I believe one of the most important attributes to success is confidence. If a person believes they will succeed they most often do.

That begs the question: Why do we seem to limit our young peoples potential with comments like, “That is probably too hard for you”, “you should prepare in case you fail”, “you are not smart enough or pretty enough or rich enough to try do that.”?

The young people I see every day at our college amaze me with their creativity, intelligence and passion to succeed. Do they sometimes need help? Yes, that is what our jobs are when we work here, to help. Do they some times not apply themselves? Yes, again our job is to grab their attention and help them realize their almost limitless potential if they do apply themselves.

Students and perspective students, please never give up. Do not listen to the people that tell you are not smart enough, creative enough, pretty enough or talented enough. You are, and I hope you can come back to some of those folks in a few years and amaze them like you amaze me every day.

Keith A. Fossen, President
Northwest Technical Institute