It's fitting that the American Association of Community Colleges and Phi Theta Kappa announced the 2001 Centennial Scholars last month. While community colleges celebrate their centennial, I am celebrating the one-year anniversary of this column. On March 20, 2000, this column debuted. While that's not exactly a historic date, this column does happen to be the only one of its kind on the Internet. There's no one else covering the junior college beat. Someone has to make a contribution. And if I don't speak up, who will?

Who else (besides the AACC and communtiy colleges) would celebrate the fifty outstanding students who have been selected as Centennial Scholars? These awesome people (notice I didn't say young people, because as we all know by now, community colleges aren't just for the young) will, with $2,000 in the bank, represent their states at the AACC annual convention on April 4-7.

The AACC news item about the awards notes that many of the recipients are adult learners returning to school and either resuming a career or beginning a new one. More than half have consistently earned 4.0., and 25 percent of the recipients plan to enter the health care field. This is great news, since the medical field is scrambling for new talent, particularly in nursing. Inspired by their favorite teachers, who I'm sure the Centennial Scholars will nominate for the First Annual Juco.com Community College Teacher Awards, 15 percent of recipients plan to stand on the other side of the desk and attempt to teach students who may or may not be willing to learn. Luckily, the winner from California, Golda Gacutan from Skyline College, plans to become an attorney rather than a community college teacher.

I didn't fail to notice that the scholar from Indiana, interestingly enough, was named Christina Johnson. She is in the 25 percent choosing the health care field. This lovely student at Ivy Tech State College-Columbus plans to become a nursing administrator.

The other 48 applicants are equally talented, and you can browse through their profiles for inspiration. They look like you, even though they are unique. They have children, or they're all alone. They have jobs, or they've sacrificed so that they can go to school full time. They're older and ably adapting to the computer age, or they're young and have an attention span longer than the next commercial. They are white, African-American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American. They are from Russia, Mexico, Honduras, Croatia, South America, Germany, or Indonesia. But they all have the drive to succeed, and a future that they do not take for granted.

That's why, after one year, I am still writing this column. And I will continue as long as possible. It will be interesting to see what happens in another year.