 Good afternoon and welcome to the Fulton campus at Roger Williams University and Convocation Exercises 2018. Please remain standing as we welcome our student a cappella group drastic measures to sing the National Anthem. Thank you, please be seated. The University has several religious organizations for students who work collaboratively with local clergy and our spiritual life office to coordinate spirituality programs on campus. Today the university's multi-faith chaplain and director of spiritual life the Reverend Nancy Sukup will offer invocation. Reverend Nancy? Please join me in a moment of silence. Spirit of wisdom and Inspirer of knowledge. We return to where we begin each year, a never-ending circle of life and learning. As a community of inquiry we invite these new Roger Williams students into the lively experiment begun 382 years ago by our namesake, the Reverend Roger Williams. We welcome their uniqueness, talents, ideas, questions and curiosity and we encourage them to explore their own new and dangerous ideas much like Roger Williams did so long ago. May we all have his spirit which asked why when others merely accepted what is. We pledge to walk with these students in the midst of anticipated and unanticipated events and in personal transitions and transformations especially as new knowledge shifts their understandings of the world and their life's pursuits. Most important we share with them our core values, those grounded in Roger Williams's legacy to forge educational paths that are transformative, engaged, experiential, innovative and inclusive and in that spirit particularly this year we bid well to all the members of our community who are Muslim here at the end of their second Eid observances and all those who are Jewish as they prepare soon for their new year, Rosh Hashanah. As we look forward we ask you to bless our leadership including our Board of Trustees, Vice Presidents, Deans, Administrators, faculty and staff and we do this with remembrance and thanksgiving for our late President Donald Farish. We ask you to bless the families and friends of our students as they companion with them on this adventure into higher education and finally we ask you to bless with us our community's newest members and the journey they undertake today. We eagerly await the imprint that they will make on this university and on us in the days ahead. So be it. Thank You Reverend Sukup. Greetings and welcome to members of the Board of Trustees, President Workman, faculty, University administrators, staff, Fulton family members, marshals, orientation advisors, student volunteers, parents, family members and all of the first-year and transfer students comprising the entering class. Thank you for participating in Convocation exercises today and celebrating this important milestone together. For both family members and students, today is a day of powerful and competing emotions. The energy created by pride, happiness and excitement, conflicting with anxiety about the transition to university life, making new friends, taking on new academic challenges and saying goodbye to loved ones. Together with you under this tent today are the dedicated faculty, staff and student leaders who are committed to mentoring you along the way. Do not hesitate to reach out, ask questions, see guidance and make suggestions. They are here for you. Students may be asking right about now what is so special about this ceremony and how long will it last? Some parents may want a longer ceremony, a longer goodbye, while others have begun planning reallocation of bedroom space already. History informs us that the term Convocation dates back to the 14th century, was originally used to describe important religious gatherings and then adopted by universities to celebrate academic ceremonies such as the beginning of the school year. At Roger Williams, Convocation begins with a procession of the entering class wearing hawk emblazoned shirts in unity and continues with messages from the university community members, formally welcoming the entering class to our learning community and giving some advice. Importantly Convocation includes the new class reciting the pledge of academic integrity together. Students, your first week is upon us. Your orientation will continue with several important transition programs this week, participation in service via our 14th annual community connections program and your first day of classes on Wednesday. By the end of the week you will have a deeper sense of why you are here, what faculty expect, who is here to help you and why every student matters. Learning is central to all we do as a university and while we learn together, both new and returning students, faculty and staff, we are in the process of building community and caring about each other. It's hard work that requires patience, humility and honesty. Being a community member requires intentional investment and action. True community members don't stand by while a peer struggles with any of life's many challenges, loss or injustice. They reach out offering empathy, intervention and support. The call to community requires all of us to listen and understand each other, to welcome and value all expressions of diversity and identity and to respect and value the dignity of each and every individual. But in order to help others, we have to take care of ourselves and our responsibilities. So student resiliency is a big deal. Eat and sleep well, exercise, dance, sing, keep up your coursework, go to class, every class, go for tutoring, get involved, write a poem, laugh, cry, talk, shop, know when you're sick, go to health services, recognize when you're struggling and share your feelings with friends, faculty, staff, family, your RA, your peer mentor. Make an appointment with our campus experts in the counseling center and the Center for Student Academic Success. At your age, it's quite common to believe you have a boundless reservoir of energy and stamina. However, the habits you practice during college can provide lifetime benefits for your physical, mental, intellectual and emotional well-being. You are an impressive group of students, and it is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Brian Williams, Vice President of Enrollment Management, to the podium for the presentation of the entering class. Dr. Williams. Good afternoon to the students in front of me, the families, faculty and staff around me and the very smart families that found shade around the edges. Welcome to all of you today. My role today is very simply and officially to introduce you all as a group to the campus community. As an admissions staff, we read over 9,000 applications and we read and looked at all of you as individuals, trying to imagine your ability to come and succeed, trying to imagine the impact you would leave on us. And today, we're excited to have over 1150 new freshmen and transfer students that are joining us today. We're excited and honored to have you realize and get, please, there's a great group. You have all taken very distinct pathways and very different pathways from each other to join us today. And it's exciting to have you all together as one group for the first time, one full class of students. Allow me to introduce yourselves to each other a little bit more and share a little bit of information about your new classmates. You come to us from 610 different high schools. You come from 27 different states now bringing our total to over 45 states represented in the student body and over 42 countries represented in the student body that will be your classmates, friends and roommates for the next four years. You come from 355 of you are the only student from your high school that is here and 208 of you come from high schools where five or more of your classmates are joining us. So some of you have a footing to know people, but many of you, you were here for the first time in experiencing this place new like many others around you. At 18% of our student population, this is the most diverse racially and ethnically freshman class in the university and many years. You are athletes, you're budding politicians, you are service volunteers, music dancers, actors, poets, gamers and so much more. I can only touch quickly on the talents and experiences we saw in your application, but please know individually you have so much to bring to us and collectively you are an amazing class. We can't wait to see how you're going to challenge us and make us grow as much as you grow over the next four years and we do that together. You're an impressive group as individuals, but you are here knowing that we believe in your individual success and your collective success will make you that much stronger. So for the first time, because it has not been said today, I introduced the campus community to this class of 2022. My other introduction is to now introduce interim president Andrew workman. It's my distinct honor to welcome interim president workman to the podium. Dr workman has served at the university as our chief academic officer and in that position of provost since 2012 and serves an important leadership role in a national level through involvement with the council of independent colleges and universities and help shape our role as a university and our role as an institution and leading you all forward. Dr workman. Thank you. Thank you, Dr Williams. It's my pleasure to join Dr. Williams in welcoming you officially the class of 2022 to the intellectual community of Roger Williams University. Must begin this welcome with a farewell. As many of you know, President Donald Farish, whom many of you heard at our open houses and accepted student days passed away unexpectedly on July 5th. He was deeply engaged with the life of the campus and his passing has been difficult for faculty, staff and students. We will celebrate his life and contribution to the university on September 12th with the performance with performances and reception that will be open to the whole campus. Although President Farish is no longer with us, we will continue his legacy by focusing on experientially engaged learning, broad education with the liberal arts core and controlling cost to make quality higher education as affordable as possible. The most important part of this legacy, however, is not any particular program, but a willingness to take a hard look at what we do at the university and the boldness to take action to make it even better. The intellectual community at Roger Williams was enriched by Dr. Farish's leadership and one of the ways he helped to do so was the inauguration of an annual campus theme. This theme informs the choice of speakers, panel discussions, classroom readings and assignments across the university. This year the theme is Ocean State, State of the Oceans, the impact to sea level rise on Rhode Island in the next century. To get things started at orientation, we gave each of you a copy of the book, The Water Will Come, it's kind of an apocalyptic title, The Water Will Come, Rising Seas, Sinking Cities and the Remaking of the Civilized World. We will have a discussion of the implications of civil rise on October 2nd when Jeff Goodall, the author, comes to campus to speak. There is, however, another theme in the book that is not directly connected with that topic and I'd like to talk with you about it a bit today. It concerns the difficulties humans have in addressing big, complicated problems that do not present an immediate threat. Our minds, which evolved to address the challenges of a very different world, are more attuned to the demands of the present than those of the far future. As you begin your education at RWU, I encourage you to reflect on this problem in part because overcoming it is a heart of what the modern university as an institution is all about. The university is the central locus for the production and retention of knowledge for our society. In part, its function is to peer into the future to detect problems that we cannot otherwise foresee. With the knowledge we've gained through this, it is now possible for humans to have the understanding, to control the world, to address the problems of the world to a degree that was unimaginable even a few centuries ago. To the extent and timing of big problems like sea level rise, it's not always certain and solutions to such problems are constantly contested because that's how our university works. We find the truth by bringing evidence to problems, by arguing about it among ourselves. That's the intellectual process, which sometimes brings some uncertainty and political turmoil, but it's absolutely essential for doing what the university and the university enterprise has done for humanity. Particularly over the last 500 years or so, it has completely transformed the way we live, how we control an environment, how we relate to one another. The world is a vastly better place for this and will be, I think, in the future. Now, the knowledge coming out of universities, it's not always easy to hear. It's often troubling and challenges accepted ways of doing things and entrenched interest. It's easy to go along with the day-to-day march toward problems, towards disaster in some case, and it's sometimes comforting to listen to those who deny or paper over problems or falsely blame others for them. I charge you, however, to embrace the effort, to anticipate the future, no matter how difficult or troubling it is, and to make a better world wherever you are and whatever you choose to do with your life. At Roger Williams, we have a name for those who use their knowledge to improve the world. We call them civic scholars, and today, at this convocation, you, the class of 2020, have taken the first step to becoming one. Thank you. Each year, we invite the President of Faculty Senate to provide the faculty address at convocation. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Susan Bosco, Professor of Management in the School of Business. Dr. Bosco. Thank you, Dr. King. Good afternoon, faculty, platform party, parents, and family members, and most of all, new students. On behalf of the faculty, I would like to welcome you at the start of your adventure in higher education. We're really looking forward to getting to meet you and getting to know you over the next four years. We're here to help you navigate the way forward towards graduation, which we will all tell you repeatedly is very close at hand. All of us are facing a year of transition, working with our interim president and prior provost workmen, conducting the search for our next president, following the passing of President Farish, and experiencing a new academic building being constructed on campus. For you first year students, you'll be experiencing not only these campus transitions, but your own personal ones. You are transitioning from being in a familiar environment you have likely inhabited for many years to one that is new, from the place you will live to where you eat your meals and study, from socializing with friends you may have had since you were very young to meeting many new people in a very short time, from bringing primarily accountable to your parents or other guardians to being accountable to yourself. And although all of these are important transitions, I would argue that the most challenging of them is the last, being accountable to yourself. You might ask yourself, what exactly does this mean, and how is it different from what I have experienced before? Well, let me give you an example from your soon-to-be-real life. You will find, for example, that if you don't get up in time for a class, no one will be outside your room nagging you to get up and out. What a relief. If I want to sleep in, I can. You will likely feel free and glad to have no one looking over your shoulder. That is, until you realize that because you're your absence from class, you missed key notes or information on an assignment. What happens next will determine whether your adventure continues successfully or whether your transition has taken a wrong turn. Do you own your action, or is it the fault of your phone having no charge or your roommate sleeping through the snooze button? Do you go see a professor before class next time to ask what you missed, or do you hope the professor didn't notice? Trust me, they did. You're at a school with small classes. And that you can get notes from the nice person who sits next to you. Probably will work once. Do you make a plan to use this experience to transition into a new behavior, or do you shrug it off and continue along the same path, a sure way to stall or set back your adventure? Your willingness and persistence in making this transition will largely determine your success. What I mean by this is that if you look at this year as an opportunity to draw on your character and experiences to make progress in your college journey, you will be satisfied with what you become. If you see this as an opportunity to have a good time without supervision and to see what everyone means by Thursday Thursday, you will pack up in May with little to show, but poor grades and few connections to others in our community save some shallow social acquaintances. In closing, on these occasions, I often look for an inspirational quote to summarize my message, but this time there didn't seem to be one that was especially appropriate for this day. So I'll speak from the heart and say, you are all here because you have the ability to succeed here in achieving a high-quality college education. Resources and support are all around you, from faculty to staff to administrators and fellow students. A successful transition to your new life is in your grasp. We look forward to helping you achieve it. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Bosco. Arlene Violet continues to lead a fascinating life of service. A Rhode Island native raised in Providence, she provided servant leadership for many years as a nun with the Sisters of Mercy and as a school teacher and administrator. A graduate of Boston College Law School, Arlene successfully ran for public office in Rhode Island in 1984 becoming the first female elected Attorney General in the United States. Her accomplishments as Attorney General were remarkable and worth a Google search. An active writer and commenter on Everything Rhode Island, Arlene has served Roger Williams since 2007 as a trustee with unwavering commitment and passion. It is a privilege to welcome trustee Violet to the podium. Class of 2022, today you have stepped foot on a campus ready to inspire and educate you so that you will live a fulfilled life by acquiring and developing the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind necessary to succeed. But as the TV ad says, there's still more. We strive to prepare you to be a civic scholar and a global citizen in this diverse world. You will also have the opportunity to collaborate with your classmates through our Community Partnership Center where you will work on and solve real-life community problems. And as you cross this campus, you'll see names on buildings of people who are luminaries. One such building, the Feinstein Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement, is named after Island Sean Feinstein, a Rhode Island philanthropist who has devoted his life to promoting public service. Every time you see or hear or enter that building, I hope that it will remind you of his mantra to do one kind deed each day. By the way, at Yale University, the most heavily subscribed course on its campus is a primer in happiness. A core element of that Yale University course advocates doing good every day because it will result in your personal happiness. Island Sean Feinstein knew that reality years ago when he started encouraging schools elementary through universities to promote service. Mr. Feinstein follows Muhammad Ali's famous saying service to others is the rent you pay to room here on earth. So what an opportunity awaits you. You have access to a first class educational experience that will enhance your knowledge and marketability while you start to pay the rent on your citizenship responsibility in this world. Mr. Feinstein is asked me to welcome you on his behalf and wishes to thank you in advance for your service this Monday and the Feinstein Community Connections program. And on behalf of my colleagues on the board of trustees, we couldn't be more thrilled than to have you here with us. Thank you. Thank you, Trustee Violet. It's my pleasure to introduce our Student Senate President, Kayla Devon, to give the Student Senate welcome. Kayla is a senior from Ellicott City, Maryland studying psychology and marketing. Please join me in welcoming Kayla to the podium. Kayla. Thank you, Dr. King. Good afternoon and welcome to our faculty, staff, families, friends, but most importantly to you, the Roger Williams University class of 2022. As Vice President King shared, my name is Kayla Devon and I am a rising senior from Ellicott City, Maryland studying psychology and marketing. I am also honored to serve this year as your student body president. As such, it is my distinct pleasure to formally welcome you to our Roger community on behalf of all your new peers. Sitting here now, many of you are likely overwhelmed by the sheer number of unfamiliar people surrounding you. I know I was and quite frankly still am in awe that somehow each and every one of us have found our way here for this moment. Every decision we have ever made has culminated in being right here today. And every decision you make moving forward from this moment will carry weight as you continue to move throughout your life. That sounds like a lot of pressure, doesn't it? We make hundreds of decisions every day. So how does one know if they're making the right ones? I wish I was able to give you the blueprint for a successful college career up front. I know that would put many of your minds at ease to have a foolproof plan as you gear up for your journey at Roger. Spoiler alert for the rest of the speech. I don't have all of those answers for you. But this is a good thing because half of the fun is getting to figure out college on your own terms. When I graduate, I'm not simply walking out of here with an expensive piece of paper because to me an RW degree symbolizes not just an education but an experience, one built of countless hours both in and out of the classroom. If you read the story behind my diploma of my journey here at RWU, you might begin to understand why after just three years here, I refer to Rhode Island as my home more often than I do Maryland. I could easily write hundreds of pages of my experiences here, but rather than bore you with the details of my daily visits to commons, I'll instead offer you a brief synopsis. Chapter one, freshman year, we had to repack the car a few times just so I had somewhere to sit for the eight hour trek north. For my convocation, it was a sweaty day for everyone, perfect for making new connections by commiserating over the heat. I went to approximately every single week of welcome event because free food and t-shirts were number one on my college to-do list. When the involvement failure rolled around, I got on the email list for dozens of different student groups. But from all of these options, I narrowed it down to a few involvements. Student Senate, Ultimate Frisbee, Ballroom Dance Club and Spanish Club. And for my very first semester, I took public speaking. I really hope that class is paying off today. Fast forward to chapter two, sophomore year. At this point, I thought I had things figured out and had gained confidence in a lot of areas. For example, now I was considered a veteran tutor at my work study position in the Writing Center. But even still, I was growing as a person, so I picked up new involvements that would challenge me in different ways, including joining the health and wellness educators. I was also able to take a three and a half week faculty led trip abroad to Chile during winter intercession, where I was able to get six credits while honing my Spanish skills. By the end of my sophomore year, I declared marketing as my second major. Chapter three was this past year. The summer before my junior year, I was able to welcome the class of 2021 to campus as an orientation advisor, a position that I was lucky enough to return to this past summer to help welcome all of you as well. I was also able to complete a credit bearing internship in fall 2017 in the Human Resources Department for the town of Barrington, Rhode Island. As I begin to move into chapter four, I'm so excited for what this year will bring. I'm living off campus for the first time with friends that I met all the way back in my freshman year. I'm also gearing up to begin my undergraduate thesis in psychology this fall semester, working with a professor who has served as a mentor within my discipline. But perhaps the best part of senior year is that it's still unwritten and that I get to continue to make choices that will bring amazing new people and opportunities into my life. And after graduation, when I turn the page to chapter five, I can confidently say that my experiences here at Roger Williams University have prepared me for whatever life has in store for me. So when May 18th rolls around and I'm taking pictures smiling with my diploma, I hope you all now understand a little bit more of exactly what that diploma means to me. And the best part is that every person walking around that stage to collect their degree has a full length story, too. I urge you to ask your peers about their story, and maybe you'll be inspired to add elements of it to your own narrative. We have over 75 clubs and organizations on campus. 24 varsity sports and eight club sports. Every major has unique possibilities for internships and study abroad options. Every department could be a potential work study environment for you. There's truly no wrong way to be involved in our community. But you might not find the right fit for you unless you constantly lean into these new experiences. And that advice goes far beyond freshman year. New doors will open with every turn of the page. So always be open to these possibilities and know that it's never too late to enhance your collegiate experience. And if you do find yourself becoming overwhelmed by the process and the sheer number of possibilities, reach out to those around you for support. We are all one community and there are faculty, staff and students who all want to see you succeed. I cannot conclude the speech without recognizing one person for whom that sentiment held especially true. President Barish held the student opinion close to his heart and made it a personal priority to connect with the student body so that he would be able to truly understand the student experience and improve it in any way he could. While most of you will not be able to experience firsthand his commitment to the student body, it is my hope that you will be able to see his passion still living on in the Roger Williams community through those who knew and interacted with him. You will also have the good fortune of benefiting from many of his student-driven initiatives like affordable excellence, civic scholars and the Community Partnership Center. I can think of no better way for you to pay homage to our late president than for each of you to live out your collegiate experience to the fullest. So please enjoy your time here and have the courage to write your own story. Your chapter one at RWU is waiting to be written. Thank you. Taylor, thank you both for speaking today and for your leadership of Student Senate this year. The university values the involvement of alumni and family members in university life. This afternoon, we are delighted to invite Murray Carp, a father of two current students from Morganville, New Jersey, to provide a parent's perspective on the first year experience. Mr. Carp is a member of the Parent and Family Leadership Council and is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Energy Capital Partners. Please join me in welcoming Murray to the podium. Students, bear with me for a couple of minutes. I'm going to talk to your parents now. Good afternoon. My wife, Stephanie, and I are the proud parents of twin boys entering their sophomore year here at Roger Williams. Parents, let's be honest. This day really isn't about these great new students at Roger Williams. It's about us. I mean, we're the ones taking on this financial commitment and not to mention the emotional roller coaster. Our kids are leaving us to go have fun and hopefully prepare themselves for the real world. And we just sit home, worry, and miss them. We personally became empty nesters overnight last August when our twins left and all that remained at home were our two cats. In case you were wondering why I'm here speaking to parents today, it is because some new friends that I have met through involvement in the Parent and Family Association thought I could convince you that it's going to be all right and you're going to survive. On a serious note, I can't tell you all enough how fortunate you are to have your student attend Roger Williams. It has been such a great experience, not just for our boys, but for our whole family. The professors, coaches, and the administration have proven to me that going above and beyond isn't lip service. They really watch over our kids. And what I love the best is their first answer has always been, let me look into it and see if I can help. When no is so much easier and so much simpler to say, it is really gratifying having your child attend a university that cares. I urge all of you to stay involved in your students' lives. Though they temporarily left your home, trust me, they want to share the successes and also their bumps in the road with you. There will be plenty of things for them to approve upon as they enter into this new learning adventure and it is OK. These kids are resilient. They will bounce back. But trust me, they need your support to get through it. We made a pact with our kids that if they want to see money in their checking account, we need at least three texts or phone calls a week. I have a spoiler alert also. It actually works. I also encourage you to get involved with the school in any way that you can. You can join the Parent and Family Association and provide additional financial support through the annual Parent Fund. You can help by sharing your network contacts in order to provide real life work experiences, such as internships to the students. Last semester, I brought a few young professionals from my firm and we spoke to a finance class in the Gabelli School of Business. As we enter the sophomore year together as a family, there is no doubt that seeing our kids smile as they came back to campus has definitely helped us get through the sadness of them moving back to campus. It's definitely gotten easier. So I'd like to leave you all with these immortal words from Barb Marley. This is my message to you. Don't worry about a thing because every little thing going to be all right. Parents, enjoy the ride. Students, text your parents every few days. Best of luck in the alcomony season. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Carr. I invite Dean Steven White, Dean of the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation to lead the entering class in the Pledge of Academic Integrity. The pledge is contained on the backside of your program. Dean White. Thank you. I appreciate having the privilege to administer the pledge of academic integrity to all of our new students. This pledge embodies a set of ideals that link this institution to those who have come before it all the way back to the colloquia of Socrates, something you will be studying in the coming months. By embracing this pledge, you commit yourself to pursue academic achievement of the highest standards of which you were possible. Its goal is that we be collegial in the best sense of the word. That we work as a community of scholars together in an atmosphere of honesty and integrity. The faculty of Roger Williams University considers the honor pledge, the foundation of trust that makes this community of learning possible. When you take this pledge, you will be welcomed into the academic community, but you must be aware that violation of this pledge will bring serious consequences. When you accept this code, you pledge yourself to personal integrity. You pledge to take responsibility for your actions and decisions. You pledge that you are interested in acquiring knowledge on your own and for its own sake, rather than simply as a display of achievement to impress others for competitive advantage. Finally, you pledge that you want to forge a bond with your professors and with fellow students based in trust and common pursuit of knowledge rather than on threat and penalty. Will all of our new students please stand if they are able? Fine looking group of people out there. I ask that you now open your program to the pledge of academic integrity. Will the faculty and offers of the university also now stand to witness our students pledge? I ask each member of this incoming class to concentrate fully on each word as you promise to adopt and practice the following code of conduct. Please repeat after me. We, the undergraduate students of Roger Williams University, commit ourselves to academic integrity. We promise to pursue the highest ideals of academic life, to challenge ourselves with the most rigorous standards, to be honest in every academic endeavor, to conduct ourselves responsibly and honorably and to assist one another as we live and work together in mutual support. Thanks very much. Best best of luck in this coming semester. Thank you, Dean White. You may be seated. You are almost out of here. Students in May under this same on the same field, we graduated an impressive class of students who were engaged in purposeful learning, community engagement and leadership. We need everyone in your row and starting in your seat to take their place on campus and establish your own legacy, contribute in your own way. Students who will collaborate on research projects with faculty and present papers at conferences, participate in community partnership projects, provide service and leadership on and off campus, engage in social justice efforts, participate in student organizations, take peer leadership roles, obtain internships, proudly support and participate in athletics, the performing arts and study abroad because you and your classmates are our future. This is now your university. We encourage you to bring your ideas forward for improving campus life and volunteer to improve what exists or create what is missing. Immediately after commencement, all commuters are asked to attend a meeting in College of Arts and Sciences 157, preparing them for fall orientation and are encouraged to stay for dinner tonight and all evening activities. At 4.30 this afternoon, all residential students begin meetings and dinners as part of fall orientation. Now the hard part. In order to start fall semester orientation, all parents and family members will need to depart by 4.25 after heartfelt hugs with their student. Now we want to stop short of calling this apparent curfew, which it is, and hope folks understand. We enthusiastically invite parents back to campus October 19th through the 21st for family weekend and homecoming to enjoy a full array of programs. In the meantime, students, as Mr. Karp suggests, return your folks text message with more than one letter responses, packages and money may follow, reduce their anxiety by sharing what is happening in your life on campus. We thank parents and family members for your presence at convocation today and wish for each student a purposeful academic journey full of learning, friendships and personal development. Please remain standing and at your seats as we prepare the recessional. The platform party will leave the tent first, followed by the faculty. Marshals will then guide the class of 2022 out of the tent and parents can meet students in front of the fieldhouse or on the commons quad. Convocation exercises for the entering class are complete. Pipes and drums start to play.