It’s Monday morning, and all across Tucson each Pima Community Campus is coming alive once more.

With the start of a new semester, some are returning to a place they know well, while others are stepping onto a Pima campus for the very first time. Either way, there’s something about the first day of a new academic year that feels like a fresh start.

Today, August 24, Pima Community College welcomed students back for the start of the fall semester and the energy was hard to miss. This year though, there’s another reason to celebrate, because for the fifth consecutive fall semester, enrollment at Pima is growing.

First-day fall credit enrollment reached 59,635, a 2.20% increase from the first day of fall classes last year. The unduplicated headcount, (the number of individual students taking classes), also increased, reaching 19,447 students, up 1.34% from last fall.

Numbers can clearly tell us that something is happening, and there could be many reasons for the consecutive increases. Maybe it’s the student who decided this was finally the year to return to school, or the parent looking for a flexible path toward a better career. It could even be recent high school graduates figuring out what comes next, the working professionals adding a new skill, or the student who simply decided to take a chance on themselves.

Behind every enrollment number is a person with a reason for being on a Pima Community College campus, and that’s what makes the beginning of a semester so exciting. No matter which campus you walk across, you can feel the possibility in the small moments buzzing around you. You realize each student made the choice to be here.

But one thing that is for certain, is that PCC continues to be the place for thousands of students across Southern Arizona to find their path. And yes, it’s easy to look at the numbers and see growth, but let’s not forget what else we see.

More and more students across Southern Arizona are discovering that college can be within reach, that there are possibilities for their futures. Most importantly, we see a community continuing to invest in itself, and at Pima Foundation, that’s a mission we are proud to support. Because when students have access to education, resources and opportunities, the impact doesn’t stop when they leave campus. It follows them into their careers, their families, our workforce and our community.

One student’s success becomes part of Southern Arizona’s success, and as the first week of the fall semester begins, there are already thousands of stories taking shape.

The traditional 16-week semester may have just begun, but it’s not too late for someone who hasn’t started yet. Students can still register for 14-week classes through September 8, and registration for 8-week classes remains open through October 19.

So if you’ve been thinking about taking that first step, maybe this is your moment, because every academic year brings new classes and new opportunities, but more than anything, it brings new beginnings.

And on Pima’s campuses, thousands of them started this Monday. Here’s to a new year, new students, new goals and all the possibilities waiting just beyond the classroom.