<p>COLUMBIA — Nicholas Herrud grew up in Spring Hill not knowing if college was in the cards. As the first in his family to pursue higher education, he enrolled at Columbia State Community College through the Tennessee Promise program. Today, he is a Fulbright scholar pursuing doctoral studies — and he credits Columbia State with laying the foundation that made all of it possible, according to a feature published by the college.</p><p>Herrud said the smaller environment at Columbia State gave him something larger universities often can't: personal connection. He cited retired English professor Dr. James Senefeld and Dr. Barry Gidcomb, dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, as among the most influential people in his academic life. Gidcomb said the college has followed Herrud's career with pride and excitement. Herrud's journey — from Maury County to Eastern Europe on a Fulbright grant — is exactly the kind of story that makes community college matter.</p><p>His advice, in his own words, cuts to the heart of it: you only get out of something what you put into it. That's a truth that holds whether you're sitting in a classroom on Hampshire Pike or presenting research abroad. Columbia State has quietly launched a generation of Maury County students toward extraordinary lives. Herrud is proof.</p>