 From Western Technical College, Evan Whalen. Firstly, thank you very much, Ron. And before I get started, I would like to have a huge thank you for all the staff and caterers that work here tonight. I thought the meal was excellent. I don't know about you guys. Secondly, I would like to thank Baird and the entire Western Technical College system. We as ambassadors would not be up here if it were not for them. And I would also like to say, if I started naming off people one by one from Western that helped me get here, we'd be here all night. So I'll spare you all of that. But I would like to thank all of them as well. Now firstly, I would like to wish everyone a good evening. And thank you all for taking the time out of your days to enjoy this event with us. Again, my name is Evan Whalen, and I am honored for the opportunity to speak to everyone this evening as the student ambassador for Western Technical College of La Crosse, Wisconsin. For those of you that don't know me, I recently graduated from Western last week with my associates in accounting. I happened to be an Iowa native. And I commuted to school during my two years of study. I live in the little town of New Alban. And for those of you that may not know where that's located, it's as far northeast as you can get in the state before you go in Minnesota or fall in the Mississippi River. I graduated from Lansing Key High School in 2017. And I knew I wanted to attend college and study accounting. My biggest issue was trying to figure out what college I was going to attend. And I thought I wanted to attend a college in my home state of Iowa. Well, I took a step back and I tried to look at the big picture. If I attended the closest college to my home in Iowa, I would have had to drive an extra 20 minutes every day as opposed to coming to La Crosse. At the time, I also wasn't sure if I wanted to attend school for two years or maybe even more. I began to look at different transfer opportunities for community and technical colleges. And I could not have been happier with the transfer opportunities and the programs available at Western Technical College. If I attended the universities in Iowa that would have provided me with my desired education, I would have most likely had to move south three hours away from home to go to school. I felt very strongly that if I moved far enough away to attend school elsewhere, I'd most likely receive job opportunities farther away from home than I would have liked. Western is an excellent academic institution and we are very fortunate to have such an affordable establishment in the La Crosse area. Western sets some of the highest academic standards and truly cares about the success of its students. I personally love the smaller class sizes. And with those smaller class sizes, students are able to connect with one another so much easier and have closer relationships with their instructors. As many of the other ambassadors have already said tonight. I know every instructor I've had at Western very well and I can not even begin to convey my appreciation for every one of them. At Western, students are more than just a number on an attendance sheet and every instructor makes a point to know every student that walks through their classroom doors. My experience at Western has been one that I will never forget. Western conveys a standard for strong academic integrity and that has been evident to me since my first day as a student. I made great connections with instructors and staff and I made lots of new friends. I learned something new every day and enjoyed everything class had to offer. Sure, there were quite a few exams that were pretty nasty but sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and work through it. Anything worth doing is worth doing to the best of your ability. And this is the type of work ethic that not only Western but all the technical colleges preach. Western has given me an educational foundation that will be useful to me wherever I continue my educational and work careers. And for that I am truly grateful. And so as acting student ambassador for Western Technical College, I intend to continue sharing my college involvement with others in hopes of showcasing the value of the technical college experience. Thank you.