College Embraces Starfish Story

Mid-South Community College has become the home of the Greyhounds, but the sleek and focused canine logo is not the only easily recognizable symbol on our campus. While you won’t find them emblazoned across the chest of a sweatshirt or embroidered on a hat, you will see more than a few starfish at MSCC. The small, gold-colored pins worn by our employees are much more subtle than the Greyhound logo, but their meaning runs exceptionally deep.

Our adoption of the starfish emanates from a story inspired by the writing of poet and scientist Loren Eiseley. His story is a source of motivation, inspiration, and perseverance for everyone who works at Mid-South Community College. Here is the version of the story we provide (with a pin) to every new employee:

Making a Difference

A small boy was running up and down the beach, feverishly hurling starfish back into the water before they died.

An old man approached him.

“Do you honestly think that your work will make any difference?” he asked skeptically.

The boy looked at him with sparkling eyes, held up a starfish and said, “It makes a difference to this one!” and threw the starfish back into the sea.

We receive numerous accolades for our campus, our grounds, our facilities, our equipment, our technology, and the list goes on and on. And they’re all cool things. We also have very talented people, people with great skills and capacity. The most valuable thing we possess, however, is our culture: What do we believe? What do we strive to do? What are we trying to accomplish?

There are a thousand different ways to express our culture, but we have chosen this starfish story because it relates so closely to what we’re doing. Every time we help someone succeed, sometimes against what seem like impossible odds, we’re giving that person a new lease on life. It’s much more to us than a quaint story or an eye-catching piece of jewelry, but we have found that the pin is a great way to signify our belief in this culture. I try to have a starfish on every suit I own, and you would be amazed at how many people ask me what it’s about and how much fun I have explaining it to them. When the Higher Learning Commission consultant-evaluators came to our campus in October, they were all captivated by the story and our faithfulness to it. They remarked on several occasions about the commitment that our campus, staff and faculty have to student success. When they left, they all had starfish pins and vowed to try to recreate that same caring culture on their campuses.

When all of us are gone, when the facilities are older and maybe we don’t have things as nice as we want them to be, if we still have this starfish culture, this commitment, then we’re still going to be winning and producing. We’re going to do whatever it takes to overcome any kind of challenge to deliver to our students the kind of results that they need to change their lives. It’s not just about going through the motions; it’s about doing whatever is required to ensure that our students can be successful. We have a moral obligation to take care of the people who live here. If we’re not here, they don’t have any options.

Just as the little boy knew he couldn’t save every starfish washed up on the shore, we know we can’t save everyone. But every time we help someone toward a brighter future, we have won a major victory for that family, our community, our nation, and our world. - See more at: http://www.midsouthcc.edu/blog/college-embraces-starfish-story/#sthash.2GQplRFL.dpuf