The incoming freshmen and transfer students at Fort Lewis College found themselves the focus of cheering families at an emotional Fall Convocation on Friday.
“I remember coming to Convocation when I was a freshman and thinking orientation was overwhelming and over-the-top,” said senior Lindley Gallegos, who is the student body president this year. “Now, all of you look so young, and I realize how much I’m going to miss this place.”
While FLC has had a Convocation ceremony for years, President Dene Kay Thomas said she embraced it with enthusiasm, particularly after Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Morris came to FLC from a private college, where they’re more common.
“It’s a very important marker,” Thomas said. “It’s bringing students together in a time to bond, in a time to commit to what they have chosen to do.”
The formal ceremony of speeches and faculty-performed music culminated in two charges.
“I charge you to discover in yourself an excitement about learning, about encountering new ideas, searching for truths and discovering deeper meanings,” Morris said. “Enter this college with an open mind, with a willingness to submit your beliefs and hunches to the test of critical dialogue with your professors, with your peers and, most importantly, within yourself.”
Glenna Sexton, vice president for Student Affairs, asked the students to commit to a second charge:
“I charge you to join with us in creating an education which is life-forming and lifelong,” she said. “I charge you to use your skills, talents and leadership in ways that will enrich humanity and contribute to the common good.”
The ceremony ended on a lighter note as assistant professor of music Charissa Chiaravalloti and visiting instructor in music Kerry Ginger taught the students their new school song, “Alma Mater.”
