We’re celebrating success at YSU

Last Monday evening, as the lights came up on Stambaugh Stadium, hundreds of new Youngstown State University freshmen – donning red and white Penguin t-shirts – huddled around the YSU Marching Pride to form the YSU Class of 2019 photo op in the center of Beede Field.

It was a spirit-filled end to the first day of IGNITE, a new two-day program started this year to welcome our freshmen Class of 2019 to the university a couple days before the start of Fall semester classes.

The goal? To help them get acclimated to campus, learn about being a college student and begin developing relationships with fellow freshmen, university staff and faculty.

This year’s freshmen contingent is certainly impressive, and it was a pleasure to get to know so many of them at IGNITE. At 2,125, it’s the largest group of incoming freshman since 2012. They boast average ACT scores and high school GPAs that are the highest in university history. They come to us from 423 high schools and 53 Ohio counties, both significant increases over last year, while the number of multicultural and out-of-state freshmen is also up.

So we take a moment to recognize the hard work of so many that helped us realize these numbers. But then we get on with the job at hand – working even harder to ensure the success of these freshmen now that they have chosen to entrust us with their futures.

At the State of the University address last week, we made it clear that we are committed to creating an environment across the campus – in every classroom and laboratory, in every office and residence hall – that allows students to graduate in four years with a job in hand and with little or no debt.

Instilling that Culture of Community will be a major emphasis for the university moving forward. We want to promote a campus culture that values respect, inclusion, hard work, unity, integrity and Penguin pride and that provides expanded opportunities for the university, the region, our students and our alumni to reach their full potential. That culture will be a catalyst as we seek to meet and exceed our goals and continue to prosper as an institution.

So, as we enter this new academic year, we do so with much to celebrate. (For a review of our accomplishments in the past year, made possible by the efforts of so many, take a look at the PowerPoint presentation at www.ysu.edu/president. I’m sure you’ll be impressed.) We also enter the new academic year knowing the challenges and the opportunities before us.

YSU was built on the premise of providing hope and possibility and opportunity for the people of this region. The hope of getting a college degree. The possibility of pursuing a career. The opportunity to succeed, thrive, raise a family, lead your community, reach your dreams. Over the course of 107 years, that’s what YSU has done. We look forward to continuing to light the path of success and making a difference in the lives of those we serve.

Why are we so confident of our future? Because every Penguin, every day seeks to “MACTE VIRTUTE” … to INCREASE EXCELLENCE.

James P. Tressel is president of Youngstown State University.