Photo Courtesy of Kaitlin Peters
Father John Denning, C.S.C. and Kaitlin Peters '21 pose for a photo after Academic Convocation.
By Desmond Bernal
Stonehill continued its tradition with its twenty-fifth Academic Convocation ceremony by encouraging students to find what is passionate to them as the community heads into a new academic year in midst of an international pandemic.
But the ceremony was held untraditionally this year, with the college opting to stream online, due to social distancing rules.
Professor Karen Anderson, last year’s recipient of the 2019-2020 Hegarty Award for Excellence in Teaching, offered her thoughts on change, the pandemic, and learning in her address during the ceremony.
“If this pandemic has taught me anything, it taught me that nothing is easy. And change, although frightening, can bring about new possibilities,” Anderson said.
The Louis F. Hegarty Award is given yearly to a professor whose teachings influence the lives of the students. This year the award was awarded to Professor Michael Mullin, an associate professor in Business Administration.
The Academic Convocation Ceremony is a tradition that brings students, faculty, and staff of the Stonehill community together and marks the beginning of the new academic year.
“On this occasion, we rededicate ourselves to learning and teaching as core to all we do at Stonehill College,” Debra Salvucci, Dean of the Meehan School of Business, said.
In the past, this ceremony was held in the Fieldhouse of the Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex. Traditionally, students, faculty, and staff packed the fieldhouse with rows of chairs covering two full basketball courts. On the left side, it consisted of all the professors wearing their academic regalia representing their alma mater with the senior class sitting behind them. On the opposite side, sitting were all the first-year students.
This year, the ceremony was held in the McCarthy Auditorium located in May Hall. Debra Salvucci, Peter Ubertaccio, the Dean of Arts and Sciences, and President John Denning were on stage, spaced six feet apart with masks on.
There were a couple of students who spoke. The room was nearly empty. The ceremony was virtually live-streamed.
However, traditions still continued. Every year, the senior class president picks a shovel from the shovel museum that best represents the class overall. Brendan Ferrick, class president for the class of 2021 chose the cast steel second-handed shovel. Ferrick compared the strange and corky design of the shovel as a representation of the current situation everyone is in.
“I think this strange but useful design embodies the current strange life we are living in,” Ferrick said when explaining his choice of the shovel.
He said the core of which the shovel is built out of to be not only like the core of the senior class, but the entire Stonehill community.
“This community has the capability and obligation to keep each other safe not only from this pandemic but all the struggles that life might throw at us,” Ferrick said about the support system of the community.
President John F. Denning, in his address, said he was excited to see students back on campus after what he felt was a “long goodbye.”
“I am so happy we are able to bring our students, faculty, and staff back to campus,” Denning said.
“I pray that we all work together to fulfill the college’s mission to think, act, and lead with courage towards the creation of a more just and compassionate world.”
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