Selected Transcript
LESLEY ADAMS
I call on the spirits of all who have gone before us in this place,
and on the author of Wisdom and lover of justice who inspired them,
as we call ourselves together for this ritual of celebration!
The call of pipes,
the flutter of 72 flags,
the elegantly costumed faculty and trustees,
tell us that Hobart and William Smith Colleges
are ready for a celebration. So let us celebrate!
This is a new academic year
with new classes
new students
new faculty and staff colleagues.
Let us celebrate!
The wonderful classes of 2007
join us for the very first time,
and the equally wonderful upper classes
are here to welcome them.
Let us celebrate!
We are blessed with a host of alumni and alumnae,
trustees and friends,
who give of their time, talent and treasure,
chief among them William Scandling to be honored today.
Let us celebrate!
We have been given a new academic building
and can see improvements going on all over campus.
Let us celebrate!
We have a powerful heritage of tradition and inspiration
in the likes of John Henry Hobart, William Smith, and Elizabeth Blackwell,
which continues to this day in our faculty and staff
and in our Blackwell award recipient.
Let us celebrate!
It has been said that community provides
“the possibility of doing together
what one cannot do alone.”[i]
We are none of us alone
as we take up our walking sticks
and set out on the this academic journey once again.
Let us celebrate.
Yes, let us celebrate a new year
at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Amen.
[i] Malidoma Patrice Some, Ritual Power, Healing, and Community, p.49
INFORMATION
Convocation Invocation 2003 by Rev. Lesley Adams
Sept. 9, 2003