Thursday, September 20, 2007
Printed courtesy of Imperial Valley Press, El Centro, CA 

If the Imperial Valley is ever going to reach its potential, it needs the benefits that an increased number of well-educated people can bring to it.

If those well-educated people are homegrown, that’s even better, because if they consider the Valley their home, they are going to work harder to make it a better place for themselves and their families.

This is Higher Education Week and we are running a series of articles about the many people and programs dedicated to improving higher-education options for the people of the Imperial Valley.

There are countless programs working to get more of our young people into colleges and most are meeting with tremendous success. Trying to list all such programs would take up much of the space allotted for this editorial … and we still might omit some worthy ones.

Suffice to say many agencies and programs in the Valley are working to prepare young people for higher education. On top of that, there are programs in which students can find the best way to pay for the college experience, which is vital in an area plagued by poverty.

All those involved in such programs deserve our biggest kudos. More Valley students are going to college each year and more are succeeding while there.

Valley students deserve plaudits, too. They are the ones showing the intelligence and gumption to get into college and do well in their studies.

Evidence of that success is apparent around the Valley. Imperial Valley College has record enrollment this semester and is starting a massive facilities building program. San Diego State University-Imperial Valley campus is thriving, particularly with its Freshmen Scholars program, now in its fifth year and starting to fulfill one of its goals, which is to keep bright, dedicated young people in the Valley so they can improve our community.

While IVC and SDSU-IV are given most of the local spotlight, the handful of private institutions of higher learning operating in the Valley provide educational services that oftentimes can’t be found at the public institutions here.

Yes, higher education is thriving as it never has before in the Valley, but it has taken a lot of dedication from thousands to get us there. That is why we in the Imperial Valley should be reveling in Higher Education Week.

But after a week of reveling, we need to get back to work on making higher education even more important and more successful in the Valley.