SummEr/FAll 2011 - Nazareth College

President’s | letter
Dear Nazareth Friends,
Nazareth College celebrated its eighty-fourth annual Commencement last spring with a joint
graduate and undergraduate ceremony for more than a thousand students. This issue of
Connections shares photographs of the eventful day, and readers can browse through additional
galleries online.
As the graduation ceremony approached, I was reminded that the word “commencement”
is an interesting and fitting word to describe the event. Commencement actually has two
meanings—it is a ceremony at the end of an academic year. But it also refers to a beginning, and in this regard
it is a most appropriate word to describe the graduation event.
Students are ending their academic programs and beginning the next phase of their lives—whether it is work,
or more school, or travel, or some other experience. They, however, leave Nazareth with links that enable them
to connect the experience that is ending to the new experiences that are now beginning.
The College’s mission statement is a forward-looking declaration that connects the educational experience
here with the future. The statement declares that it is our goal to provide a learning environment that fosters
commitment to a life informed by intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and aesthetic values. These are not simply words
but our very purpose, and our students end their academic careers with the understandings and abilities to foster that
kind of commitment in the future.
The mission statement also provides that it is our goal to inspire in our students a dedication to the ideal of service
to their communities and to making a difference in their own world and the world around them. Many of the
graduates have been engaged with the community while at Nazareth. Last year alone our students devoted 553,000
hours of service to the community, and the Beyond Self article “Lives of Intention” highlights students who continue
to serve after graduation. I am confident that our graduates will remain committed to the ideal of service.
I want to mention another link between the phase of life that is ending and the excitement for the future, and that
link includes their fellow graduates. Many of the students at this time of year experience mixed emotions—happy to have
reached this significant milestone but at the same time concerned about the future of close friendships made over the
past years.
Let me offer a personal observation about those friends. I recently spoke on the phone to a friend in New York City.
We met during our college orientation more years ago than I want to say, and we roomed together our junior and senior
years. We went to different law schools and he has lived in NYC since his graduation from law school while I have lived
upstate. Nevertheless, we have stayed close, attending each other’s weddings, watching our respective families grow, and
generally sharing our career and life experiences. We speak regularly on the phone and see each other often.
I mention this story to illustrate that as the graduates begin new phases in their lives, they too will maintain the close
friendships developed over the years at Nazareth. In this respect the past and future remain connected. Commencement
may be an ending and a beginning, but the experience that is ending and the future that is beginning are permanently
linked together.
Sincerely,
Daan Braveman
Read more from the perspective of President Braveman on his blog at http://naz.typepad.com/braveman
4 CONNECTIONS | Summer/Fall 2011 www.naz.edu