A Message to the Class of 2010 on the Eve of their Commencement

Tomorrow the Class of 2010 will walk through the Wren Building. This time, though, unlike as entering freshmen four years ago, their walk has one destination: William and Mary Hall, and with it, Commencement.

Their four years at William and Mary have seen tremendous change, growth, and challenge. Through it all, they have designed and implemented campaigns to affect social justice, helped those without the means to help themselves, learned to love, constructed bridges across cultures and social divides, managed robust research agendas, cared for our College and each other, and, hopefully, had fun and grown as people.

Their graduation makes the way for others – the Class of 2014 – to take their place amongst 317 years of unmatched tradition. It also means those peers who have most shaped my time here, who I have looked up to, admired, and wanted to be for the past three years, finally step beyond the protective brick walls and verdant shaded walks of William and Mary and  into the larger world.

On this occasion, then, on the eve of your Graduation – the closing of one chapter of your life and beginning of another – I wanted to both heartily congratulate you and thank you in turn. Congratulations first. What you have managed to accomplish in your time here is staggering to behold, and as a rising senior I recognize that I have big shoes to fill.

Thank you for teaching me what it means to care for others, to serve and give of myself freely, to embrace diversity in all of its forms, and to practice compassion and stand up for what I believe in. As alumni and as friends you will never be far from home.

As you move forward in your lives take heed of the words of former College President Tim Sullivan:

…the gift of yourselves, complete, unique & pure. The long shadow of that gift will be hard to see, but it is very real, for it has touched our hearts and changed our lives, and will continue to do so for as long as there is a College of William and Mary and a company of friends like you, united by memories of your time together in this special place, when all of you were young and beautiful and full of hope.

May the road rise up to meet you, Class of 2010.

Go Tribe and Hark Upon the Gale,

Brian