This is the season to think about our ambitions for the coming year.

Between family gatherings, holiday festivities and shopping, we ask ourselves in the back of our minds what goals we’d like to achieve.

If you’d asked Drew Sfirri two years ago about his goals, he would have had no answer. He had attended a university but felt out of touch with his studies, so he dropped out.

He next found himself working in a deli, making sandwiches and running the cash register. By his own admission, Drew was “lost.”

But ask Drew the same question today and he’ll gladly tell you about his aspirations. In the coming year, he plans to finish his degree in composite technology at Southern Maine Community College and begin a career in the composites industry.

No longer aimless, he has found a calling he’s passionate about. Successful in school, he’s also confident of success in his newly chosen field.

Student success is the highest priority of SMCC. Drew Sfirri is one example of how the hands-on composite technology program at the school’s Midcoast Campus in Brunswick has led to just that.

Drew, who graduated from Brunswick High School in 2007 and is now 25, says his father urged him to take his first composite technology course at SMCC’s Maine Advanced Technology and Engineering Center (MATEC). It wasn’t long before things started to click. He grew determined and confident. He earned high grades.

Besides taking classes, Drew works in MATEC’s Composites Engineering and Research Laboratory, which operates in partnership with regional composite companies to address their engineering needs. There, he uses state-of-the-art equipment to test the strength and behavior of high-tech composite materials used in numerous products. He often works side-by-side with the head of research and development at a leading New England composite company.

Drew says the program has given him direction, not to mention a career.

Since composites — materials made by combining two or more other materials — are vital in a wide range of industries, he could end up working in microelectronics, industrial manufacturing, construction or even aerospace. He could use his skills to make bridges, surfboards, wind turbine blades or almost anything else.

The sky’s the limit.

Drew isn’t alone. Thousands of students in architectural and engineering design, culinary arts, biotechnology, business, radiography and SMCC’s many other programs tell similar stories of success.

As the new year draws upon us, it’s time to take stock of our goals. At SMCC, it’s all about student success.

DR. RONALD G. CANTOR is president of Southern Maine Community College.