This October finds the members of the LIM College community engaged in a wide variety of academic, professional, and community service pursuits. While I can’t possibly hope to cover everything here, below are just a few highlights of what’s keeping everyone on our campus active and engaged as we move through the month.

This past weekend we celebrated our fourth annual Family & Friends Weekend. First, nearly 200 of our students, family members, alumni, faculty, and staff turned out for the music, food, games and fun of Vegas Night on Friday evening. On Saturday, a dedicated group braved the elements to give back to our local community and help beautify Morningside Park and our Visual Merchandising students displayed their ingenuity at the annual LIM Iron Merchant Challenge. Finally, we capped off the weekend with a spectacular Sunday brunch cruise on the Hudson River.

Our community service activities will continue as Team LIM College takes part in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Central Park on October 19. Then on October 20, we’ll kick off our campus Food Drive in conjunction with the Move for Hunger organization.

The Adrian G. Marcuse Library’s Fashion: Now & Then conference will be held October 23 – 25. More than 200 professionals from the fashion industry, libraries, archives, academic institutions, publishers, collectors, and museums throughout the world will be on our campus to explore the evolving world of fashion information technology. This year’s conference will include a preview of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute records.

I also want to send my best wishes to the 10 LIM College students selected to take part in the Amazon Fashion Studio Sessions, a creative competition for top New York-area fashion students. On October 25, they will compete for a total of $100,000 in prize funds as they are challenged to create and present a complete fashion editorial in just eight hours. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen - I know you will make us proud!