Chris Gray, Ph.D.
Founding President, Erie County Community College of Pennsylvania
As we turn the calendar to August and realize more of 2025 is behind us than ahead, I've been thinking about the first time I read William Faulkner. Most people first encounter his famously complex writing in high school AP classes or college. The Sound and the Fury is probably his best-known novel, filled with Southern Gothic themes and a sense of futility, drawn from Shakespeare.
But Light in August, another of his novels, doesn't get as much attention. It deals with racism and isolation in a fictional Mississippi town. Scholars have debated its title for years, but one idea I like is that the "light in August" symbolizes hope — maybe for a good harvest or simply relief from the summer heat as fall approaches. I prefer that view, because to me, August always feels full of hope.
In most of my professional experience, the new school year has begun in August. While astronomical and meteorological calendars still very much indicate that we are in the thick of summer, August is nonetheless synonymous with the start of the fall semester, the beginning of the school year. And can there be anything more hopeful than students taking that first step toward changing their lives? After all, that's what happens when they walk through our doors for the first time. They are staking their future on the hope for something better. And that, dear readers, is the embodiment of light in August. Our students chase that light, and it is our honor and privilege to help them catch it.
In other words, August is not unlike January in that it ushers in new beginnings: the start of a new academic year, fresh faces on campus, increased activity in the halls, and a return to the rhythms of academia. For those of us who know and love Erie County, August also brings something else, a community tradition that reflects the very heart of who we are: Erie Gives Day.
A day centered around supporting community nonprofits, this year's Erie Gives Day is Tuesday, August 12, 2025 , and once again, we at EC3 are honored to be part of it. Erie Gives is more than a date on the calendar, though. It's a day dedicated to coming together to support the organizations that serve and sustain our neighbors, our community. For us here at EC3, it's a chance to share what we already know: this college is changing lives. Quietly and steadily, we have our fingers on the pulse of the future.
When I think about what EC3 represents, I come back to a phrase I've used before: we exist for students who live "on the knife's edge." These students are the ones for whom college seemed out of reach, a far-fetched dream meant for someone else somewhere else. Perhaps because of cost, timing, fear, or circumstances, these are the students who never believed they were "college material." These are the ones who never saw a door open until now. For them, this light in August is a dream embodied.
When you give to EC3 on Erie Gives Day, you're helping keep dream alive for our current students and paving a path on which future students will tread. You're supporting the struggling single parent returning to school to improve his family's future, the first-generation college student navigating her way through uncharted territory, the worker who was recently laid off and has decided to learn a new trade, the recent graduate unsure of what's next or where to go from here. You're saying to all of these students that they belong here and that we believe in their future. Your support helps us offer emergency aid, fund textbooks, grow career programs, and keep tuition within reach. But more than that, your gift allows EC3 to fan the flames of hope for those languishing in the dark.
We truly hope that you will join us in helping extend our reach within our community. Visit our Erie Gives page between 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Tuesday, August 12, and make a gift to Erie County Community College. No gift is too small, and we appreciate your help. Every single contribution is a vote of confidence in the power of higher education to transform lives for the people right here in our community who are working so hard to build something better.
On behalf of our students, our team, and everyone who has ever stood on that knife's edge and then found solid ground at EC3, we thank you. With your help, the next chapter is just beginning. We are changing our future.
Our community: your college.
