Editorial: Cast adrift without Puente

Time can be a funny thing sometimes; it seems easily measured, and yet students and physicist agree that it can dilate in the presence of extremes of velocity, gravity, or homework.

So why is a year long hiatus for the Puente Project such a problem then?

In the grand scheme of things, a year seems like a drop in the bucket. Yet at EC, many students will have completed half of their time on this campus in that same period.

That’s two semesters without the personalized mentoring that the Puente Project provided. Two semesters for students to become frustrated and disillusioned with the new challenges that come from entering a college where they might potentially not know even a single friendly face.

EC is a school where students get back what they put into their experience. It can be a fulfilling time of discovery, accomplishment and peer bonding for those inspired enough to put forth the effort. However, it can just as easily become a waste of time and money for a student who treats EC as simply a continuation of high school, coasting along on passable grades in classes haphazardly chosen because they sounded easy enough.

But even students willing to put forth that effort can become lost without guidance or assitance. Hopefully these students will be able to learn from their mistakes, and in time graduate despite them, but inevitably some will give up.

When this year long hiatus is measured not as a number days, weeks, and months, but as a number of these unfortunate students who no longer have the time, money, or patience to continue their schooling, a year doesn’t seem so small anymore. For those students, that one year could affect them for the rest of their lives.

When bombarded with the daily grind of classes, homework and jobs, it’s easy to put off tomorrow’s issues until tomorrow. Puente Project is on a year long hiatus, so there’s an understandable temptation to forget about it in the meantime, to worry about solving the problem when it’s a more pressing issue.

Hopefully, students and faculty will fight that temptation, because without active supporters and ongoing attempts to save the Puente Project, it’s not a stretch to imagine that single year hiatus turning into a second, or even a third.

Now, it’s not necessary to storm into the next board of trustees meeting shouting out the finale of the play “Rent” in order to save Puente Project. In fact, something as simple as stopping in to quietly watch one of those board meetings, or keeping an eye open for announcements regarding the project could make all the difference. What’s most important though, is to remember just what this year is costing the students of EC.