 Our strategic plan that we have titled Forging Our Future is a plan for the university's outlook as we build a map of where we want to go for the future. One focus is growth and then also building our regional development from an economic standpoint and then we want to look at ways in which we can enhance our capital. You know how do we attract people here to want to work, to want to live in this area of Northeastern North Carolina which is Elizabeth City State University. We are very grateful to the North Carolina Legislature for choosing us to be an NC Promise campus where we're able to offer in-state North Carolinians $500 tuition per semester and out-of-state students $2,500 tuition per semester. And so we realize that you know sometimes education can be a burden for students but here at ECSU with the NC Promise we are an affordable option. What makes ECSU extra special and particularly in relation to other HBCUs is definitely our class size. We are small enough to be agile to make sure that we know every student's name. At ECSU you are not just a number each individual student is treated as an individual and allowed to grow. The university is small but it's a family and so the professors really care about you. There's a family environment and everyone's succeed and succeed. We have an opportunity to really be hands-on when it comes to that growth and development and and helping our students to prepare as they think about their career and next steps but that transformative opportunity is impactful and it's significant and I think as our education leaders and institutions we have that responsibility to help our students develop in that way. You know if you've been called a leader your whole life you want to go somewhere that's going to mold and shape you as a leader. I definitely feel here I found what I'm passionate about and I want to go into the world and show them the same thing. I was looking at a number of different schools and and once I saw emergency management and how it related to the Coast Guard law enforcement first responders and all these organizations that's what initially drew me in and what when I spoke with the head of the program Dr. Kupiec. He was very excited and that initial contact with him and him telling me how applicable this was to my career sparked my interest and then that has just been proven over this last semester how what I am learning I'm also learning in the Coast Guard. I think this is sort of the perfect degree for with me going into the Coast Guard this is especially applicable and something that I really enjoy doing. When you think about the simulated aircraft the fleet of airplanes the drones we are really embarking in a big opportunity here to promote STEM innovation technology all in one major and so having that as our signature program has really been a big draw for students who are interested in going into those areas. I find that science very interesting because it can change the world there's so many area and feel that you can research and for me it's about drugs and what it can do to people. I'm a first-generation college student I didn't know a lot about college to pick one so ECSU has the program that I was interested when I applied I applied here. I did a lot of research that I want to go into either pharmacy or something about medicine it wasn't until the last minute I found ECSU had a a bachelor degree in pharmaceutical science and there's not a lot of school that was close to home in New Bern so I was like okay I'm gonna go here it's not too close to far from home but also like I can go home for the weekend if I needed to. We're very welcoming to transfer students and you know transfer students can be either traditional age or non-traditional age just depending on when they started so we're working on articulation agreements with local community colleges across the entire state but more specifically in our service area to make it easy easy for students a seamless transition for students to navigate that process to transfer to ECSU to complete their bachelor's degree. I needed to transfer to a four-year institution since honestly with the program that I am in I could go to any school in the country because the Coast Guard will will fund that however choosing ECSU over other institutions one of them was the emergency management program another is the proximity to the Coast Guard Air Station and the strong partnership that Elizabeth City State University has with them. I'm very proud of our students and where they've where they've come from and where they are now and they never forget their past but it becomes part of their story part of their journey and it becomes part of their narrative that they are even more anxious and excited to share and talk about. We always say we want our students to come here to discover their passions but leave to conquer their dreams and here I think they will definitely get that opportunity to do exactly that and that's what we really really really focus on as we think about our development of our students.