One of my favorite scenes in the classic movie The Wizard of Oz comes when Dorothy, just out of Munchkin Land, comes to a crossroads along the Yellow Brick Road. She's in unfamiliar territory, and doesn't have the background information she needs to make an educated guess.
"Follow the Yellow Brick Road? Follow the Yellow Brick... ? Well, now which way do we go?" she asks Toto.
Toto, of course, doesn't answer, but a voice from within the rows of corn does, and gives her conflicting advice. That lovable Scarecrow confuses Dorothy by pointing first in one direction, then the other. "Are you doing that on purpose, or can't you make up your mind?" Dorothy asks. "That’s the trouble. I can't make up my mind. I haven't got a brain, only straw," he answers.
What if you don't know if you want go into Early Childhood Education or Water Quality Technology? We offer dozens of program choices, and whether you are right out of high school or coming back to school after years out of the educational system, those choices can be more than a little overwhelming. Though colleges would like to know your general interests, it is not uncommon for students to change their major focus several times in their college careers, particularly if they plan to go on to a four-year college after receiving an associate degree from one of the fine colleges in the New Hampshire Community College System.
That's why one of the associate degrees we award here at White Mountains Community College is the Liberal Arts degree. The courses needed to complete this degree will give you a solid foundation in, as the Wizard of Oz put it, "thinkology:" in English composition, lab sciences, math, the social sciences, and more. If you plan to go to a four-year college after your time with us, then a college advisor will help you put together the course sequence needed for a successful transfer. With the credits you earn here you can easily transfer to the University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, Keene State, Lyndon State, and others.
The Scarecrow, of course, was misguided in the assumption that he did not have a brain, as the Wizard points out to him near the end of the movie. He did, in fact, have a brain, just not the confidence to use it. With the focused educational skills you learn here, you will build the confidence to use your brain, and when the time comes for you to make those important educational and training choices, you will be able to find your own way along the Yellow Brick Road to The Land of Oz, to a better, more fulfilling and prosperous future.
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