 afternoon. I'm Christine Siegel, Provost here at Fairfield University. Before we start with this afternoon's program, I ask that you please turn off all your electronical devices. President Nemeck, esteemed members of the faculty, staff, and university administrators, students, and most especially the class of 2023, welcome to the 16th annual first-year academic gathering. We can applaud for that. We will begin with the invocation which will be offered by the Director of Campus Ministry Reverend Paul Rourke of the Society of Jesus, followed by the singing of the National Anthem by members of the University Glee Club under the direction of Dr. Carol Ann Maxwell Conductor and accompanied by Beth Palmer. Please rise and remain standing. Good and gracious God, we hear in Genesis that your spirit breathed upon the waters, bringing life and order out of chaos. We ask you to send forth your spirit today and every day to bring order, harmony, and peace to the desires of our hearts and the life we share together. We don't ask you to quiet our desires or remove them from our hearts, but to bring them to their deepest fulfillment in you. In the prologue of John's Gospel, we hear that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word present at the beginning was love and your Word present today is love. God of love, please form your Word of love in our hearts so that we may heal the wounds of a troubled world and serve those in need with ever greater generosity. Give us the courage to speak that Word boldly through our deeds. Give us a love of reason and a thirst for truth, but give us also faith that we know what reason alone cannot show us. There is much to make us sad in our world today, but we know that our future is in your hands. As the class of 2023 so full of goodness and promise begins their journey at Fairfield, give them and give us all the virtue of hope that we may never forget that you hold us and hold us tight now and forever. Amen. Mrs. Palmer and the Glee Club, please be Sunday and continuing today and extending throughout this week. We, the Jesuits, your fellow students, professors, staff and administrators of Fairfield University, welcome you, the class of 2023. We know that we will be enriched and enlivened by your presence. We hope that your experiences with us will be transformative as you grow in mind, body and spirit. Today, on the first day of classes, we celebrate the life of the mind at Fairfield. You will notice that members of the platform party are tired, not just in Fairfield red and black, but also in academic regalia, the colors and accessories of which represent the institutions of higher learning at which we have studied, the fields of academic inquiry that we have pursued, and the degrees and honors we have earned. So attired, we gather together and with you to mark the opening of the academic year and to welcome you, our new students, to the community of scholars of which Fairfield University is a part. At Fairfield, the scholarly community is one designed to cultivate intellectual curiosity through our broad-based humanistic liberal arts curriculum and multiple occasions for interdisciplinary study. It's designed to advance human knowledge and understanding through the pursuit of a specific academic major and opportunities to work side by side with professors conducting original research in their fields. And to seek truth as our deepened reasoning is accompanied by faith and enacted through service learning, clinical placements, internships, and entrepreneurial endeavors. You will discover that here at Fairfield, this scholarly community is not limited to the walls of the classrooms or the confines of our campus. Growth and learning take place in residence halls through our student clubs and organizations in our intramural club and varsity athletic programs. Understanding can be found in the town of Fairfield, Bridgeport, New York City, in Florence, Madrid, and Galway. The entire world is your learning laboratory within reach and waiting to be discovered. I encourage you to seize all the opportunities our scholarly community provides to explore new ways of thinking, discover new areas of interest, and begin the process of discerning who you will become. As scholars, we welcome and accompany you in this pursuit of knowledge about yourself, others, and the world around you. Welcome to Fairfield. I am now honored to introduce Dr. Mark Arnemic, president of Fairfield University, to offer his welcoming remarks. Dr. Arnemic. As we gather here today to welcome the class of 2023 to the academic community that is Fairfield, we do so with great respect for the exceptional legacy of your predecessors, great appreciation for the fact that you have chosen to join this narrative, and great anticipation for all you will bring to the university. On a personal note, as the father of four school-aged children, I recognize how significant a decision your college selection was, and I am grateful for the faith and trust you have placed in us to continue your education and your development. On this journey, I trust you will find quickly that this is a unique institution, animated by exceptional scholarship and academic rigor, while embracing the Ignatian obligation to nurture and encourage persons of strong character and true integrity. Our history here is remarkable, and our dual emphasis on excellence in all things coupled with an overarching mission to form men and women for and with others in pursuit of social justice and productive citizenship positions us going forward to be a model of the modern Jesuit Catholic University. In joining Fairfield, you are partaking in a long-established, time-tested tradition which we trust will equip you for a lifetime of learning through an integrated approach which recognizes the importance of core personalities and seeks to develop your mind, your body, and your spirit. This approach is not only holistic, but also unbounded. For all of your experiences, both in and outside of the classroom, are part of your education, as they all offer the opportunity for rigorous inquiry and discernment. With this in mind, I encourage you to push yourself and push your peers to be your best and take advantage of all this institution has to offer. Welcome to Fairfield. We are thrilled to have you as part of our family. Thank you, President Nemeck. I am pleased to invite Core Eunice, Vice President for Enrollment Management, to present the Class of 2023 to the President of Fairfield University. On behalf of the staff of the Enrollment Management Division and the Office of Undergraduate Admission, we welcome you to Fairfield University. President Nemeck, the Enrollment Management team has been privileged to work with these young women and men throughout the enrollment process. I am pleased to present them for matriculation into Fairfield University as members of the Class of 2023. I entrust them in your care for the next four years. Thank you, Corey. I am now pleased to welcome Claire Monahan, President of the Fairfield University Student Association, to offer her welcome to the Class of 2023 and to lead the class in the recitation of the University Honor Code. Good afternoon to the Class of 2023. As newly minted members of the undergraduate student body, I wanted to officially welcome you all to the Fairfield University Student Association, or FUSA. It is my privilege to serve as your President this school year. At my own convocation just three years ago, I sat where you are now, dizzy from the realities of my new life as a college student. I tried to put myself back in that white folding chair, trying to figure out what advice to share with all of you today. I asked just about everyone I know, if you could give this speech, what would you say? I watched past FUSA President's speeches trying to spoke up their wisdom like a sponge. The problem with this approach seems so blatantly obvious now. None of those people are me. Since I'm the one standing up here, Claire Monahan, the one and only me, I figured you deserved some authentic advice. Last year, I had the distinct pleasure of studying abroad, something I hope all of you have the chance to do during your time here. I went to Florence, Italy for two weeks in January. While studying abroad, I tried to live every day to the fullest. While studying abroad, I tried, sorry. As my parents reminded me, when was the next time I would find myself spending two weeks in Italy? Every day I lived my best life, sipping espresso overlooking the Duomo, gazing at the incredible art in the Vatican, and exploring the canals of Venice. When I got back to campus in January, I reflected on this same idea. When was the next time I would be a college student? The answer, unfortunately, is never. If I could reach back through time, I would remind my past self of this fact. I would ask her, what would you do if you were never coming back to Fairfield? Strange question, especially sitting where you're sitting. Four years feels like a long time. I felt like high school lasted a decade. But I can assure you, time will really fly by. What will you do with your precious time here? Fairfield provides countless opportunities for both personal and professional growth. And I know each of you will create even more opportunities for yourselves. One of the single best classes I took during my time at Fairfield was Dr. Cassidy's Introduction to the Study of Peace and Justice. Seriously, take it if you have the chance. One of the books I read in that class was Tattoos on the Heart, The Power of Boundless Compassion by Father Gregory Boyle, SJ. Father Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, which provides free services like job training, therapy and tattoo removal to gang members in Los Angeles. His book features vignettes of the people he's worked with on their journey to realizing their own self-worth. As a proud peace and justice minor, I wanted to share a quote from Father Boyle's second book, Barking to the Choir, The Power of Radical Kinship, about one former gang member called Chewy. Quote, in his time with us, he had experienced a true liberation and discovered his true self. As a colleague at Homeboy said, Chewy learned how to be loyal to his own life. The truest advice I can offer you today is to live boldly, to take some inspiration from Chewy and find the people, places and activities that make you feel most connected to yourself. I have felt most myself eating ice cream with my friends in the tully, performing experiments in chemistry lab, working on staff at our weekly newspaper, The Mirror, and now serving as your as your FUSA president. During my time during your time at Fairfield, you will be presented with numerous possibilities and also challenges. Ask yourself, what would I do if this was my one and only time as an undergraduate? To answer that question, you first need to figure out how you can be loyal to your own life. You've certainly picked the best place to work that out for yourself. At Fairfield, you will be surrounded by faculty, staff, and peers who are eager to see you succeeding in finding your most authentic self. And of course, with any great experiment, there is a bit of trial and error involved. Living boldly means stepping outside of your comfort zone to try and make new discoveries about yourself. Don't be afraid to try out new things and see if they stick. Your time here is too valuable. I wish you the best of luck in finding out how you can be loyal to your own life in order to make the most out of your four short years here. Because only you can figure that out. And there's only one of you. Isn't that amazing? Now with the class of 2023, please stand and join me in reciting the university honor code, which can be found on the back of the program. I understand that any violation of academic integrity wounds the entire community and undermines the trust upon which the discovery and communication of knowledge depends. Therefore, as a member of the Fairfield University community, I hereby pledge to uphold and maintain the standards of academic integrity and integrity. Thank you, Claire. You can be seated. Fairfield, we are committed to fostering a strong sense of community. We're experiences are profound. We're learning establishes the foundation for your future and where relationships are long lasting. Our goal is to provide a living and learning environment that allows you to bring forward your unique talents and abilities to discover new ways of thinking about yourself, others and the world around you. And to be prepared to become thriving and contributing members of the next community you enter. So that by the time you leave us, you are not different from but a more fully realized version of the person you are today. To further explore our commitment to you, I am pleased to introduce this year's speaker, Dr. Jacqueline Borishka, Associate Provost for Scholarly, Creative and Community Engagement and Professor of Politics. Calling Detroit Michigan home, though growing up and living in cities across the United States, Jacqueline Borishka, PhD, earned her BA in government at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After serving in Teach for America as a fifth grade school teacher at St. Alphonsus Elementary School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she returned to Detroit and received her master's degree in political science from Wayne State University. She then earned her PhD in political science at the City University of New York Graduate Center, specializing in feminist political theory, specifically how morality shaped women's struggle for citizenship throughout America's political history. Professor Borishka joined Fairfield University Politics Department faculty in 2002 and was chosen by students as the Alpha Sigma Nu Teacher of the Year in 2006. Advancing social justice at the intersection of classroom and community, she teaches courses that engage students in action. Her African politics course involves taking students to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in East Africa. Community engagement is one of her passions reflected in her five years as faculty chair for service learning. Her current book project is Globalization and Sex by Roman and Littlefields Publishers. Her other books are Suspect Citizens, Women, Virtue and Vice in Baselash Politics, published by Temple University Press in 2012 and Jesuit and Feminist Education, Intersections in Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, published by Fordham University Press also in 2012, co-authored by Professor Elizabeth Petrino. This book won the Alpha Sigma Nu's 2013 Best Book Award. Dr. Borishka joined the Provost Office, which leads the Academic Division of Fairfield University as Associate Vice President for scholarly, creative and community engagement in July of 2018. She has been honored with the Martin Luther King Junior Visions Award in 2015 and the Connecticut Ace Women's Network Award for Distinguished Academic Women in Higher Education Leadership in 2014. She regularly travels to and works with educators at Loyola High School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a place she considers her second home. Please join me in welcoming this year's speaker, Dr. Jacqueline Borishka. Thank you so much, Provost Siegel. Thank you all for being here. Today we celebrate this your first day of classes in college. For getting up, finding your classes, and maybe getting your first assignment, let's have a round of applause for all of you, class of 2023. Give it up for yourself. The lead up to this day involved much effort and many people and many departures from home. Perhaps Gloria Anzaldoa's words, I am a turtle wherever I go, I carry home on my back, echoed in your minds as you and your families loaded up backpacks, put boxes into vehicles, and came to Fairfield University from your homes to build another home here. Our commuter students will do this each day when they come to campus from home. Our international students traveled from afar leaving their home countries. You are turtles who carry your homes on your backs. We welcome you all and look forward to being welcomed by you. How do we enact this seemingly simple and commonplace gesture of welcoming? Fairfield University's Jesuit tradition offers us a particular way of engaging this question. Radical hospitality. Radical hospitality is the fourth pillar of our diversity and inclusive excellence mission statement, this piece of paper that you just received. Radical hospitality emerges from Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit tradition. Ignatius advanced the idea of global citizenship long before there was a name for it. He charged his fellow Jesuits to venture out and live in the far reaches of the world. They encountered unknown cultures, languages, and religions from China to India and across Central and South America. Mobility then characterizes Jesuit life. Geronimo Nidal, one of Loyola's lieutenants, embraced the spirit. Instead of hiding behind walls, Nidal believed that we find God in the world through the journey and by this the whole world becomes our house. Nidal may have found a kindred spirit in Gloria Anzaldoa. She wrote that staying home and not venturing out from our own group comes from woundedness and stagnates our growth. This venturing out Anzaldoa tells us is a form of activism that is the courage to risk leaving home. Packing your bags and like a turtle carrying home on your back here to Fairfield was an act of courage. This move sets you on the path to making the world your home. Hospitality, if one is always on the move, then shifts from the more common practice of welcoming others to your home, of receiving to sending. This dynamic relationship involves welcoming others to know you as you are welcomed by them. This moment of knowing and being known is one of shared vulnerability created by the fluid motion of sending and receiving. Hospitality from this view is radical in both ways it is meant in both of its meanings. The first meaning of radical is extreme even revolutionary. Radical hospitality refers to a fluid dynamic between sender and receiver that equalizes relationships between people. Consider for a moment how many times you welcome someone and we're welcomed by others today alone. Now extend that to any given day in your life. This reflects changing power relations that generate the equality that leads to equity as sender and receiver ebb and flow for us all every day. This equalizing factor arising from the dynamic nature of radical hospitality is revolutionary. It challenges the inequity inequality and exclusivity characterizing our world today. This practice also reflects the second meaning of radical from its Latin meaning the root as it shows how rooted hospitality is in the human experience. One aspect of this rootedness is the vulnerability that emerges from engaging the unknown through the practice of radical hospitality. Each of you experienced this moment many times over the past few days whether it was when you entered your first college class started living with a new roommate or walked into the tully for a meal. Perhaps it was your first encounter with one of those turkeys roaming our campus who quite frankly can be a bit confrontational. Shared vulnerability when encountering new peoples places and non-human beings marks the human experience. Hospitality greeting others sharing a meal enables us to navigate these moments of vulnerability when we may feel alone or fear rejection. When we extend our hand in greeting we reach beyond what is safe across a divide of difference and into the unknown. We reach for the modus in that moment. Hospitality as a fundamental feature of human life animates the Jesuit impulse to reach for the modus the more. Reaching one's fullest potential entails reaching as far as possible beyond your given context. We reach beyond our current selves with an openness to embracing the unknown. Jesuits enact this through education literally establishing schools across the globe committed to academic excellence. Pursuing knowledge as essential to membership in a global community grounds radical hospitality in our Jesuit tradition. Education was certainly radical or extreme even revolutionary over 400 years ago when the Jesuits were founded. At that time generally only the elite could read and write. Jesuits then and now invite peoples globally to learn within their own communities where the Jesuits in turn are invited to learn from that community's cultural practices. This act bridges the boundaries between cultures. This act brings diverse peoples into an educational endeavor marked by shared vulnerability as we reach together into the unknown for the modus. Education as radical hospitality is revolutionary by embracing diversity through the inclusive practice of knowing and being known. In October of 2012 I was invited to go to the east African country of Tanzania to help build Fairfields partnership with Loyola High School a Jesuit school in Tanzania's largest city Dara Salam. I had never been to an African nation state. As a political scientist I studied the United States and I did not have substantive training in African politics. My initial response was like a turtle to pull into my shell and stay home. Yet I am also a political theorist. Theory from the ancient Greek theory means to see. To see is to engage in the modus to reach for the more through the pursuit of knowledge. One way we do this is to visit other places and engage with diverse cultures to better understand our own as one among many in the global community. I accepted the invitation and began a journey that has led me to think of Tanzania as a home and to know the world quite differently. This pursuit of knowledge drove each of you to have the courage to venture beyond your home out into the world to join this community. Reaching for the modus the more drives this pursuit at our Jesuit institution. But what does that actually mean? How do we do it? And most importantly perhaps why approach your university experience from the perspective of radical hospitality. Radical hospitality involves three steps. Remembering, welcoming, belonging. Let's think about these three steps in terms of building our shared community driven by the pursuit of excellence. Thinking about radical hospitality in this way on this day the very first day of classes that begins your college career seems an opportune moment in which to do so. Remembering, bell hooks invites us to remember our ancestral past that for her took shape at her grandmother's house. There her family took refuge in a place to recover and renew to remember slavery as shaping their everyday reality in the United States. In order to recharge to continue to resist and struggle for liberation, for freedom. Like hooks we all have family histories which like a turtle we carry on our backs. Remembering that our histories shape who we are today can help us to understand people very different from us. We can recall Dinah's story from the Fairfield Slavery Project that suggests that she and Rebecca Jennings formed some bond of friendship despite being slave and master. We remember that Jennings Beach here in Fairfield is named for the slave owning Jennings family. Remembering what came before us allows us to understand our now to move toward a better future. Remembering is also key to learning. It grounds our pursuit of knowledge. There are lots of things to remember. Equations, historical figures, anatomical parts. You may ask when your biology professor requires you to memorize all the parts of the human body. Why do it when I can google it? Remembering starts the move from gathering information to co-producing knowledge. You begin to integrate new information into how you understand the world. In that process you should challenge what you think you already know. You also develop the skills to discern fact from fiction. In a world where facts data and evidence are regularly called into question, remembering what you know and being open to challenging it creates a toehold amid the daily deluge of accurate and inaccurate information. Welcoming. Embrace the challenge of learning new ideas from a welcoming posture of understanding rather than judging. Sit next to those ideas that most challenge you. The way like Claudia Rankin who describes taking the seat next to the black man sitting alone on the crowded train. Get comfortable enough with those ideas that you can call them family. As Rankin came to call the man on the train even though they never said a word to each other. The experience of sitting with those challenging ideas will transform how you know the world. This does not mean you have to believe all perspectives. The goal is to welcome them and to be welcomed by them by exercising intellectual curiosity. Be George Yamazawa who as a little boy despite his mama telling him to get out of that dining room of their family's Japanese restaurant in Durham, North Carolina keeps going out there where he encounters stairs from people who do not share the culture of his immigrant family. Notice when you start shutting down fear expressing your viewpoint or asking a question when you stay out of that dining room. Try your best to open up welcome the challenge and invite others into the spaces of shared vulnerability where we engage with difficult ideas. Be that turtle who carries your history on your back as you travel through places that transform who you are while giving you a sure footing in your identity. As George Yamazawa sums it up I must stay true no matter what I do. Belonging, let's break that term down. Be longing to exist with a desire for the more. We come full circle now to the Modus. Belonging to a university community such as ours welcomes you to reach for the more not to accept what is known as given to push the boundaries of current ideas and then push past them to speculate and to innovate. Here is where we co-produce knowledge. Here is where imagination is let out to play as we stretch past the known to the unknown. Imagination, a function of the soul, Enzaldua tells us has the capacity to extend us beyond the confines of our skin, situation, and condition so that we can choose our responses. Doing so means that diverse views are not barriers to our way of knowing the world and who we are in it. Diversity is the way to do this through an inclusivity that takes into account the whole planet and embraces our humanist manifest in all its forms. Remembering, welcoming, belonging. These three steps of radical hospitality are critical to engaging in academic communities and the pursuit of knowledge that makes education so central to democracy. Democracy demands engagement grounded in diversity. This is often a chaotic process, one that throughout much of human history made democracy the most dangerous form of government and often the most fragile. Democracy requires natural bridges which are fragile and ever-changing yet strong and resilient like those Enzaldua uses to illustrate how we navigate our differences by crossing cultural chasms. Democracy demands that we act as bridge builders and crossers who begin by sharing our stories and listening to those of others with empathy aimed at understanding. When I graduated from college I joined Teach for America. At the age of 20 I was placed as a fifth grade school teacher at St. Alphonsus Elementary School in the small rural town of Greenwell Springs, Louisiana. In four days I landed my teaching job, an apartment, a roommate, and a car while I figured out how to set up a classroom for 30-11 year olds. I, like a turtle, wanted to carry my back right home but I stayed. Frequently teachers, parents, and even students called me a foreigner because I did not understand their culture befuddled. I explained that I was from the United States. They would reply, maybe, but you're from the north specifically Detroit. Never before had I known so clearly what it meant to be a stranger in what I thought was my own land. I chose to engage, to learn about Louisiana culture, my fellow teachers' talents, my students' lives, and how they saw the world. My fifth grade students became their culture's ambassadors. They taught me how to eat crawfish about the baby and the king cake and how to survive weeks of Mardi Gras parades. Okay, that wasn't that hard. We learned from and taught each other each day. We built empathy bridges on shared understandings that empowered us to cross a vast cultural divide between peoples from the same country. This experience illustrates how radical hospitality can empower us to build communities upon difference as necessary to ensuring democracy's future. Radical hospitality is a revolutionary idea necessary for us to live in democratic communities amid an increasingly diversifying globalized world. This practice, based on the fundamental human act of welcoming and being welcomed, advances democracy by requiring that we reject retreating into our shells and behind walls. Radical hospitality empowers us to engage with the rich diversities that make up human life. Education is a cornerstone for democratic society. Education balances the stability of knowledge with the capacity to navigate difference. Education offers an experience shared among different peoples. Radical hospitality as a groundwork for education pushes us to the horizons of knowing as we experience the pull of tradition. Like the turtle then we move between land and water sending and receiving welcoming and being welcomed all the while carrying our homes on our backs. We in these moments reach for the Majest the more as our shared vulnerability transforms into empowerment for positive engagement advanced by remembering welcoming and belonging the practice of radical hospitality. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Brushka. We will now have the presentation of the class gift to members of the class of 2023 by Seamus Digen Development Intern in the Office of Student Engagement. Seamus. Hello class of 2023. I'd like to begin by sharing a quick story with you all. Just two years ago I walked into a stadium style classroom in the Dolan School of Business for my first college class. I walked toward the front of the room in hopes of making it easier for myself to see the board but also to make a good first impression on my professor. As I got closer a familiar voice called me to sit with her in the front row. This person turned out to be Lila a student from my FYE. This small gesture instantly made me more comfortable. After a few classes we were assigned to groups for a semester-long project. Group assignment was based on who you sat next to in the class. My group consisted of Lila and a student who sat next to us Isabella. It was a bit awkward at first because Lila and I already knew each other but that all changed as soon as we made a group chat. The first message was from Isabella, whoa another 201 number our area code from northern New Jersey. And just like that the three of us were all connected in some way beyond our group project and instantly became more comfortable with each other. Fast forward a bit we earned a 97 on the project the highest grade in the class and Isabella and Lila are some of my closest friends here at Fairfield. Looking back we were practicing radical hospitality without even realizing it. Lila stepped outside of her comfort zone to invite me to sit with her. No we weren't total strangers but we didn't really know anything about each other either. So Lila reaching out not only validated my decision to sit in the front row but also made me instantly feel more welcome. Second and perhaps more importantly Isabella welcomed herself into our group and made it easier for us to welcome her by making a connection and putting herself out there. The common reads you encountered and the webinars you may have participated in mentioned the quote by Gloria and Zaldua. In leaving home I did not lose touch with my origins because La Mexicana is in my system. I am a turtle wherever I go I carry my home on my back. In other words by putting her home on her back taking it with her and sharing a piece of that with me Isabella not only allowed herself but also her fellow group members to feel more welcomed and to have a stronger sense of belonging. Step two and three of radical hospitality. Now you may be asking yourselves Seamus that's very sweet but what does that have to do with the class gift? I promise we're getting there. This year we wanted the class gift to be something that you could always take with you to serve as a reminder for you to be radically hospitable. Therefore the class gift for the class of 2023 is a wrist strap keychain that you will receive at the end of the ceremony. This this gift serves as both a physical and symbolic way for you to always bring your home with you. In terms of practicality the wrist strap has a keychain on it for you to attach your room car or house key. The wrist strap reads Fairfield University class of 2023 with a turtle insignia. You may be asking yourselves why is it a turtle and not Lucas the Stagg? While we hope that you won't forget Lucas is our mascot the turtle is there as a concert reminder of the importance of Dr. Burch's keynote and the idea of radical hospitality. Try your best to be open in sharing yourself and your experiences in an effort to be radically hospitable. So from now until the end of your four years here at Fairfield and beyond you can figuratively and literally take a piece of your home with you wherever you go. Thank you and welcome home. Thank you Seamus. I now would like to invite rector of the Fairfield Jesuit community Reverend Michael Tunney of the Society of Jesus to the podium to pronounce the benediction. Father Tunney. How fortunate that at Fairfield University all of us thank you please stand that all of us brand new first years and transfer students upper class students and veteran learners alike can find and savor in her and his personal stories experiences of remembering welcoming and belonging. Why? So that each of us will grow like our Jesuit educated predecessors grew in wisdom in character authority and compassion for our planet and all humanity crying out for goodness and mercy acceptance and healing. Oh God right here on the cusp of the Fairfield class of 2023's academic launch hear our prayers as you look upon us and walk alongside us. You who once filled Robert Bellarmine our modern Catholic Jesuit universities patron saint with a bounty of graces and talent grant us too we pray for all that we desire to achieve. Oh God may our thoughts our words our deeds always give you glory. Amen. Thank you Father Tunney. Please be seated. As we bring today's ceremony to a close I want to thank the members of the academic gathering committee and the staff from student engagement for this inspiring event which celebrates the beginning of the intellectual spiritual and cultural journey for the class of 2023 and the Fairfield University community. We now invite the University Glee Club to perform the closing anthem Cornerstone under the direction of Dr. Carol Ann Maxwell conductor accompanied by Beth Palmer. The stone that the builders rejected became a cornerstone of a whole. The stone that the builders rejected became a core. Officially concludes until the platform party has processed out. Students please pick up your class gift at the tables at the back of the lawn as you leave the gathering. Thank you.