As in 1996 for the very first Winter School, an ice storm came across much of the regions through which many of you had to travel. Although conditions in Montreat never reached the critical stages some of you experienced, we still had ice and some cars had difficulty getting up the hill to the Assembly Inn. But, as it has been in numerous other occasions, adversity seems to bring out the best in people. There was a significant amount of common ground among those who braved the elements to attend the winter school. In fact, 101 persons made it to Montreat!! To them, we owe sincere thanks for helping the Foundation Board make this school possible. 

Because of the weather, all tracks were re-located in the Assembly Inn to avoid going to external buildings. As we made this change on Sunday afternoon, we also learned that faculty from Dominion Diagnostics were stranded in Providence, Rhode Island because of the storm. Students who had been registered for the narcotics track sponsored by Dominion had to be re-assigned to other tracks. Late in the afternoon, we received word from our opening speaker that he could not make it to Montreat because of the weather. So, we called on Al Greene who gave us a wonderful overview of mountain culture. 

On Monday morning, all the trees were glittering with ice, a beautiful sight since we did not have to get outside. That was the beginning of a wonderful day and set the tone for one of our most successful schools. Reactions to all the tracks and instructors were simply great. Housing and food evaluations were good. The registration process seemed to work quite well for almost all participants. A high percentage of our participants registered online and found this to be quite convenient. 

In summary, we made some very good lemonade out of what was thought to be simply a sour lemon!! Thank all of you who attended. A special thanks to those who tried to get to Montreat but couldn’t quite make it. Keep in mind that our summer school is scheduled for August 4-8, 2003 in Wilmington (hopefully no ice). Complete 2003 summer school information will be available by mid-April.

Mona Johnson-Gibson
Foundation President