People! I ain't people!

I work at a community college that is a part of a district of community colleges with 5 campuses. For those who are interested, yes, we are accredited as a body, which (for those who are not interested) means that we are a closer system than, for example, the UNC system. Because we are a closer system, they -- the great powers that be who hold so much power over our small lives -- like to make us do things together once in a while.

What an undertaking.

Today we had "district in-service." Which means that all the classes on all the campuses were canceled, all the services on all the campuses were shut down, so that every single employee could attend an all-day meeting.

1,500 people converged on one campus. I'm sure that we disrupted traffic flow for that section of the city, because I was sure stuck in it. And wow! There were thousands of people! People everywhere!

So that was my main amazement.

Otherwise the day was pretty typical meetings. They had a keynote speaker talk about the things that we need to do to prevent campus violence (by which I mean shootings). He was good, and had done a lot of research, but most of it didn't apply to most of the people there, so they didn't pay a lot of attention. And with that many people it's kind of distracting. Then we had smaller sessions and I attended one on service learning, which could be a good thing. My second session was information about new machines that they have at one of the campuses, that will tell you exactly how many calories you need to eat every day, and exactly what your heart rate should be at when you exercise. Really interesting stuff, but they billed the class as one where you go and actually get tested and leave knowing what you should change.

Then all the English faculty had a meeting. I'd heard rumors that these can get pretty contentious. And they weren't exaggerating. So that was interesting to listen to.

All in all, it was a very full day. It was nice to see and meet people, and amazing to see how big the district actually is. I think if the campuses were all combined, it would be bigger than the University where I did my masters.