Address to Class of 2012

As father of a current student and a graduate, I am always amazed by how different the college looks to students than it does to administrators or faculty. While all perspectives are valid and valuable, I am fortunate to hear the student perspective directly, and I welcome it from all.

As you are looking at colleges, you can rest assured that whether in terms of economic return on investment or less tangible benefits, the best investment you can make in yourself - is investing in your college education. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over an adult's working life - high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million; associate's degree holders earn about $1.6 million; and bachelor's degree holders earn on average over $2.5 million ( Day and Newburger, 2002 ). There really is no better investment and that is especially true at a medium-sized private college like Mercyhurst, which is big enough to offer a wide diversity of excellent academic programs, facilities and majors, but still small enough to get to know you personally and care about you as an individual.

College is, of course, the biggest transition in your life since kindergarten. But you are leaving this time as neither adult nor child. Your parents are happy and proud that their son or daughter is going off to college. It is just what is necessary for you to grow up and that is what they want for you. So you and your parents feel that mixture of joy and sadness.

Let me reassure you that we here at Mercyhurst also genuinely desire your success. Because this is a Mercy college we are obliged to care about each student as an individual, and to care about your spiritual journey as well as your intellectual, professional, and social journeys.

Students, soon learn that here at Mercyhurst, because of our Catholic and Mercy roots, we make a big deal of a few notions - intellectual rigor, the liberal arts, social justice, service to your community and the dignity of work.

Gaining a broader perspective is central to a liberal arts education. One of the things you will discover is that compared to high school, in college your horizon of possibilities will expand dramatically. You will meet a much wider variety of people than in high school. This year's freshman class has students from over 25 states and more than 15 nations. You will benefit from their perspectives and cultures; take a wider variety of courses; experience diverse faculty viewpoints; and you will be exposed to great art, music, literature, and film. In other words you will receive a classical liberal arts education. But the liberal arts are not only mind expanding, you will develop the ability to think critically, write cogently, see the big picture and competently apply mathematical and scientific methods.

A purely professional education gives you the skills and knowledge of a particular field at a particular moment in time, but a liberal arts education is transformative, and it provides you with the capacity to be cognitively flexible, acquire new skills and facts, adapt to the changing demands you will face in your profession and in your personal lives. It will make you a more complete, more competent, more appreciative and more interesting individual, family member and citizen. In the words of the Roman statesman, Cicero the liberal arts is an education befitting worthy citizens of a great republic.

During this journey remember; a college education is about growth, and all growth requires change. Do not allow yourself to be frustrated by your uncertainties but rather enter into this adventure with an open mind and an open heart, a spirit of adventure and a willingness to be uncertain. As a musician from my generation put it; "If you're not busy being born, you're busy dying."

Sure, growth requires change, but does that mean everything is up for grabs? Is there nothing to hang on to? No bedrock beliefs, no safe harbor? Ultimately as part of this journey, each of you will answer that question for yourself. It may not seem so now, but it is the most personal of questions. Will it all, come down to the materialistic trinity of pleasure, profit and power or will you find something deeper? What will you ultimately count on as the true and dependable knowledge that will guide your life decisions? I would be remiss in this context not to mention that for the Sisters of Mercy who had the courage and foresight to establish this college, there certainly are bedrock principles and beliefs. The essence of that bedrock is the teaching of Jesus, in particular His teaching on the centrality of compassion and mercy.

If you approach this experience with an open mind and an open heart it will become a part of your life you will always remember with great fondness. This will be an emotional time for you, a time of transitions from home and youth, toward knowledge, career, independence, freedom, responsibility, I think you will find that the relationships forged in college will be among the closest and most long lasting in your life - over the next 4 years you are likely to meet the people who will become your mentors, your best friends, business partners, and spouses. Get engaged in it - give yourself over to it - don't hold back - seize the opportunity - carpe diem.

Go Lakers.