Spring has sprung at Louisiana Tech and many student activities have been occurring all across campus. I was very glad to be in the office this week so I could interact with the students as much as possible. A week in the office also gave me a little time to work on budgets, although it is quite a challenge to manage that since the legislature is still deliberating on what funding will be available for higher education and TOPS. After a few hours on the budget, I was definitely glad to get out of the office to visit with students and faculty.   A few of our outstanding students did stop by my office for a visit. Colton Dillon, a freshman engineering major from Texas, stopped by to talk about his experiences at Tech. His uncle was a former student of mine and his grandfather and other family members are Tech alumni. Riley Luttgeharm and other students from the Aerospace Club came to provide updates on the club’s incredible activities and plans ranging from weather balloon flights to rocket launches to drone races and more. And freshman professional aviation major Mason Andrews came by to talk about his plans to circumnavigate the globe this summer, hopefully achieving the goal of being the youngest solo pilot to ever do so. Mason is dedicating his flight to raise awareness and funds for MedCamps and he has served as a counselor at the camp during the summer. You can find out more about Mason’s flight at https://www.gofundme.com/masons-medcamps-mission and MedCamps at www.medcamps.org. On Monday, I joined the faculty of the College of Engineering and Science who were hosting Commitment Day to recognize and celebrate many of their incoming freshmen who have already committed to attend Tech this fall. One of our National Merit Scholars, Nathan Lindblade from Texas, had asked if he could sign his acceptance letter in my presence and, of course, I was honored to do so. I also had the opportunity to meet with many of the other students who attended including first-generation student, Armando Borrego, from east Texas who had recently visited my office with his family to help them feel comfortable with his desire to attend Louisiana Tech. On one of my walking tours of campus, I ran into Marlon Watts and Nick Clark, business majors and entrepreneurs, who were set up in the Tonk with a display and were meeting with a supplier to help them take their apparel business (www.wrldinvsn.com) to the next level. Marlon’s life story as a native of New Orleans and a student athlete at Tech is incredible. He graduates this spring and I could not be more proud to present him with his diploma. I have total confidence in his ability to be successful in life. I also enjoyed meeting with many of our international students on Tuesday as International Day was celebrated in the Tonk. It was great to see many of our AE Phillips students there to get a sense of international cultures and food. On Thursday, I dropped by the Tonk to thank many of our students who were participating in Notes and Floats, an initiative to engage our students in writing thank-you notes to alumni. I was most impressed that they wrote over 2,000 personal notes during the few hours that they spent in the Tonk. Kathy and I also stopped by the Cheer and Spirit Groups banquet at the DAC to thank these students for their leadership, spirit and promotion of Louisiana Tech. It was a pleasure to stop by the College of Business plaza for a Crawfish Boil on Friday. I was able to meet with Dean Chris Martin, faculty, students and supporters. I also stopped by the Marbury Alumni Center to meet with the Alumni Association. They are doing an outstanding job of expanding alumni activities all across the region. They also organized a special Friday evening Procession of the Rings ceremony that includes alumni and graduating seniors who have ordered senior rings. Those rings are carried along the Alumni Walkway to the Centennial Clock Tower, being escorted by student veterans, Alumni Association and SGA members, the Band of Pride and others. After remaining in the Clock Tower overnight, the rings will be presented to graduating seniors in a special ceremony on Saturday in University Hall. Here are a few other pics for the week: