So, tonight we are here in Huffman Hall
in the village dorms with students from 
the village dorms and we had a 
wonderful conversation with students tonight
It's really been helpful tonight to hear the 
student perspective directly, you know, so far 
I have talked to a lot of alumni, who, of course, 
graduated from the university and have had 
the student experience, but tonight, 
these are students who are here right now, 
they are living the JMU experience, 
they are taking classes, they're in Gen Ed 
they're in different majors, they're living 
in the dormitories, so to hear their perspectives 
on what life is like right now at the University 
has been very valuable and really important for me
 as President, this opportunity to connect 
directly with students is something I really have relished;
 it was just a really fun evening for me. 
I was actually really pleased that students 
are asking questions about the future of the University; 
what's the vision, what is the strategic plan going 
to look like as we go forward, cause that shows me
 that they care about the institution, not just about 
themselves and their courses and what they're 
going to do over the next year or two, 
but what is going to happen to the next generation 
of students who come after them. 
I was really pleased to hear students thinking 
more long term in that way, and I think they're
 going to make great alumni who hopefully will 
continue to be engaged with the University, 
they really care about this place, they care about 
the things that make JMU a great institution, 
they want it to be even greater.  So I am very excited, 
at the prospect, they're going to be our future alumni, 
and I think, more than ever, there's a sense that 
people understand, that to make this place, 
take that next step to get to an even higher level, 
we need to do it collectively, we need to take 
collective responsibility for this University. 
I think these students get that, 
so I think they're going to be 
great supporters in the future. 
