I suppose I should start by saying thanks to the Journal Review for the excellent coverage the paper gives to Wabash and its activities. I travel around to a number of private colleges in small and medium-sized Midwestern towns. None boast a newspaper that can rival the Journal Review and none get the kind of coverage that Wabash does.
Thanks to the entire Journal Review gang, who also mentor and guide our student journalists and help get the Bachelor printed each and every week. From the guys in the pressroom all the way up through the news and photo room, to editor Tina McGrady and publisher Ron Dietz, we say thanks!
Thanks, too, for a group of radio stations that provide for this community coverage second to none. I appreciate the opportunity to take the air monthly for Community Focus, which serves to better inform county residents of the college's activities.
Furthermore, if there is better radio coverage of high school and college sports anywhere in the country, I've never heard it. The Radio Park sports team goes the extra mile—literally hundreds and now thousands of miles—to bring the action to living rooms and car stereos of Montgomery County.
Wabash is especially appreciative of the WVXI coverage of our football, basketball, and baseball teams. The North Coast Athletic Conference takes our student-athletes great distances, but we can always feel a part of the action thanks to WVXI.
Thanks to the community. Your support of our students and the college is overwhelming. You come out in force for home football and basketball games. You provide examples of service and leadership for Wabash students. You donate funds in our students' residential MUFFY drive, and in every way support the service activities our young men undertake. Most important, you reach out and welcome the men who come here.
Thanks to our local volunteers. These are citizens who give of their time to execute our home sporting events, serve as volunteer assistant coaches, and who feel as much a part of the Wabash community as do the students. And we're also grateful to the local residents, alumni and non-alumni alike, who serve as volunteer advisors for our fraternities.
Wabash has much to be thankful for this holiday season. In spite of tough economic times, we're still able to provide the young men who enroll here exceptional teaching and learning opportunities in state-of-the-art facilities. The trustees and money managers who watch over the college's endowment do so with a careful eye to the future. Indeed, Wabash's future has never been brighter.
Thanks to the faculty, who are not only excellent teachers, but who go beyond the call of duty to guide and counsel Wabash students as well.
From President Andy Ford and his administration's leadership, right on through the dedicated staff and alumni who support all that happens here, at Wabash College we are counting our blessings this Thanksgiving week.