Acknowledgements
I express heartfelt gratitude and acknowledge all those who directly and indirectly influenced me in writing the Fundamentals for Success in College.
My husband Bimal and son Dishant (featured on the cover of this OER), thank you for always believing in me and for your constant support and love. You both have been patient, encouraging, and super supportive as you witnessed this three-year journey of making the Community and Child Studies Foundations a Zed-cred program! The Fundamentals of Success is the first OER of this long-term dream! I will continue my work of supporting students in removing barriers to learning. Thank you.
The incredible team from the OER Lab at Centennial College Paula Demacio, thank you for your mentorship, guidance, and resources that continue to guide me through my OER journey. William Chomrak and the incredible IT Student Tech team, for all your tech support and patience in teaching me how to navigate the features of Pressbook. Mindy Lee for guiding me on how to navigate the timelines of this project. You were clear, transparent, and extremely helpful in setting a ‘realistic’ goal for the finish line of this project. Teresa, for all those conversations and sharing resources around creating accessible OERs.
Program Chair of the Community Services Department Jennifer Woodill, thank you for igniting the fire within me and fueling it with your encouragement, ideas, and consistent support. I appreciate your flexibility and willingness to hear with an open heart and mind.
My dear colleagues Linor David and Sama Bassidj, thank you for sharing your ideas and environmental scan document, making it easy for me to choose the right OERs for adaptations. And thank you, Linor David, for your willingness to edit this OER. I appreciate your feedback and hope that this OER remains a live document that can evolve.
I want to extend immense appreciation and thanks to Centennial’s Copyright Services Librarian Shelby Thaysen, for her expert advice and thorough copyright review of the textbook.
As we would in India, I bow with folded hands in front of each one of you with great respect, appreciation and gratitude. Namaste!
-Priti Parikh
