 Good afternoon. I'm Christine Siegel, Provost here at Fairfield University. Before we start today's program, I ask that everyone take a minute to turn off their cell phones and electronic devices. President Nemic, esteemed members of the faculty, staff, university administrators, students, and most especially members of the Class of 2022. Welcome to the 15th annual first-year academic gathering. We will begin with the invocation which will be offered by the Director of Campus Ministry, Reverend Mark Scalise 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, accompanied by Beth Palmer. Please rise and remain standing. Let us pray. Good and gracious God, at the dawn of all things, your spirit of creation breathed order and beauty out of the watery chaos. Your spirit of wisdom taught our holy ancestors to discern your fingerprints in the wonders of nature and inspired the prophets to demand justice for the poor and the oppressed. In the fullness of time, your word made flesh gave us an example of self-giving love that unleashes your life-giving spirit and renews the face of the earth. Today we gather together the Class of 2022 as its members begin their academic careers at Fairfield. During their four years here, may the chaos of uncertainty and fear of the unknown be transformed into blessed order, self-confidence, and hope. May they come to cherish the life of the mind. May they find beauty in clear and forceful arguments and in critical thinking. May they delight in discovering you in the workings of the natural world. May they channel their creative energies into works of music and art and writing and filmmaking. May they discover a passion for justice through their study of history and the social sciences and work to make life better for their sisters and brothers at home and around the world. And may they stretch their hearts and minds and grow into loving persons who are fully alive and in so doing set the world on fire and give you glory. We ask all these things of you who are our loving God and faithful friend. Amen. Thank you Father Scalise. Thank you Dr. Maxwell and Miss Palmer. Please be seated. Beginning on Sunday, continuing today and extending throughout this week, we, the Jesuits, students, professors, staff, and administrators of Fairfield University are welcoming you, the class of 2022. 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 University. You will notice that today members of the platform party are retired, not just in Fairfield Red and Black, but also in academic regalia. The colors and accessories of which represent the institution of higher learning at which we have studied, the fields of academic inquiry that we have pursued, and the degrees and honors that 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 University, this 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 it's designed to seek truth as our deepened reasoning is accompanied by faith and enacted through service learning, clinical placementships, internships, and entrepreneurial endeavors. You will discover that at Fairfield, this scholarly community is not limited to the walls of the classrooms or the confines of our campus. Growth and learning also 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 and Bridgeport in New York City, Florence, Madrid, and Managua. 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 to discover new areas of interest and to begin the process of discerning who you will become. As scholars, we welcome you 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 R. Nemek, President of Fairfield University, to offer his welcoming remarks. Dr. Nemek. As we gather today to welcome the Class of 2022 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, I am most pleased to welcome you as the first admitted class of my tenure. On this journey, I trust you will find, as I have, 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 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 expansive. For all of your experiences, both inside and outside of the classroom, are part of your education, for 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 to truly be stewards of this remarkable university, leaving it an even better place than you found it. Welcome to Fairfield. We are thrilled to have you as part of our family. Thank you, President Nemek. I am now pleased to invite Paul Hovey, Associate Director of Admission, to present the Class of 2022 to Fairfield University President Mark Nemek. On behalf of the staff of the Office of Undergraduate Admission, we welcome you to Fairfield University. President Nemek, the Admission Office has been privileged to work with these young women and men throughout the admission process. I am pleased to present them for matriculation into Fairfield University as members of the Class of 2022, and I entrust them into your care for the next four years. Thank you, Paul. It's now my honor to welcome Daniel Rice, President of the Fairfield University Student Association, to offer her welcome to the Class of 2022 and to lead the class in the recitation of the University's Honor Code. Daniel. Good afternoon, everyone. It is my privilege as the Fairfield University Student Association President to officially welcome you as Fairfield's Class of 2022. I hope you are settling into your residence halls and routines and that your transition to life as a college student has been smooth. Although it has only been a few days, I hope you have all started to get a sense of the many wonderful things here at Fairfield and that you are confident in your decision in choosing this school. If it isn't crystal clear just yet, I assure you it won't take long before you realize what an incredible place you have chosen to spend the next four years. I remember my own convocation all too well. It was a beautiful day, hotter than hot, the sky was a perfect blue, and every one of us could feel the bright sun warming our backs. Though the speeches and welcomes were engaging, I was completely distracted and feeling lonely thinking about my home, my mom, my town, my high school, and the comfort and familiarity I left behind in all of those things. At the same time I was thinking about solidifying my work study, worried about getting lost, unsure of course expectations, and petrified at the thought of eating alone in the dining hall. Suffice it to say, my mind was all over the place and even though I knew I loved it here, at that moment I wasn't necessarily loving it here. During my first few weeks I couldn't help but think about something my brother had said to me. He told me to get involved. Sounds cliche, I know. He told me to put myself out there so I would learn about the school, meet new people, find my new interests, and to find my new role. Nothing gets better or easier by sitting in your dorm room is what he said to me. So off I went to join clubs and organizations and as I did, just as he said, I grew more comfortable in my new surroundings. I made new friends, figured out what I did and didn't like, and learned how to balance and manage this new adventure with the guidance and support of some pretty talented mentors. Without realizing it, Fairfield became my new home. Four years ago as I sat where you sit now, Fairfield was a place I wasn't sure I wanted to be at. And now as I begin my senior year, it's the one place I never want to leave. You are about to embark on a really great journey. Though graduation waits at its end, there is lot to enjoy and accomplish along the way. I offer you the same great advice my brother gave me and encouraging you to get involved. Take advantage of every opportunity and try new things. If you're interested in student government or in vet planning, consider becoming a member of FUSA. If you have a passion for writing, look into joining the staff of the Mirror, our school newspaper. If you're a singer, the Glee Club would love to meet you. Obviously the list goes on, but just remember this. College is all about the experiences and opportunities we as students will need for our future successes and there is no shortage of either here. Over the next four years, you, your friends, your goals, and maybe even your majors will all change. What will never change, however, is Fairfield's commitment to its students, both in and out of the classroom. Though there is a lot that makes this place special, it is the commitment which sets this university apart from so many others. May the next four years be filled with fun, friendship, adventure, challenges and success, and may they leave an irreplaceable mark on your lives. Welcome home, Class of 2022. We are so excited to have you here. And now will the members of the Class of 2022 please stand and join me in reciting the university honor code which can be found on the back of your 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 Fairfield University community, I hereby pledge to uphold and maintain these standards of academic honesty and integrity. Please be seated. Thank you, Danielle. At Fairfield, we are committed to fostering a strong sense of community. Where experiences are profound, where learning establishes a 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 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 more of who you are today. To further explore our commitment to you, I am pleased to introduce this year's speaker, Dr. Aaron Van Dyke, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Born and raised in an apple farming town in eastern Washington state, Aaron Van Dyke received his BS in chemistry from Seattle University as a Sullivan scholar. He then earned a PhD in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he developed methods for synthesizing the toxins responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning. He completed post-doctoral training at the University of Michigan as an American Cancer Society fellow, studying the connection between protein misbehavior and human disease. Professor Van Dyke began his academic career at Fairfield University in 2013. He was recognized as the university's undergraduate teacher of the year in 2015 and received the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Advising and Mentoring Award in 2017. Aaron lives on campus as Fairfield's faculty and residence and is academic chair of the Residential College Program, a living and learning community for sophomores. He currently serves on the Barry M. Goldwater Selection Committee, the nation's most prestigious scholarship for undergraduates in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Van Dyke. Thank you, Provost Siegel, for that kind introduction. Class of 2022, it is truly an honor to welcome you on behalf of the general faculty. Do you have a favorite book or story from your childhood, a tale that captivated your imagination? One of my favorites was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. In this book, Lucy and Edmund Pevensey champions from the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe return to Narnia with their lonesome cousin Eustace Scrub. They set sail on the Dawn Treader and through their adventures they encounter enchantments, a dragon, treasure, but that is not the magic of the story. The book's true potency are in the lessons and characters are in the lessons these characters learn through their adventures, lessons of growth and self-discovery, brokenness, and redemption, because the lesson, not the incantation, reveals how to transform a dragon into a human. Today you embark on a similar journey. You begin your intellectual life at Fairfield University. Perhaps like Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace, you start this voyage with a mixture of elation, curiosity, and puzzlement. In the short time we have together today, I'd like to chart a course for your time at Fairfield, to put it ease some of your fears, to point out the rich rewards that lie ahead for those willing to stay the course and explain why this university exists. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, believed there are four islands of experience in the intellectual life, longing, love, loss, and limitlessness. You've already begun reconnaissance of these islands through our common readings on quip. Frederick Bruckner invited us to name our deepest motivation. Robert Brighurst's poem asked us what is authentic love? Christian Wyman's essay wrestled with loss, and Anthony D'Amello's short stories provided lessons to help us discern between limitless options. The intellectual life, much like sailing, is something you will cultivate over time as you navigate between these islands. The first thing you must know, however, is that the intellectual life at a Jesuit Catholic University is alive with imagination. Perhaps you could think of it as the water that connects these islands of experience. Imagination is what allowed C.S. Lewis to write about Narnia, J.R. Tolkien to create Hobbits, and G.K. Chesterton to extol the ethics of Elf land. I teach organic chemistry, and that sentence alone can stop conversation at parties. But when someone asks about my research, I invite them to imagine an ecologist who's studying fish in a lake. The ecologist has to capture those fish, tag them in a way that doesn't affect their function, and then release those fish back into a lake. My research is analogous, but instead of tagging fish in a lake, my students and I design small chemical probes that can seek out proteins in cells, capture those proteins, tag them in a way that doesn't alter their native function, and then release them back into the cell. Because if you can put a fluorescent tag on a protein, just like you would put a neon green tag on a fish, you can track it. And now you have a powerful diagnostic tool for diseases in which that protein is misbehaving. Using an analogy, like I just did, is an example of analogical imagination. Have you ever wanted to improve the conditions of those around you? Have you hoped that things could be better than they are now? That's prophetic imagination. Have you fallen in love with a book, a play, a song, or been moved to silence by a stunning landscape? That's sacramental imagination, and sacramental imagination is the perfect current to ride to island number one, longing. I'd like to give you a definition of sacramental imagination. The things of this world can reveal a deeper insight into our existence. The things of this world can reveal a deeper insight into our existence. I came to understand sacramental imagination in a profound way as an undergraduate at Seattle University, one of our fellow Jesuit institutions. You should know, first off, that I'm not actually Catholic. I grew up as a closeted gay youth in a loving but conservative Protestant family. When I showed up as a first-year student at Seattle University, I arrived on the island of longing with a deep yearning for self-acceptance. I might call this a longing of the heart. During an Ignatian Silent Retreat, my spiritual director asked me, can you see your sexual orientation as a gift? It was the first time someone asked me to reflect, to think critically about my identity. What started as a longing of my heart became a longing of my mind as well, a conversation between mind and heart. When I returned to campus, I wanted to know more. What did she mean by gift? What did this Catholic tradition have to say about my identity? So I started to read, and this is how I came to understand sacramental imagination. It is the lens through which we as a Jesuit university see the world. We believe that the entire world is called into existence out of love, and as a result, the world is stamped with that love. The word sacramental comes from the Greek word for mystery. Another way you could think of it is that the world is imprinted with this mystery, and a university is where we apply our minds to understand this mystery, to question it, to wrestle with it in an attempt to comprehend it, ultimately to gain truth. The individuals who grappled with the forces around a basketball trying to fly into that hoop founded the field of physics. When you model market forces, we call it economics. When you investigate the structures of human society, we call it sociology, because remember, we believe that everything in this world from nursing to neuroscience can be a conduit to truth, can reveal a deeper insight into our existence. The intellectual life is not a cold and sterile place, simply of equations and grammatical rules. The intellectual life is where you flourish and are made into a whole human being because it requires a union of heart and mind, and almost without noticing it, you will find yourself so captivated by this inquiry, so alive by these questions, you will have crossed over from island number one, longing, to island number two, love. Love is not only the stuff of Valentine's Day and Hallmark cards. To be clear, the love of friendship and family is a good and sacred thing, but there is a deeper love that allows us as an intellectual community to come together with mutual respect, to exchange ideas, to question them freely, and to debate with one another. Remember, our tradition tells us this is a sacramental world called into existence out of love, which means every one of you is marked by that love. Human dignity is another word for this irreducible mark of love imprinted on every one of us. Our university rests on this irreducible human dignity of its members. This is why, in a university, every voice is heard from every first-year student to a full professor to the provost. Every voice can enter into the exchange of ideas. No one is shut out. Do you see now how human dignity rooted in love is different from the love you may have for a friend? Disagreements with friends can spiral into estrangement, a breakdown in communication. The intellectual life can be a prophylactic against this polarization because the intellectual life begins by respecting your peers as dignified human beings, just as they are called to respect you. And this mutual respect, even between strangers, makes the exchange of ideas possible, whether you agree or disagree on a particular issue. This is why today you committed to the honor code, to uphold standards of academic honesty and integrity, principles which are rooted in human dignity and the university's commitment to pursue truth. Now, I'll be honest, the intellectual life is not always easy, and this brings us to island number three, loss. When I arrived at MIT as a graduate student, it was exhilarating. I moved into a residence hall named for Harold Edgerton, the MIT professor who invented strobe photography, and his pictures covered the building. You may have seen them in textbooks, a drop of milk splashing into a coronet or a bullet piercing an apple. In his spare time, he developed sonar. The first week there, one of my classmates claimed that the circumference of a cup's rim is always taller greater than the cup's height, and we spent the first week commandeering cups from every establishment we could go to trying to prove him wrong. I expected graduate school to be a grand time. And then came my first cumulative exam. At MIT, these don't count for a course, they count towards your candidacy. To complete your admission to the PhD program, you must pass six cumulative exams after a certain period of time. I failed the first one. But then came the second cumulative exam, another F. If I was serious about becoming a faculty member which required earning a PhD, I needed to study. I needed to commit to hard work. I want you to notice there is one word I have not used when describing the intellectual life. Smart. The intellectual life is not. I repeat not about being smart. It has nothing to do with your intelligence. The intellectual life has everything though to do with your ability to work hard, to persist, to ask questions, and to thoughtfully reflect on your learning. To this day, one of my most cherished possessions is that letter I received from the graduate committee saying I passed my sixth cumulative exam. Loss in the intellectual life is not simply feeling bad about yourself when you fall short of a goal. It's recognizing what you love so deeply you're willing to work hard to achieve it the next time. I would encourage you to pay attention as you begin taking classes. What do you fall in love with? Is it something you love so much you would put in the extra time, the extra work to succeed? Thankfully at Fairfield you are not alone when you encounter challenges. We, the faculty, can be your greatest ally. Reach out to us. Reach out early and reach out often. I know it can be intimidating, but remember, faculty love what they teach. We want to share it with you and we want you to be successful. And I have every expectation you will be successful. In 2022, I will be sitting with my faculty colleagues in the front row of Bellarmine Lawn and we will be watching you walk across the top stairs at commencement. And in that process you will be stepping out onto the fourth island of limitlessness. This is an island of remarkable possibility and there will be many choices for you to make when you leave us in four years. What advanced degrees will you pursue? What job will you accept? What city will you move to? It may seem preposterous to consider events so distant in the future, but the ability to make thoughtful decisions is a virtue that can serve you right here today. We call this virtue discernment. Discernment involves your mind and heart in a thoughtful pattern of decision making. Discernment looks at a buffet of good choices and is able to select the best option. This is a skill you can work to cultivate long before commencement because throughout your Fairfield career, you will make important life choices. Who should I room with next year? There are many good choices. What should my major be? Many good choices. Where should I study abroad? Many good choices. Discernment, like the intellectual life, takes time and repetition to home. One narrative, though, I would encourage you to reject, is that university is a dress rehearsal for real life. You have always been living real life. Certainly, your time here at Fairfield will be unique, but it should not be a bubble. In fact, the intellectual life rebels against this kind of isolation. Remember, we believe the entire world is called into existence out of love. As a result, we carry an irreducible imprint of that love, our human dignity. As a Jesuit university, we further believe that our collective human dignity is linked. Perhaps this raises a question in you, the same question which the young child in Frederick Buchner's story, Message in the Stars, posed to the constellation. So what? What difference does that make? Here is the critical difference. Because our human dignity is linked, when your classmates' dignity is diminished, your own human dignity is diminished. Consequently, when a refugee fleeing famine or violence cannot find safety or shelter, the human dignity of the entire world is diminished. That is why we, as a Jesuit university, champion social justice. And we expect that as you consider your limitless options, you too will come to value social justice. Social justice begins with human dignity, recognizing the irreducible mystery of every human being and finds its fulfillment in the intellectual life. Through the intellectual life, we come to understand the systems and structures eroding human dignity. Poverty, war, discrimination, climate change, and then we partner with the vulnerable and marginalized to change these systems in order to restore our common human dignity. And this brings us full circle to where we started at the waters of imagination. I've mostly spoken about sacramental imagination, but remember there's also prophetic imagination. Our ability to envision a more dignified and humane world. And we will need your prophetic imagination as we work for social justice. But to reach its fullest potential, that imagination must be coupled with your creative minds honed through the intellectual life to work out how that imagined future becomes a reality. A remarkable life of the mind lies ahead of you. And through it, you can discover your limitless worth and recall and also the call to restore the dignity of others. It is a life that requires work but offers rich rewards. And through this life, you will develop discernment, a virtue that will help you select roommates now and how to spend your retirement later. You are not alone in this journey. You are joining a community of scholars, generations of students who have come before you and will come after you, as well as the faculty who are here with you right now. I know I speak for my colleagues when I say we are thrilled to undertake this journey with you. Again, welcome to Fairfield University, Class of 2022. Thank you so much, Dr. Van Dyke, for those inspiring words. We will now have the presentation of the class gift to the members of the Class of 2022 by Bridget Mary Development Intern New Student Programs. Dear Class of 2022, welcome home. In choosing to attend Fairfield University, you have also made the decision to challenge yourself and others, to open yourself up to new experiences and points of view, and to consider the endless possibilities that will become available to you as you begin to explore your passions. Over the course of your four-year journey here at Fairfield, you will encounter obstacles and work through them, fall in love and have your heart broken, develop yourself in mind, body, and spirit, and learn more than you ever thought possible, both in the classroom and beyond it. In your choice to become a part of the Fairfield community, which was a very good one, by the way. You have already accepted the gifts of friendship, knowledge, hope, and a bright future ahead. We are excited to present you with a physical representation of these far greater gifts. The gift for the Class of 2022 is a mug. It may seem like a small, rather practical gift, but we encourage you to look closer. These mugs are representative of your time here at Fairfield, and you'll notice that currently these mugs are empty. Today was your first day. You all have started your time here with a blank slate. You'll also notice that, on your empty mugs, you see the Fairfield F. For a lot of you, that F might not mean much at the moment, and that's okay. To you all, for now, that F symbolizes the school that you just started attending today. It might be the source of some anxiety, the cause of a little homesickness, or the reminder that studying, exams, and papers are all heading your way. For others of you, it might be the promise of the fresh start that you have been waiting for, or a path towards the career that you have been dreaming of for your entire life. Regardless of which way you view it, I encourage you to think about what the F means to you right now, because I promise you, as you continue your journey here at Fairfield, that F will begin to mean so much more. In the coming months, the community that the red F stands for will begin to fill those empty mugs. They'll be filled quite literally with coffee, both in the early mornings before an 8 a.m. class, and probably once or twice, far too late at night, when you realize that maybe you should have started that paper a little earlier. However, they'll also be filled by the experiences that you have as you move through the four stages of your college experience that Dr. Van Dyke discussed in his brilliant keynote. They'll be filled with the best times, friends who may do laugh until you cried, or the club and activity that you put your heart and soul into, or the professors that inspired you to work harder and do more than you ever thought possible. They'll also be filled with the difficult times, the loss of a friendship or relationship that you thought was forever, the class that no matter how hard you try, you struggle in, and the days that all you want is to go home, and for things to be simple. Every one of these experiences is indispensable, and by the time you're sitting up on Bellarmine lawn in May of 2022, your mug will be overflowing with the experiences, memories, and people who have shaped you into who you will become. As you begin to consider how you want to fill your mug, and your time here at Fairfield, think about the three words that are written on the other side of your mug, mind, body, and spirit. As you go through your time here, we hope that you learn how to pay attention and to take good care of these three components of yourselves. These three words reflect the Jesuit value of care personalis, or care for the whole person. By keeping in mind these three words, as you move through your four years here, you will leave your Fairfield experience as a resilient, well-rounded individual, ready to take on anything and everything life throws at you. However, inevitably, most of you at one point or another will struggle to take care of these three parts of yourselves. When this happens, remember that your community has an extraordinary amount of people and resources to help you be the best version of yourself possible. Fellow stags, like these mugs, you are holding your experience here at Fairfield in the palms of your hands, and you can do with it what you will. In the words of Anthony DeMello of the Society of Jesus, no one can find your meaning for you. The next four years are yours for the taking. Keep your minds and hearts open to the endless possibilities that this school provide for you, and strive to never stop filling your mug. Today is the beginning of the extraordinary four-year journey that you will have at Fairfield, and we are so happy to have you here with us. Thank you. Thank you, Bridget. Now, I invite to the podium the rector of the Fairfield Jesuit community, Reverend Michael Tunney of the Society of Jesus to the podium to pronounce the benediction. How fortunate that at Fairfield University, all of us, brand new first year and transfer students, upper-class students, and veteran learners alike, can find and savor in his and her personal stories of longing, love, loss, and limitlessness. Why? So that each of us will grow like our Jesuit educated predecessors grew in wisdom, in character, in authority, and compassion for our planet, and for all humanity crying out for goodness and mercy, acceptance, and healing. Oh, God, right here on the cusp of Fairfield Class of 2022's academic launch, hear our prayers as you look upon us and walk alongside us each day. You once filled Robert Bellarmine, our Jesuit university's patron saint with a bounty of graces and talent. Grant us, too, all that 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. Before we bring our academic gathering to a close, I want to express thanks to the members of the academic gathering committee and the staff from the Office of Student Engagement for this inspiring gathering, which celebrates the beginning of the intellectual, spiritual, and cultural journey for the Class of 2022 and the university community. I now invite the University Glee Club to perform the closing anthem, a new song, under the direction of Dr. Carol Ann Maxwell, conductor, accompanied by Beth Palmer. Thank you, Dr. Maxwell, Mrs. Palmer, and members of our Glee Club. This university-wide academic gathering is now officially concluded. Hang on. Members of the Class of 2022 kindly remain in your seats until the platform party processes. Students, please pick up your class gifts at the table at the back as you leave the gathering. Thank you.