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Antoine M. Garibaldi, Gannon University
August 22, 2004
Good afternoon members of the Class of 2008, and a special welcome back
to your parents and relatives who are accompanying you once again as you
begin this important journey in your life at Gannon University. At the
four orientation sessions this past summer, I had the pleasure of speaking
to and meeting most of you and your parents. I told you then that this
day would be full of mixed emotions – lots of excitement, lots of
anxiety, and even some sadness. My colleagues and I who are assembled
here today know that those emotions are felt strongly by both you and
your parents, and even some brothers and sisters who cannot wait to have
their own rooms back home. But I know your brothers and sisters will miss
you in the same way that you will miss them in a few days. So, when you
make your first phone calls home this week, make sure you tell your brothers
and sisters that you really do miss them!
We are all here to tell you that you will be well taken care of as Gannon
students, and that is why in a few minutes, members of the Gannon faculty,
staff, and students -- as well as Trustees and alumni -- will welcome
you as new members of this Gannon University family and express their
commitment to providing you with a great educational experience. We will
do everything possible to help you excel in your class work and to help
develop you morally, spiritually, and socially. And we are very confident
that in a few years you will follow in the footsteps of many of our current
Gannon and Villa Maria alumni as you prepare to become future leaders
in your chosen fields of study, in your communities, and in the world.
Over the summer I met many Gannon University and Villa Maria College alumni
whose sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and other relatives will be members
of the Class of 2008, and I would like to ask those alumni if they would
please stand so we can recognize them. Nothing pleases us more than to
know that our alumni are encouraging their sons, daughters and other young
relatives to have the same kind of college experience they had.
Because you have already heard much from me and others about how we are
working to keep alive the continuing mission of our founder, Archbishop
John Mark Gannon, I want to take a few minutes this afternoon to talk
about you and your classmates, and tell you how similar you are in some
ways and how diverse you are as a class also.
In your class are:
- 17 valedictorians;
- 135 of you belong to the National Honor Society;
- 51 of you, with an SAT average of 1217, will be members of Gannon’s
Honors Program.
- You also come from 13 states – Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. And, some of you come from countries
even further away such as Canada, The Gambia, Hong Kong, South Africa,
Sweden, Turkey, and Ukraine.
- And some of you hail from senior high classes as small as 21 and as
large as 957.
- 106 of you also plan to be involved in one of Gannon’s athletic
programs.
As you can tell from those demographic characteristics, you are in very
good company and there will be much to share and learn from each other.
Later in the week, I encourage you to go to our website and click on the
Freshman Profiles to read about some of the outstanding members of the
Class of 2008.
Before you are welcomed officially into the University, I would also
like to tell your parents, the faculty, the staff, your fellow students,
and our Trustees and alumni how more than 401 of you responded to some
of the questions we asked you when you came for orientation this summer.
The answers to those survey questions tell us volumes about you, and I
believe that everyone in this Hammermill Center should know more about
you – individually and collectively.
You are a class that hopes to deepen your faith while you are at Gannon!
- 156 of you (38.9%) responded that deepening your faith or spiritual
life during your time at Gannon was very important to you;
- 338 of you (or 84%) who responded said that you or your family were
members of a church or a parish;
- 75.5% of you said that you attended church services while you were
in high school; and
- 48% of you said that you were involved with campus ministry, a youth
group or other church group during your time in high school.
You will fit in well here at Gannon.
You are also a class that recognizes the value of teachers because 82%
of you said that you had contact with a Gannon faculty member prior to
this past summer’s orientation. (Parents, you should know that 18%
of the students said that you had the biggest impact on their decision
and 73% of them said that they made the decision on their own.)
You are also a group that values the importance of the liberal arts,
leadership, and service.
- Fifty-nine percent of you who responded to the survey questions said
that you chose Gannon because of its strong liberal arts curriculum.
- More than 83 percent of you said that you chose Gannon because of
the variety of leadership opportunities Gannon offers.
- And 80% of you who responded to the survey said that you intend to
be involved in community service, which is quite impressive considering
that only 36% of you came from high schools where community service
was a mandatory requirement.
Clearly you are going to be an exciting class, and I have no doubt that
you will be very involved at Gannon – in the classroom, in extracurricular
activities, and in community service. And, by 2008, you will join the
more than 28,000 Villa Maria College and Gannon University alumni who
reside in every state in the nation and 46 countries.
Four years will pass by very quickly, my fellow students and parents and,
before you know it, graduation in May 2008 will be here. So I urge all
of you to take advantage of every opportunity that you have during this
once-in-a-lifetime college experience. The faculty and staff will help
you to grow, and they will do everything in their power to develop your
full potential. We are very confident that you will graduate from Gannon
University, and be productive members of society, successful professionals,
and leaders who will give back to your communities, your churches, and
the world at-large.
Parents and relatives, thank you for entrusting to us your sons and daughters
-- Gannon University’s Class of 2008. We consider it a privilege
to educate the next generation of leaders, and we pledge to develop them
academically, morally, spiritually and socially.
Finally, I want to wish special happy birthdays to the 40 freshmen and
12 transfer students who are celebrating birthdays in August. Two of you
are celebrating birthdays today – Stephanie Thomas and Brian Bober.
Happy Birthday to all of you, and welcome to your new home away from home.
I wish you much success during your college experience, and I applaud
you for choosing Gannon. You have made a great choice, and we are honored
to have you as members of the Gannon University family. All of us look
forward to getting to know you better.
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