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Listen | ‘One day at a time’ is how this community college president led her campus through its most unprecedented year yet

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Last March, my colleague Molly Osborne and I visited Haywood Community College for the first time. During our drive to campus, the reality of COVID-19 swept across the state. Though we didn’t know it at the time, this would be our last visit before we paused travel for a few months.

During our visit, we met with new president Shelley White, who started her term on Jan. 1, 2020. Three months into her tenure, White faced a challenge for which she had no guidebook — managing a college during an unprecedented pandemic.

Recently I returned to Haywood Community College and had the pleasure of sitting down with White for an interview for our Awake58 podcast. In our conversation, she discusses how HCC was able to pivot quickly to an online environment, the reality of the digital divide in their county, and what changes worked well for the college that they plan to keep moving forward.

You can listen to the episode above or wherever you get your podcasts.