Incoming students were formally welcomed to Johnson State College at the convocation ceremony on Aug. 27.
Under a brilliant sunny sky, the class of 2016 marched across campus from SHAPE to the Dibden Center for the Arts. Following a performance of JSC’s “Alma Mater” by the Chorale (led by Assistant Professor of Performing Arts Bethany Plissey), the students listened to speeches delivered by JSC President Barbara Murphy, Academic Dean Dan Regan, and Professor of Environmental Sciences Tania Bacchus.
Murphy told the students of her introduction to the work done by Esther Duflo. A young French economist who used social experiments to combat poverty in developing countries, Duflo breaks down the larger issues into manageable ways of combating them.
“What I find compelling about her work is her persistence in being challenged and undaunted by huge questions,” said Murphy. “This is what I want for you this year. Find the questions and problems that you care about, find the creative challenges that are waiting for you, and commit to your own discoveries.”
Murphy passed the podium to Regan, who congratulated the incoming freshman, transfer students, and returning sophomores. Regan related his experience at last May’s senior presentations: “The quality of student work that I witnessed was really terrific, and could easily stand up against the work accomplished by senior majors at colleges and universities around the country. And yet, a handful of years before, these very accomplished students…sat in this auditorium feeling much the same way some of you undoubtedly feel today…I can’t wait to applaud your senior presentations, and your graduations, under the tent on the south lawn one coming May.” Reagan then introduced Bacchus, who recently returned from a sabbatical spent researching human-induced global climate change.
Bacchus related her initial interest in being a weather person when she was in high school, only to major in geology before working as a geophysicist for an oil company travelling abroad.
Dissatisfied with her occupation, Bacchus enrolled in a graduate program at the Florida Institute of Technology. “It wasn’t until I became a Ph.D. student at the University of Maine that I began to return to my roots of pursuing a career in weather-related studies,” she said. “It has been since my work at the University of Maine that I have become more interested in working towards understanding climate change.”
She concluded her remarks by encouraging the students to follow their passions, even if it they get distracted along the way. “I hope that you too find something that is a passion of yours…Like me, maybe after a few years of doing other things, you will come back to the passions that you love, and be able to pursue a career in something that really interests you.”
A welcome back chicken barbecue followed on the quad after the traditional ringing of the Chesamore Bell.
