Cap and Gown Weekend
September 21-22, 2002

Presentation of the Senior Class of 2003
Dr. Minerva San Juan, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Class Advisor
The Power of Narrative

President Mcguire, Vice-president Preston, Deans, fellow faculty, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my privilege and my delight to introduce to you the gold class of 2003.

I remember when these seniors began this adventure. I remember the September when this group of bright-eyed very young women arrived to fill Main Hall, and I remember when some of you, women who were already at work and with children, made room for the young. You are now all women continuing a journey of discipline and self-discovery.

I remember, of course, the First Year Seminar and Lewis Thomas’ essay on the Wonderful Mistake: the shift in life’s molecule from division, a cloning of itself, to reproduction, a joining with the other, thus insuring the diversity necessary for life to succeed by the joining of two cells, each alone incapable of development.

You, the class of 2003, are a wonderful image of this diversity, of the richly colorful and detailed tapestry that you will leave with us. We know each of you by name and have learned from you.

We have witnessed the insights that 93 hours of conversation in classrooms, countless texts, and a myriad of experiences has made possible for you. We have seen you struggle and have seen you succeed, accomplishing what you imagine.

We admire you; we admire the way in which you have thought and reflected, that is, turned the light of your soul on this possibly best world. And we admire the ways you have made it actually best by your searching imagination. You are a community, a world of persons who will make a difference -and who will make of difference a gift to the world you will soon rejoin.

I give you one more thought. This is from the First Year Seminar your sisters are now engaged with: you are the co-authors of the meaning of your existence. Make it beautiful and honest and strong; reflect into the world the light of your years at Trinity.

And just as St. Paul did for the Philippians, I pray for you, in Paul’s words:

“I am sure of this in the Lord, that the one who has begun in you a noble work will by the same token carry it through to completion right up to the [last] day …
It is only natural that I should entertain such expectations in regard to you since I hold you in my heart…

God himself can testify how much I long for you …

This is what I pray for: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of experience so that you may learn to value those things that are really important in purity of conscience and blameless conduct.” Phil, 6-11

Ladies and gentlemen, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, children and friends, this is the class of 2003.

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