The First Signs of Spring
North Texas recently experienced a winter weather event that brought debilitating ice and snow to our area. Schools and businesses closed, bridges and overpasses were temporarily unsafe to navigate, and some mail, package delivery, trash, and recycling pick-up services were delayed. While school children widely celebrated the school closings, highway crews worked around the clock to make our roads safer to navigate. First responders and essential health care workers braved the elements to provide critical services to our citizens. For many of these valued contributors, it was a time of heightened responsibility and service. Their collective efforts are to be commended.
For many of the rest of us, the winter weather event was an unplanned interruption in our lives that forced changes to our normal daily routines. While some of our typical responsibilities could be completed remotely during the freeze, overall productivity was inhibited. Our focus was temporarily shifted to ensuring the safety of our friends and family…and to simply staying warm.
After several days of being trapped indoors, I personally began to experience cabin fever. As the ice began to thaw and decisions had to be made regarding reopening the college, I bundled up and escaped outdoors to personally examine the improving road conditions. Additional considerations regarding reopening the college were the condition of shaded sidewalks, parking lots, outdoor staircases, and ice falling from roofs and trees.
It was during these walks that I experienced several unexpected observations. As I examined the trees to ascertain the potential danger of falling ice, I noticed that under the coating of transparent ice, there were hundreds of brilliant buds that were seemingly yearning for the spring sunshine. In the shaded flowerbeds were countless bright green daffodil stems rising in stark contrast through the sheet of white snow. I found myself surrounded by the first signs of spring. Even in the conditions of ice and snow, signs of new life and the hope of spring abounded.
Weatherford College provides our citizens with hope for a better life for themselves and their families. WC provides our students with a myriad of educational opportunities that will allow them to create a new life and realize the American Dream. We strive to support our growing business community by providing a highly skilled labor force in the face of an expanding economy. Like the hope of a new spring, Weatherford College promises an even brighter future for our students, for our business community, and most importantly, for this wonderful place that we call home.
Tod Allen Farmer
President, Weatherford College