Thank you for a wonderful Leadership & Homecoming Weekend

Our annual Leadership & Homecoming Weekend was truly extraordinary at FSU. We had more alums visiting our campus then have visited in many years. The multitude of activities and events at FSU and in the community were indicative of the love and affection our alumni have for their alma mater. The opportunity for me to thank so many for their support of our University made me very proud. Whether it was dedicating the new football locker room funded by alumni, parents and friends or at our Leadership Donor Gala, where we celebrated the completion of Staking Our Claim, our comprehensive campaign for Frostburg, the sentiment was always the same—our alumni love their alma mater and are so happy to see the path we are on to improve our national reputation in the marketplace of American higher education. In short, there is so much to be proud of, and I hope you were on campus and had an opportunity to share in the many Homecoming events, and to meet with your own alumni and to hear about their lives and their pursuits.

There are simply so many people to thank that I would absolutely err on the side of forgetting someone if I tried to name each person who worked so hard to make this past weekend a reality. People worked for many weeks to prepare the campus, the many programs and our community for this event. In particular however, I want to thank our FSU Physical Plant Department for their incredible effort to ready this campus—it looked beautiful and made me feel very proud. I want to thank our University Police and the local police forces who went out of their way to heighten patrols to be sure our students and even some non-students were as safe as possible. My thanks to ARAMARK for your efforts in providing food for the many, many events held this weekend—I know you brought in people from all over to assist. My thanks as well to the many faculty and staff, and especially Dr. Robbie Cordle, for your efforts with the Career Showcase and the opportunity to bring alumni back to meet with our students. My personal and heartfelt thanks University Advancement and Communications and Media Relations—your efforts to make this a success began a year ago, and you should be very proud of this past weekend. My thanks to our FSU Foundation Board of Directors and our Alumni Board of Directors. Your efforts to advance this University are truly historic for FSU, and I am personally very proud to know and work with you all.

And, even though I know I am leaving people out of this note, I want to thank our students. Your performances at the Gala, on the football field, volleyball court and soccer field—your art exhibit and plays and your general demeanor is to be commended. I had at least six of our alumni tell me that they have never met more polite and kind students then those they met at FSU.

Thank you all for a very successful Leadership & Homecoming Weekend and for the quality of caring that permeates this wonderful community. In closing, I'd like to share a really nice message I got from one of our students, Kylie Carrington. Kylie is part of our FSU volleyball team.

President Gibralter,

I just wanted to personally thank you for making my last Homecoming weekend as a student at Frostburg one to remember! The opportunities to speak at the Hall of Fame dinner and attend the Leadership Donor Gala were truly an honor. Within the last few days I have gained an incredible amount of respect for the all the people that have made my experience at Frostburg the best it can be. Although this email does not do justice to show how thankful I am for all the hard work you put into this university, I want you to know you are greatly appreciated for all you do!

Thank You,

Kylie Carrington