I’ve never been a big New Years Resolution type of person, but I decided to join in this year by making a resolution to travel once a month. I’m not sure if I thought it was something I could actually pull off, or if it was something I just wanted to aspire to do.
Needless to say I’m 9 for 9 thus far. The goal has required heavy budgeting on my part… and to be clear, I don’t make gobs of money so being frugal and finding great deals has been crucial. Before I make my next point I need to tell you where I’ve gone. Here’s the list in order: Las Vegas, LA, Charleston, New Orleans, Myrtle Beach, DC, Myrtle Beach, Miami and Boston.
As you can see, I’ve been to a wide variety of places, but every time I come home I’m really happy to be back in Greensboro. All the cities previously mentioned are great, but they don’t have the sense of home and community that I find here in Greensboro.
As a young professional I have had several opportunities to leave Greensboro, but have not done so. I want to work towards bringing opportunities here for an array of individuals, but also feel as though we need to do a better job of focusing on young professionals.
In terms of job creation and recruiting, companies like to locate where there are large talent pools, and I think our pool has a pretty big leak. I’ve been searching for a statistic that shows the number of graduating college seniors leave Greensboro each year, but haven’t been able to track the number down just yet. I can only imagine that it is a significant number.
One aspiration I’d like Greensboro to have is to carve its own path and create an atmosphere that generates fresh ideas as well as new talent. I fear though that if a change is not made with parts of our leadership then that aspiration will be exactly that and nothing more.
Why you ask?
We seem to recycle people more than we do trash – and that is a massive problem. And you know what happens when we recycle right? The same things (ideas) get used over and over again. The challenges we currently face, such as the economy, need to be met with fresh ideas and by continuing down the same old path… we are not going to move Greensboro forward.
I am charged with being creative and thinking outside the box on a daily basis and feel as though I have the ability/desire to bring new ideas to the table and help bring positive change to Greensboro.
{ 3 comments }
Talk about burying your lede. As a writer friend of mind would say, you cleared your throat for seven paragraphs, but yes, you have a point.
(PS. When do we take “thinking outside the box” to the trash?)
Thanks as always for your comments. And on “outside the box…” when it actually gets done.
You should be able to contact the alumni offices of individual colleges and ask them if they track statistically how many graduates stay in the area. Because alumni involvement is a huge part of retaining new students, to have a high number of alums in the area is a big deal – so I bet most of them know how many are in the area.
Comments on this entry are closed.