As our thoughts turn to spending time with our friends and loved ones over Thanksgiving, I’d like to extend my sincere gratitude to all who help make the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences an outstanding place to work, learn, and discover—faculty, staff, students, volunteers, friends and alumni. Our shared commitment to education and developing solutions for the world’s challenges makes this place special.

It is because of our commitment that we continually look for new and better ways to create a welcoming environment for our students that will facilitate their academic and personal growth. One way we do that is through the dedicated corps of advising and student support staff in the dean’s office and in departments throughout the college. Their spirit of service and collaboration is genuine and it helps support our college mission of creating a better world for everyone.

We do our best to create community for our students in engaging and fun ways. For instance, we recently held a “pizza with the counselors” event, which has become a very popular informal gathering for students to meet the advising staff. We also host a number of different fall welcome events for students who are new to the college. We work hard at providing training and support for our staff advisors and the student peer advisers, sharing best practices and developing a shared mission and values statement to guide our work.

We offer many opportunities for students to cultivate a sense of service. The Aggie Ambassadors is a committed group of students who give of their time to promote the college to future students, the campus community and our many alumni and industry stakeholders. This fall the Ambassadors have been helping to create a sense of belonging for our students by hosting a ‘Movies at Mrak’ night, helping with our fall new student welcome events, working with staff to host our fall ice cream social, and providing support for College Celebration.

A group of 21 students recently spent a Saturday helping to plant trees with the Sacramento Tree Foundation. Along with the dean’s office Undergraduate Academic Programs staff and department advisors, more than 300 trees and shrubs were planted at the Bear River Habitat trail in Yuba County. The students and staff had fun sharing time together and giving back to the Plumas Lake community.

There is great energy and excitement among our students and the advising/student support staff, and a shared recognition that through their service and collaboration, they are boldly leading the way and taking to heart Chancellor May’s vision to “learn something, to help someone, and to make the world better.” Indeed, we have much to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!