Goosebumps

I Admit It!  I get pretty into William & Mary traditions (not that the last blog post left any doubt).  Today is Convocation, one of my favorite (and a favorite among my colleagues as well).  It gives meaning to one of my favorite W&M phrases, “Those who come here, belong here.” (And it’s not just my favorite phrase, search “those who come here belong here” from the W&M home page and see how many results you find and what they express about this place.)

Convocation is putting those words into action.  It’s not just telling new students this is their new home, it’s showing them with the unfurling of their class banner and having them walk through the historic Wren Building together.  It’s not just saying welcome, it’s having hundreds of faculty, staff and students clap for 45 minutes straight as each new student walks through the Wren Building from the non-campus side to the campus side (a literal representation of entering the campus community from the outside worlds from which they came).  This is what gives me goosebumps.  This is how we bring new students into our community.  This is how they know they are home.  This is One Tribe.

Not a bad way to cap off the first day of classes if I do say so myself.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission