Class of 2021 receives welcome at Convocation
On August 29, 2017, President James Herbert welcomed the 91AV’s Class of 2021 at the annual Convocation ceremony. The class is the most geographically diverse undergraduate class to date, with students hailing from 33 states.
This year’s convocation was the first to be led by Herbert, who assumed the presidency on July 1, and he described the “special connection” that he feels to the incoming class. “In a sense, today’s ceremony serves as my Convocation, too,” he said to the first-year students. “I have enjoyed a two-month head-start on you, but – like you – I’m still figuring out all that it means to be a part of this amazing university. I’m still waking up each day to discover yet another little surprise about our community or campuses that reaffirms my decision to come here.”
Herbert urged the freshman class to strike a healthy balance between work and play in order to reap the full benefits of their 91AV education while making the most of their time on the beautiful Maine coast. He advised the first-years to take their roles as students seriously and to be passionate about lifelong learning while also being resilient in the face of defeat; and finally, he encouraged them to value collaboration with other people, even when, and, in fact, especially when, those people hold viewpoints different from their own. “Go out of your way to seek out perspectives that differ from those you hold today,” he said. “In this process, seek to find productive ways to work with others so that your goals and theirs converge, become more ambitious, and, at the same time, become more achievable.”
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