“Back to School” signs are everywhere these days, and while our children prepare to return to their elementary, middle and high school classrooms, the season is also a reminder that education’s central role in the Blue Ash community doesn’t end there.
Consider two important facts which are fundamentally interrelated:
- Blue Ash is home to a growing family of excellent higher education and lifelong learning resources.
- Blue Ash is widely known and highly regarded as a prime business location, even ranking as North America’s second most business-friendly “micro city” for 2007-2008 according to fDI (Foreign Direct Investment) magazine.
As we move more deeply into a technology- and knowledge-based economy, the value of higher education and continuous skills training becomes clearer. This is true not only for traditional degree programs — technical, associate, baccalaureate and graduate — but for continuing education as well.
While an educated workforce is critical to high performance, most companies and organizations aren’t in the “education business.” Leveraging the outstanding educational opportunities that surround us here in Blue Ash is more than “smart business” — it’s essential in gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage in an uncompromising business environment.
The 50,000 employees of Blue Ash companies and 11,000 Blue Ash residents have an impressive array of easily accessible educational options right here in our community. The newest is Wilmington College’s Blue Ash branch campus, located at The Landings of Blue Ash on Carver Road near Reed Hartman Highway. Opening this month, the facility reflects a consolidation of Wilmington’s two previous locations in Tri-County and Eastgate. The college is thrilled to join the Blue Ash family and place its Cincinnati-area “full-service location” within our “vibrant business community,” according to Iris Kelsen, Wilmington College’s vice president for external programs and dean of the Cincinnati Branch.
Other higher and continuing education opportunities in Blue Ash include:
“Aspire. Achieve. Advance.” For all of us who live and work in Blue Ash, the city’s tagline applies in everything we do, and the value of lifelong education is inherent in each powerful word. Blue Ash’s strength in both business and higher education is no coincidence — one constantly feeds the other.
Indeed, the next time you consider our robust business climate, remember that advanced educational opportunities — and the tremendous benefits they generate — are a vital part of our community’s ongoing success.
