Welcome to New Students
Ignatian Lawn
18 September 2015
Thank you, Aaron, for that introduction and best wishes for your year as student body president. Thanks also to our student cellist, Songyi Chun, for some wonderful music. Let me also recognize all our student volunteers who assisted today with move-in to the residence halls. That is a big job, so thank you!
I am pleased to welcome all of you this afternoon. You have survived a day of lugging, unpacking, arranging, and trips to Target and Ace hardware for all your residence hall needs. And you parents with students living in Swig: you certainly could get your exercise trudging up and down the stairwells, some as far as the 12th floor.
Let me begin my remarks by sharing a story that I told the faculty and staff in my Convocation address earlier this week. I spoke about summer travel;actually, my virtual travel. In early August I received an email from one of our rising seniors, Elahdio Aliaga, who described the excitement of his summer immersion trip in Africa. Elahdio wrote from the city of Kumasi in the Ashanti region of Ghana, where he and 3 other students –Lauren Gardner, Emily Takimoto, and Elizabeth Anderson - were working as Global Fellows out of the Leavey School of Business.
Dozens of our students work overseas in the summer in a variety of programs. Elahdio and his companion Global Fellows were engaged with a Ghanaian NGO, Bright Generation. This NGO promotes the empowerment of women and children through social programs and sustainable businesses. Our students were immersing themselves in the gritty social reality that is integral to a Santa Clara education. Elahdio explained: "We are experiencing how it is to live in Ghana first-handedly [sic], bathing in cold showers and experiencing the country's constant energy shortages."
Applying Silicon Valley know-how to meet a real need, Elahdio explained: "One of the ways Elizabeth, Emily, Lauren, and [I] decided to serve the Ghanaian youth in rural communities and also make a lasting impact during our time in Bright Generation is by creating …[a] crowd fund campaign." They had discovered a social problem and decided to respond and to act. They applied Silicon Valley know-how through social media to respond to a pressing social problem in Ghana. These 4 students impressed me with their care for the people with whom they worked and with their willingness to do something useful for these people.
At Santa Clara we speak of educating for the 3 C's: Competence, Conscience, and Compassion. These four Global Fellows exemplify the mission of Santa Clara. This stimulation of compassion and the prodding of conscience arise through direct encounters with people in need. The students demonstrated how compassion and the courage to help animate the educational experiences that we provide at Santa Clara.
First-year students: your time here at Santa Clara will provide you an extraordinary range of opportunities to blow your mind. One of our current seniors explained it this way:
"The most important part of my Santa Clara experience was finding groups of friends and then the people who became true friends. From the very beginning, there are hundreds of smiling faces from all sorts of clubs, groups, sports, and walks of life to introduce you to the SCU community. These faces are the faces you'll see over your years as a student here. Some you will see more frequently than others. …[W]ith all the excitement, comes the chance to land where you will find yourself the most at home. Be excited and passionate about joining new groups and experiencing new things. Share with these people what brings a smile to your own face. You'll receive the feedback to encourage you to walk your own path. …"
Walking your own path is essential for discovering your truest self and developing your potential. Faculty, staff, and fellow students are here to help you with these revelations as you learn more and more who you are and what your dreams and passions are. One of our recent alumni explained this in a blog entry that I read this month.
Judith Martinez, class of 2013, was Associated Student Government president in her senior year. She majored in philosophy with a pre-law emphasis, and minored in entrepreneurship and communications. [Notice the opportunities she took advantage of at Santa Clara!] She recently wrote on the blog Medium that a surprising experience after graduation changed all her carefully developed plans she had formulated for her life. She had applied to law school, received the cherished acceptance packet from the school of her dreams, and suddenly, "my heart sank." Judith was staggered. "What do you do when you realize the one thing you always wanted may not have been what you wanted all along?"
After 4 months of reexamining her expectations for her life, Judith created InHerShoes. She wrote that this as an "organization committed to shifting the conversation of what it means to be a 'successful' woman today, and creating a tipping point for female entrepreneurship." InHerShoes assists girls and women to answer for themselves, "What would you do if you were 1% more courageous?" The organization provides resources for women "to courageously step into their futures. Nearly a year later, we are on course to be in five new cities over the next five years to #CatalyzeCourage in communities all over the globe."
Judith thrived at Santa Clara because of our emphasis on the education of the whole person. Here she experienced, "a freedom to discover and play inside of my passions". She is not certain if she could have done that anywhere else. Reviewing her Santa Clara experience, Judith concluded that "being Jesuit educated does not end on graduation day. That's actually when your Jesuit education truly begins."
Judith and Elahdio provide us with two examples of why we do what we do at Santa Clara. Their actions and reflections reveal how you, our students, can respond to what and how you learn at Santa Clara. Tyler's advice points the way for you to begin your time here. All 3 challenge us to ask the question of ourselves: "What would you do if you were 1% more courageous?"
As a university, being 1% more courageous can mean examining how we grow in our understanding of diversity, awareness of privilege, and violence against women. We have active programs to address these issues;how do we respond individually? Other issues in our world beg for our attention and thoughtful action. We have seen the images of the refugees fleeing Syria and the Middle East, and the question arises: what is our response? We are living through one of the most severe droughts in the recorded history of California. What do we do [besides recycling to water the grounds of the university], and what do we teach? If we were 1% more courageous, how might we react to those or other issues we encounter?
Here at Santa Clara we work to provide you with the knowledge, ethics, and skills to make right judgments about such issues in this complicated world. We use a humanistic curriculum to broaden your horizons of the possible. We prepare you to think critically, reason logically, communicate clearly, collaborate effectively, and reflect carefully. In all our work, we go beyond competence by educating for compassion and for courage. We educate you to build a better world, a world that is more just, more humane, and more sustainable.
Oh, and one more thing. Judith, and thousands of other alumni who have gone before you over our 164-year history, are the measure of who we are. These alumni have made all this possible - a beautiful campus, remarkable faculty, impressive facilities, and a thriving environment. Make the most of these generous gifts in your 4 years here. And when the time comes, when you are a member of the alumni, think back fondly on your time here - and pay it forward to help the next generation of Broncos.
Michael E. Engh, S.J.
President