Gratitude

This year the celebration of the full moon mid-Autumn festival in most East Asian countries, and Thanksgiving in Canada, coincide. It is a special time for returning home and spending time with family. It is a time for giving thanks for the simple abundance with which we have been blessed - a time to pause and reflect and take stock and prepare for the winter days ahead.

Here at Quest University Canada we are just completing the first phase of recruiting visits to high schools. Next week our Admission Counsellors will return home from the field before another round of visits later in October and November. We look forward to learning about the response of students, parents and schools to the opportunity that our University offers to students to learn, to participate and to make a difference in the world. I have to admit that I am a bit antsy, waiting to hear the news -- hopeful and anxious that students will want to join us in this grand adventure and in turn, that their parents will be willing to support them in doing so.

I am hoping for great results but I also know that we will learn from whatever experience confronts us. To date, we have received many positive indications from all over North America and the world. Having said that, we are fully aware of the importance of the university decision and to that end, we are prepared to work as hard as is necessary to help students and families make an informed judgment about enrolling with us.

And so yesterday, as I signed an agreement with the President of the National Outdoor Leadership School to have them join us as a Founding Partner, I felt a real sense of what a great Thanksgiving Day Weekend this will be for us here at Quest. We are prepared in the best possible sense to work together with partners and students from around the world to create a unique learning experience that combines integrated academic learning with development of leadership and teamwork skills. Working in small groups, our students will learn to become expedition guides to people facing the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. What a great thing this is for which to be able to give thanks!