Four Years Wiser, A Message For This Year’s Graduates

college graduation speechesA little over four years ago, in one of my last articles for Holy Cross’ student newspaper, The Crusader, I offered a reflection, or a “graduation message”, for my fellow Crusaders, the class of 2011.*

Inspired by graduation season, I recently reread it and was reminded of how much my life has changed since then. Now four years into the “real” and working world, long gone are the “all-nighters”, the month long vacations and the clearly defined sense of purpose that studying provides.

What remains, however, is a lesson I had learned and shared at the near end of my college experience: Read more

How Then Shall We Live?

St. Ignatius spiritual exercises“How Then Shall We Live?”

Posed to me nearly eight years ago as a freshman at the College of the Holy Cross – a Jesuit liberal arts school in Worcester, MA – this question has left an indelible mark, frequently echoing in my mind when undergoing times of trial and tribulation.

As the signature mantra of the “First Year Program” (an optional program for freshman that has since evolved into “Montserrat” – an intensive, yearlong seminar for all first-year students), it came to encompass what I found to be the trademark of a “Holy Cross education”: a steadfast dedication not only to the academic and intellectual development of students, but to the personal and spiritual formation of one’s self. Read more