Recently I spoke to more than 200 high school sophomores and juniors who were
making their first campus visits to William Jewell.As the important college search
process began, I asked these bright young students to consider the importance of
seizing opportunities. I reminded them that the college experience would provide
lots of opportunities.But the true quality of that experience will ultimately be
measured not just by the opportunities that are presented to them, but by those
they choose to seize and pursue.

It is this spirit of seizing opportunities that we hope our students develop while they
are at Jewell.We want them to take on that challenging academic internship; to
pursue that once-in-a-lifetime study-abroad opportunity; to enroll in that
horizon-expanding course that will capture their imagination and develop in
them the confidence to seize other opportunities.

It is with this same spirit of discovery that the College is developing plans for a
new library and learning commons that will enhance our position as a center
for intellectual excellence over the coming decades. Our plans are big and
bold, and they go to the very heart of the academic experience. Developing
these important learning resources will play a key role in facilitating the life changing
experience that William Jewell College provides.

Over time, our plans will transform not only the physical landscape of the
campus,but also the very nature of academic research and scholarship.We are
tremendously excited about these plans, and we grow more excited at every
step of the process.But we know it will take commitment on the part of those
who believe in Jewell to make this ambitious plan a reality.

Our current status in the library project—very excited, but with lots of work to
do—reminds me of an African proverb quoted recently by a speaker in William
Jewell’s Perspectives on the Common Good lecture series: “If you want to go
fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

William Jewell College wants to go far.And we want you to go with us. Thank
you for bringing us this far on our journey. We can hardly wait to see where we
can all go together.