President Cox Reflects on the Year as Commencement Nears
by Amber Rivard
May 25 should be a good day for 4C's President John Cox.
That's commencement day this year, and Cox says the annual graduation ceremony is one of the highlights of his job.
“If there's one moment that really rises to the occasion, it's the commencement," he says during a Zoom interview. "Not only do you see the student, coming across the stage, celebrating physically the achievement, but you have the college community there, in place celebrating the students’ achievement collectively, and you have the parents, and you have the friends and the family, under the tent there sharing that moment. … Every year that’s definitely the No. 1 highlight.”
Cox mentioned one special ceremony that especially stands out to him. It occurred when a 4C’s student with family on Martha’s Vineyard was diagnosed with terminal cancer toward the end of a semester.
“She was put on Hospice, and we reviewed her transcripts. We made a special order to get her degree sent in to us, and then I made a special trip over to the to the Vineyard with my graduation garb -- the cap, the gown, the medallion -- and her diploma and went to her home. … We did the graduation one on one, and it was truly an amazing experience. …
“Two weeks later I was going back for her memorial service. So [the graduation] was the capstone of a lifetime, really.”
With the school year about to wrap up, Cox also talked about some of the highlights and challenges of the past year, and his outlook for the future.
Among the highlights: the students’ and faculty’s ability to adapt during the pandemic; the lifting of the mask mandate on campus; the benefits of hybrid and HyFlex learning; the construction of the Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center, which will open for the fall semester; the way college radio station WKKL “really roared back to life”; students’ engagement in podcasting; the aviation maintenance program receiving federal funding; the removal of plastic bottles at the college; and the funeral program at Bridgewater State University.
President John Cox
Photo taken by Andrew Nasser
“I would say that the biggest takeaway this year is the community's ability to really adapt and to move forward with a shared vision to continue their education while also figuring out day-to-day how to manage around COVID and a pandemic,” Cox says.
Cox explained that enrollment has been an ongoing challenge. The number has increased for students coming out of high school to college, but the young adult population has struggled to remain on the Cape because of the high cost of living and lack of housing opportunities.
Next year, Cox says, he hopes “that we'll have more people really begin to make the decision to either enroll, continue their education or come back to school.”
His advice for current 4C’s students: “Study hard. We’re (at) the end of the semester here, and this is the point to tie it all up nicely and get ready for hopefully a nice summer.”
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