Last week saw an amazing outpouring of support and community spirit at Cal Poly Humboldt as we held our first Giving Day. It’s sure to become an annual event.

During a 24-hour period on April 5, donors gave more than $140,000. More than 1,000 people made donations to support 112 different programs. For half of those donors, it was the first time they had ever made a gift to Cal Poly Humboldt.

Wow! This was way beyond what anyone expected as Giving Day was being planned. It was an incredible display of students, alumni, families, and employees rallying to support efforts and programs on campus they care about. They showed their commitment to making a positive difference. To all of the day’s donors … Thank you!

Giving Day was also part of one of the important stories playing out right now at Cal Poly Humboldt. That story is one of heartfelt pride throughout the Cal Poly Humboldt community, combined with a sense of momentum that we have not had for many years. It’s about how, in many ways, we are living in the future we once could just imagine.

This campus, along with this region, are riding a wave of momentum. There are new major efforts and new opportunities related to wind energy, aquaculture, broadband, and more. It’s exciting and also challenging. It represents the culmination of so many long efforts while also revealing so much more that needs to be done. It’s positive in so many ways for so many people.

At Humboldt, the momentum is fueled by our polytechnic transformation, and it means that our daily rhythm is much different than it used to be.

We’re in the midst of unusual times. In some ways, it’s like a business start-up, when many things just move faster. We make projections and the successes are generally much better than predicted.

What does this look like?

• It’s adding not one or two new majors, which would have been a big step over multiple years — but adding 10 new undergraduate degrees in just one year.

• It’s taking on three major capital projects with overlapping timelines, each one greater in size and scope than any we have taken on for over a decade. And that’s not to mention the many smaller facility projects that are underway.

• It’s achieving not just some diversity gains in our faculty, but hiring a promising new group of tenure-line faculty who are more than 50% people of color.

• It’s our overall research and contracts growing from around $30 million annually to over $60 million in the most recent year.

• It’s scrambling to keep up with the aspirations of the volunteers leading our first Capital Campaign, called Boldly Rising. After just three years and a public launch late last year, donors have already given nearly $39 million.

Most of us are accustomed to pursuing incremental improvements. But that’s not what’s happening at Humboldt right now. The frame has shifted. We’re in a very different and unusual time.

On campus, there is great enthusiasm, mixed with being a bit worn out and looking to summer for recovery time.

Even so, the main thing at Cal Poly Humboldt right now is a shared sense of pride and momentum, and we’re aware that this momentum is precious. Just as any sports fan knows, momentum is not easily gained, and our goal is to maintain it the very best we can. This institution is setting in motion initiatives and new approaches that will energize our work for decades to come. The beneficiaries are our students and this entire North Coast region.

Be well.

Dr. Tom Jackson Jr. is the president of Cal Poly Humboldt. Frank Whitlatch is the vice president for university advancement and the executive director of the Cal Poly Humboldt Foundation.