ICView Magazine

Every summer for 13 years as an education professor at Goucher College, I took groups of students to South Africa, where we taught English and math in rural and township schools. Though many of the children were impoverished, they sang an inspiring song that left us with an indelible and moving memory: 

Be bright in the corner where you are... 
Where you are, 
Where you are, 
Where you are. 
Be bright in the corner where you are. 

Each summer, year after year, it was the pupils who taught the most important lessons. Many of our college students (even those who were not education majors) left South Africa with the agency and inspiration to come home and teach right there in their city’s schools. They became not just a light but a spark that ignited far and wide. 

In my own childhood, I could be found outdoors all summer—often in the park where I took and then subsequently gave tennis lessons. A decade later as a middle school teacher, I looked forward to summertime not just as a muchneeded opportunity to rejuvenate but also as a chance to take stock of the previous school year and to plan for the one to come. That tradition continues. 

Some people might picture Ithaca College’s campus as a ghost town over the summer, one that we dust off and reopen in August. But summer is a bustling season of tremendous growth, not just for students but for the learning community as a whole. Our vibrant, yearlong campus is abuzz with classes, camps, and competitions; research and renovation; planning and purpose. 

We do hope that students use summer as a time to rest, rejuvenate, and replenish—a bit. Starting the school year with a full tank is important. But every fall, we also eagerly await students’ stories of world-class internships, research breakthroughs, and a love of learning that knows no season. 

This issue of ICView shows a glimpse of what our learning community is like in the summer. We read about theatre students, musicians, and singers taking the stage (pages 14–15); we celebrate with Special Olympics athletes (page 17); and we explore with scholars and researchers (pages 18–19). This summer, alumni will return along with IC’s summer reunion to take in the beauty of campus and the nature that surrounds us as we reconnect, share memories, and build new ones. 

So, even after many students leave over the summer, together Ithaca College and our top-rated college town are not places that are slowing but ones that are thriving and building momentum for the year to come. 

I wish you a restful and productive summer, and I hope that you can be a light wherever you are. 

With gratitude, 

La Jerne Terry Cornish 
President