SVCC president: What I have learned about the Sauk Valley

When I was hired as a full-time community college English professor in Florida, I was the youngest person in the department by 15 years.

When I finished my doctorate and moved into administration, I was the youngest cabinet member by 10 years. I was younger than most of my colleagues at my next two community colleges in Minnesota and had several colleagues older than I at my previous college in Kentucky.

After 10 years as president of Sauk Valley Community College, I am at least 15 years older than every member of my cabinet except one.

Going from a young pup to an old dog seemed to happen very quickly.

This old dog is proud of the work the trustees, faculty, staff, community leaders and I have accomplished during my tenure at SVCC, and I look forward to seeing what we accomplish together during my last months before retiring in May.

A perk of being an old dog is that I have had the time and experiences to develop perspective about the Sauk Valley. I plan to share my perspective about the Sauk Valley over the next several months. In particular, I plan to examine the Sauk Valley’s many opportunities to improve itself so it can be a beacon of everything good – so that it can continue down the path of being made up of communities where the youths enjoy growing up, where families choose to make their homes, and where businesses and nonprofits know they can thrive.

I will use the Sauk Valley Community Leadership Program as a model for organizing my thoughts. This leadership program is a partnership between the college, the Dixon Chamber of Commerce and Main Street, the Rock Falls Chamber of Commerce, and the Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce. We formed it 10 years ago, have graduated 137 professionals, and have 23 starting in this year’s cohort.

A purpose of this leadership program is to expose the class members to community challenges and solutions while developing their leadership skills so they are better equipped to understand the challenges and to help the Sauk Valley move toward solutions.

I meet with the class members early in the program to discuss leadership principles and ethical leadership. I begin by sharing the editorial “What It Takes to be an Effective Citizen” that appeared in the Sauk Valley newspaper and hundreds of other newspapers throughout the country on June 8, 2016.

Its author, Lee Hamilton, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years, developing a reputation as an honest moderate who worked effectively with Democrats and Republicans. I am proud that he was my congressman in rural Indiana, where I grew up.

I begin with Hamilton’s editorial because it captures a profound reality that, I am afraid, is being forgotten: “Effective citizenship is the base on which our representative democracy rests. Our vitality as a country depends on the involvement of millions of people in their neighborhoods and communities, in interest groups and civic organizations, in groups agitating for change and groups defending the status quo.”

Hamilton goes on to express a confident belief that change is possible and that change requires effort, especially in a diverse society with neighbors, friends and colleagues who may differ from one another in innumerable ways: “I’m talking here about the fundamental ability we should all have as citizens to solve problems in a representative democracy that’s filled with people who have different beliefs, perspectives and experiences. This means knowing how to work together with all kinds of people, being able to find common ground, being forthright about aims and methods, forging connections to key officials and other players who can help advance a cause, building consensus, and communicating ideas effectively.”

We live in one of the most divisive times in American history – the most divisive time I have known since the late 1960s and early 1970s. This divisiveness can make it very difficult for most people across the political spectrum to have confidence that change for the good is possible, to have hope that we can come together to build a better future for ourselves and our children, and to believe that our representative democracy still holds all of the promise our ancestors cherished.

Although partisan divisiveness has infected the Sauk Valley, I am certain it is not nearly as extreme here as depicted in the media and social media. Most people in the Sauk Valley are honest and respectful, and want to have a fair opportunity to live with their loved ones and friends and neighbors in communities that come together for the common good.

I will share my perspective with the honest and respectful Sauk Valley folks in mind because it is we who have a confident belief that change is possible. It is we who will put in the effort that change requires. It is we who will embrace the opportunities needed to make the Sauk Valley the best it can be.

Dave Hellmich is the president of Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon.