Bernell DorroughYears from now – when you are jobs, miles, and many adventures away from today – in thinking back to your time at Washington University, what will you remember?
Figuring out where to go on your first day of classes? Learning to live with a roommate? Playing Frisbee in the Quad? Finding a new best friend? Having a wild time at WILD? Exploring an unfamiliar subject then making it your major? Getting to know classmates from nations all over the world? Going to a concert at the Pageant? Acting in a dramatic production? Mastering the art of Website construction? Discovering the best book you ever read? Attending an Assembly Series lecture? Working in a research lab? Writing an honors thesis? Rollerblading in Forest Park? Running for Student Union office? Writing for Student Life? Learning Persian? Learning Greek? Discu-ssing a novel with your favorite professor?
Your list will be particular to your own experience, and I hope it will include some general truths along with specific examples. I hope it will say that you learned how to think, to write, to solve problems, to work together with others from different backgrounds and perspectives and ways of doing things. I hope it will say that you gained knowledge and skills and also new ways of thinking about the world. And I hope it will say that your Arts & Sciences education has prepared the way for a life-long habit of learning, no matter what path you take after graduation.
Above all I hope your list will say that you have made some wonderful friendships here. At no other time in your life are you likely to have the same opportunity to work together with a small community of colleagues on subjects of mutual interest – the friendships that develop from this endeavor are at least as valuable and as permanent as the classroom experience itself.
When you look back from the vantage point, say, of your 25th Reunion, I hope all the memories on your list leave you with a great sense of accomplishment. Especially, I hope they will be as vivid and cherished in the remembering as they were in the making.
Wherever the future takes you, please keep in touch with us following graduation. Our Arts & Sciences alumni are very important to us, and we will follow your career with great interest. I send with you my very best wishes for a bright future, successful and interesting work, and most of all a lifetime of learning.