Happy New Year to the entire Banana Slug community! I was delighted earlier this week when I was finally able to flip my calendar from 2020 to 2021. Surely I was not alone. Never has a new year been more eagerly awaited!
The new year is a time of reflection and resolution, an opportunity to look back at what was while also envisioning what can be. For our campus community, 2020 was challenging. But as hard as 2020 was, it also revealed just how resilient we are. We quickly uprighted remote instruction. We pioneered new ways to build community. We built from scratch a diagnostic testing lab that has now become an invaluable resource for the entire county. We rallied to help our neighbors even as we faced our own challenges.
I am in awe of what we accomplished together in 2020. It is what makes me optimistic about 2021. The first round of COVID-19 vaccinations arrived before 2020 ended, giving health-care providers a jump start on inoculating our most vulnerable community members. This pandemic will not disappear overnight and the pain of its impacts will linger. Some will struggle with resulting health issues. Too many have lost loved ones or businesses built over a lifetime. But this pandemic will end, and I am confident that we will emerge stronger, more knowledgeable, and ultimately more capable of meeting the challenges of our time. We have already shown what we are able to accomplish when we work together.
Thank you for your commitment to UC Santa Cruz. I am deeply grateful for your hard work, and I look forward to the excellence we will achieve together in the year ahead. Best wishes for 2021!
