The Day I Went to College

I visited the community college today to drop off my application and make my case to whoever would be willing to listen. I feel pretty good about the day’s activities, and the people I met seemed nice and pleased with me. As a bonus, I got out of my parking place when the parking enforcer was only about six cars from ticketing my car!

I spent a few minutes with the Math Dean, as her position is called. She seemed enthusiastic, and got me in contact with the business dean, who also owns some basic math courses. She definitely looked pleased as we went through my resume, and checked through my college transcript. Apparently they are planning to expand course offerings, in response to the State’s reducing spaces for freshmen at the UC and CSU campuses. This is all good. The University has a new president who wants to strengthen the Math department. The dean has been in her position for only a few months. This is also good.

I spoke with the Chief of Math faculty for about a half hour. We had a good talk about the school’s courses, students, and I why I want to get involved in this work. He also seemed encouraging, but said that “the dean giveth and taketh away, so it’s all up to her”.

The next step would be more interviewing and teaching a class so they can see what I can do. I know I can do well at that. They seem to have been burned in the past by math teachers too shy to speak in front of a class.

Given all this, I consider this short visit a success, especially given there were no listed openings. Now on to plan B, so I need to cold call actuaries and insurance people around here. But first, I need to trim our back garden tomorrow before the painters get here.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.