Speech at the President's Convocation

Dr. Beverley J. Pitts
September 8, 2005

Getting Your Money's Worth

To the new students here, it's my pleasure along with so many others to welcome you to a great university. You will find a place here that will be your home, and we hope you will feel as if your friends here are a part of your family.

I am new to this family too; I'm a freshman like you—starting a new life, so maybe it is most appropriate that right now I speak directly to you.

Let me begin by talking about the faculty, who are sitting in front of you. The faculty are here wearing their academic regalia. The academic gown and hood we wear date back to the Middle Ages, and we wear this regalia in respect for you, our students, so you can see the importance of the tradition of university learning.

There is still great privilege in having the opportunity to study at a university. Let's talk about what that experience can mean for you.

I know you've heard plenty of talk about your future in the last few months. High school commencements reminding you to have high aspirations, family and friends giving you career advice, counselors encouraging you to make wise college choices.

That "what are you going to do with your life" question asked by every adult who came to your graduation party. It does seem that the older generation is always pulling you forward, maybe a little too fast, asking you to plan your future.

I'm not going to do that today. There's plenty of time for that. I'm going to talk a little more about making the most of your present. The here and now. This year.

We have a wonderful saying in some of our advertising and promotional materials that I'm sure you have read. It says, "Why wait to do what you love?" I really like that saying because I think it may have more relevance to you right now than any talk about your future.

You are here to build the educational foundation for your career choices, but you are also living here, going to school, making new friends, participating in athletics, running a radio station, having fun on the weekends.

You live here, and the actions you choose to make, every day, in every situation, are shaping the person you are, not just the person you will be, and this university has much to offer you during your next four years here.

So I want to talk to you about your now, not your tomorrows. How are you going to make the most of what lies ahead for you as a student this year at the University of Indianapolis. How are you going to get your money's worth?

First there is the learning.

You know the "How to Study in College" speech. You've heard it often. But there are some differences in high school and college that you do need to prepare yourselves for. The independence of decision-making you now have changes your approach.

In high school, there was feedback expected of you almost daily. You had to hand in homework assignments, take quizzes regularly, be prepared for something that might be graded almost every day.

That won't happen here. You have assignments, but the demonstration of your learning won't happen nearly as often, so each opportunity to demonstrate your learning becomes even more important for you.

And just because your teacher didn't check on whether you read the text doesn't mean you won't be responsible for it or won't learn from it. This time, the decisions on what to do are yours.

There is great joy in learning. If you can step beyond the grades, the assignments, and the credits, there is excitement in every course. There is something new to learn.

Make this choice. Don't just get an education; take it. Grab every opportunity to learn, enter the classroom conversation, be involved with the discipline.

There are hundreds of upper class students around here who have done just that. They are having a great time, and they are the students whom every employer is waiting for.

Then there is the living.

This is a great place to have fun both in and out of the classroom. Every alumnus of this institution and others as well would tell you that you are in the process of building lifelong friendships. The people you meet here will be lifelong friends. Enjoy the friendships of your teammates, roommates, classmates.

Most of you know I come to this university from Ball State, a larger institution. A number of people have asked me what the differences are in a smaller institution and a larger state institution. My answer has been community.

The opportunities to build friendships exist on every campus, even the largest ones. But there's a difference here. You can know each other. You are likely to be in class with someone on the football or basketball team. Your faculty members all know each other. Your residence hall director knows your teachers and your friends.

This is a place where friendships can support life decisions, where people who know you can help you through a tough time, where you can totally belong.

So grab on. Join one of the more than 50 clubs, show up at the football game, join the band, try out for the theater production, get in there and build new friendships.

But there's more to living in this community than just making friends of your own age. A University is a small city, populated by people of all ages. How easy it might be to just pass through, missing some great people along the way.

Case in point: There's an 80-plus-year-old employee of the University in the physical plant. You may see him driving around campus in his golf cart.

His name is Jim Conner, and he will always say hello and tell you what a great institution this is. You could see Jim as just one of the guys around here, never learning that, in fact, Jim is one of the members of what has been called our Greatest Generation, those who fought for the United States in World War II.

His Battalion was honored by the French Government with the Croix de Guerre and he won the Bronze Star. He is a hero in the truest sense, he is rich with life experience, he loves this institution, and he represents the best of who this campus is.

There are hundreds more—faculty, facilities staff, food service staff, advisers, coaches, secretaries. People who care about this institution and people who have rich lives to share with you. Reach out and know the Jim Conners of this campus.

Then there is the giving.

Over the last two weeks our hearts have broken as we watch the victims of Hurricane Katrina try to find just safe ground and food and shelter. We are doing what we can here, but perhaps nothing has been more heartening than seeing so many acts of kindness and support from literally thousands of relief workers from all over the country.

In seeing so many reach out to help, I am reminded of my favorite Bible verse. It is Matthew 25:40, where Jesus says, "In as much as you do it unto the least of these my brethren, you do it unto me."

And we have one of our own right now who is living that verse. Marylynne Winslow, our assistant director of admissions, is in Alabama serving victims of Katrina as a Red Cross volunteer right now.

The work to save the victims of Katrina has just begun, and we all will find ways to support those efforts. Catastrophes like Katrina are powerful reminders that perhaps there is nothing better we can do every day than to reach out to help others in need.

Service to others is our greatest calling.

And as part of a university community, you will find that there are hundreds of ways in which you can put serving others into practice, whether it is through the work in faith groups, or social groups, or academic courses and programs, or just on your own, there are ways to serve others in everything you do. You will be enriched.

So how do you get your money's worth?

My uncle was a minister and there's a great illustration from one of his sermons that I love to share. I always thought it was about my grandmother, but when I learned it wasn't, I decided it very easily could have been, so I'll tell it that way. She was a quilter. She actually did create very large quilts, one of which I still have.

Well as the story goes, she was asked why her quilts were so big, she said, "It's the part that hangs over that keeps you warm."

I love that story, and I love those words. We don't need much else to get the point. We can have quilts that fit the top of the bed, and they certainly would be called quilts, but they don't work quite the way we intended unless there's plenty hanging over the edge.

You can pass your classes just skirting by, but the class you miss may be the one that gives you the insight and inspiration you would never get from the book.

You can be a part of this university and never go to an athletic event, never join a club, never be a part of residence life. Never know a faculty member well. But you will miss the chance to build a network of friends that will be your life support, both now and long after you have left Hanna Avenue.

You can be a student here and never participate in an international service project, never build a Habitat House, never work in the clinic, never engage with someone in need, never find a way to help Katrina's victims.

But you will miss the richest experience you can have while you are here—changing another person's life.

Welcome to the University of Indianapolis, a place you will always be proud to call your alma mater. Have a wonderful year. And this year, how do you get your money's worth?

Learn with intensity,
Live with enthusiasm,
Serve with love—

Work on the part that hangs over. And have a great year. I will too.