Little Art Gallery exhibits, small business orientation meetings and green business roundtables litter the events calendar on the North Canton Chamber’s website.

Our approximately six-square-mile city boils over with enthusiasm, pride and that rich hometown feeling. I would know; I’ve been here my whole life.

According to the North Canton website, I am one of about 16,500 people who call our city home. The farthest I’ve ventured away for any extended amount of time is about 160 miles southwest to Athens, Ohio. As much as I enjoyed my time at Ohio University, Athens never became my home as it did for most of my fellow Bobcats.

Being away gave me perspective on our city and coming back for the holidays and summers never left me feeling like just a "visitor," as my youngest brother always insisted I was.

I am now at what I’m assuming is a familiar crossroads in life; I just graduated without a job and moved back home.

In a perfect world I would be financially independent and using my degree at a job that I love. Yet, unlike many 20-somethings in my position, I am not bitter at the reality of moving back in with my parents for now.

The North Canton Chamber website describes our city as a “successful, desirable community in which to live” and I couldn’t have said it better myself.