wanting to give back period.
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Just knowing from my
situation that college is,
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it has to be accessible
and it has to be, um,
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affordable and, and, and students, so
many students, and you know this yourself,
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that we all have the drive. We all
wanna be here. We all wanna make the,
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you know, the flexibility to work in
our favor to achieve our goals. Um,
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and at that time,
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the foundation was very appealing because
they do such great work in making sure
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that students are provided all of the
accessibility, affordability, and,
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and in hard times that extra bump just
to get them through and to get them all
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the way through.
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So through the four years to six years
of service on the foundation and,
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and going through the testimonies,
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we would hear from our students sometimes
having two to three jobs who were
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managing a family of their
own, coming back to school.
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It was just totally inspiring. And I
felt a part of the Polk State family.
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And when the opportunity came to, uh,
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apply for the district board of trustees
through Governor Scott at the time,
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I really didn’t think that
I had a shot. I, you know,
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I know that there’s so many people in the
community that are so dedicated to the
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college, but when I received that
call today, it was one of the,
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one of the greatest honors of my life
and still is to be renamed by Governor
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DeSantis and then to work under
your leadership. It’s not a, um,
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it’s not a job and it’s certainly not, um,
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something of volunteering. It.
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It honestly is a great honor and duty
just to serve our students and know that,
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you know,
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under you that things are working
fluently as a well-run machine.
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And we are really expanding programs
across the board that students are
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interested in,
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and then they can articulate or go into
careers that are fitting for them and
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hopefully stay in Polk County. We
wanna retain talent. I know that this,
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we’re gonna segue into our
alumni that are currently here,
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but that is something that
is just so important to us.
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And as a community leader,
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we wanna wrap our arms around the college
in every single way to make sure that
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it comp, that it continues to prosper,
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and that we’re here to
provide the necessary support
to the college and to you.
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Will you raise many great
points about our institution.
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One is that you’re right,
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70% of our students stay here
and are employed here locally.
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We’d love to keep ’em here in Polk
County because we are training the future
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workforce as you well know, because
you’ve let our board, uh, affordable,
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accessible opportunity quality
education is what we’re about.
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And you’ve also talked about
the student experience. I mean,
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the students that we serve,
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if you look at the demographic
profile for those who are listening,
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if you’re not already aware, you
know, have a lot of needs mm-hmm.
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<affirmative>.
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And so it’s wonderful to be able to
benefit from amazing committed community
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leaders like you. And we
are very fortunate at Polk
State. By the way, audience,
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as you tune in and you’re listening,
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I do wanna highlight this very
important point that our trustee, uh,
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just received the Athena Award as
honored by the Lakeland Chamber and the
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Greater Junior League, uh, cut chapter
of Polk County. So I’m so proud of her,
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not only inspiring women,
but also inspiring, um, all
students to be successful.
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Through your story and through
your commitment to our community,
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we could not be more grateful.
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Is there anything you’d like
to leave the audience with?
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Um, well, I have to say I have, I’m very,
uh, grateful for that congratulation,
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but again, it’s just serving,
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having a servant heart and
leading in the footsteps of Dr.
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Falconi who was awarded
two, 2019, correct. No.
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- 2020.
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Yes. Sorry. Close together.
Close <laugh>. And, and knowing,
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I know that this is a great kickoff
because we, the last podcast was in 2018.
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We have jumped through many,
many hurdles, you know, to,
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to get back to this great launch
and students to feel engaged again,
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to know what’s going on in
your college, on your campus,
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and ways that you can, um, not
only utilize the services at hand,
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but perhaps start your own, you know, uh,
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support groups in your own chapters to
really rally around and make Polk State u
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you know, we always go by the
statement. We are Polk. Exactly.
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And I think that as, as short and,
and, uh, you know, sweet as that sound,
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it’s true. Our community is Polk.
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We have to have the necessary education
to prepare students all across
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the spectrum to be ready for our
workforce. And, you know, again,
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I know that it’s sometimes it’s, it’s
hard. It’s so hard. As a student,
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I remember back in the day, you know,
being able to, um, get to your classes.
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I know we have wonderful professors
and faculty that work with you. Um,
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and as a board member, you know,
that that’s part of our, uh,
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due diligence is making sure that
there is a accommodation, you know,
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to our students. I love that we have
passed the technology threshold.
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There’s more options for students
to take classes, you know,
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in a form that is more fitting to them.
But I think, um, under the staff and Dr.
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Falcon and our board’s
leadership and beyond and,
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and great kudos to the foundation as well,
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you’re gonna see some really great
things on, uh, campus that is,
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that is exciting.
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And that is just going to put a little
pep in your step just to be happy to be
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back and like I said, be back
engaged in what we’re doing. Um,
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I will say I’m an open door,
just like your president,
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if you ever need anything,
if there’s, you know, uh,
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not only hitch, but uh, things to
celebrate, uh, stories of alumni,
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we would love to hear,
uh, your stories and,
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and things that have been good for this
college and good for this community.
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So I,
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I just truly appreciate you giving time
to just speak so highly cuz it’s so
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easy. It’s, it’s, it’s easy to talk
about things that you love and, um, I’ll,
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I hold that to the heart and to know Polk
State is to love Polk State. And so I,
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I just truly feel that way to deep in
my core. So regardless of how I serve,
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I’m always gonna be a part of family
and always going to be here to meet the
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needs of our students and community.
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Thank you. Thank you. You are our
family. We do love you at PO. State.
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You thank you. I do wanna give
a shout out to all of my bosses.
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I have four board members at this
juncture that I have the opportunity of
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serving alongside,
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and they are all very dedicated and
passionately dedicated to our institution.
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But I want to thank you
for being here today,
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but most of all for your continued
commitment from the bottom of my heart.
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for
what you do for our institution.
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Tune in to Polk, cast on iTunes,
Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher,
00:10:34.160 –> 00:10:38.240
and polk.edu. If you’re inspired
by the stories of our alumni,
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much like that, of our immediate past
chair of our district, board of trustees,
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Ashley Bell Barnett and would like to
support Polk State students visit
00:10:45.320 –> 00:10:48.200
foundation.polk.edu.
00:10:49.120 –> 00:10:50.200
Soar, Eagles