Bay College faculty and staff prepare for student growth

ESCANABA, Mich. (WLUC) - Bay College students return to classes on August 29. Faculty and staff are taking this week to prepare.

“Me, we and the community” is Bay College’s focus as it enters this school year.

“We’re focusing a lot on the people and the resources and the support services that are in place to help students succeed,” said Cindy Carter, vice president of BHAT at Bay College.

Faculty and staff learned how to go beyond happiness on Wednesday with a guest speaker from San Francisco.

“[The goal is to move] towards more meaning, fulfillment, authenticity, how to be more real, human and resilient at work,” said Sunny Grosso, the culture chief at Deliver Your Happiness.

They created greenhouses, which represent what the campus is focused on this year: creating a space where students can grow to their own potential.

“It’s about understanding how we nurture our own greenhouses so that we can then create the environment that is the atmosphere that supports a really great culture for the rest of our students,” said Grosso.

Staff members also stuffed backpacks for students with hand-written notes for encouragement.

“It really is about students succeeding, completing, getting into the workforce or transferring on to the bigger schools,” said Carter.

The college hosted a food drive for faculty to fill the college’s food pantry.

“We know our students face food insecurity. Some of them do not have the money that they need to buy nutritious food to eat what they need to eat to be able to focus on school,” said Amy Gibbs, TRIO Director.

All of these events helped bond the staff because Bay College believes by growing themselves, they can help students grow, which in turn helps our community grow.