Community College Community .....

While the title of this post may generate inquiries from the Department of Redundancy Department, it also serves to describe the Midland College campus, late Wednesday morning.

That was when MC (where I work as a website editor) dedicated its brand new academic building, naming it for F. Marie Hall, a woman who has maintained a strong philanthropic presence both locally and throughout the state, especially among institutions of higher learning.

Turnout for the event was greater than some of us had expected, and that was a pleasant surprise. Hundreds of people came to tour the new building, and to express their appreciation for those who played a role at one point or another in the building's design, its construction and its application. It provided a wonderful opportunity to observe - first-hand - the "community" in community college.

Charlene Romero-McBride, a longtime stalwart of Midland business, education and culture was there, among the Midland College Board of Trustees. I first met Charlene 20+ years ago when she was head of the Midland Hispanic Chamber, and I was KMID-TV's rep to that group. Later, I would work for her as a contributing writer to the Midland-based bilingual weekly, Nueva Vista.

Ramon Bilhimer was there among the friends of Miss Hall. Ramon and I are members of the First Prez-Midland family, and she and I were part of the team of Midlanders that traveled to Thailand earlier this year on Christian mission. She is a caring and committed Christian servant who has shared the Word in many ways, in many places.

Dr. David Daniel, our recently-retired MC President was there. Previously, I shared this post about my interview with Dr. Daniel, part of my application to work at MC. You might want to check out this video clip of his tribute to Miss Hall at Wednesday's ceremony.

Students were everywhere, pausing on their way to-and-from class in the new building. There was also a group of students who came by to support their teacher, Alberto Madrid, an adjunct faculty member of the Music Department, as he performed on acoustic guitar for the reception. His music included everything from traditional Mexican ballads to Dan Fogelberg, and he was wonderful.

There was a huge turnout by the media covering the event. Radio's Jesse Grimes was there, and so was the newspaper's Ruth Campbell and Tim Fisher (here is their report), and a full contingent from the TV stations ... which gave me an opportunity to touch-base with a couple of former co-workers, NewsWest 9/Telemundo's Victor Lopez (here and here are his reports), and CBS7's Bill Warren (here's his report).

(Total multi-media coverage was assured by the presence of fellow blogger Jimmy Patterson of Sticky Doorknobs, who was there in his capacity as web editor for the MRT. That's his video clip on the link above.)

... friends and acquaintances from work, from church, from our neighborhood, from one son's karate class and another son's soccer team, from both boys' schools ... the community was there ... the community college community.