Good Morning! It’s really an honor to represent the faculty as we welcome you to Southwestern University today. When I was asked to give these remarks, I was inspired by our most recent Commencement address given by Steven Lufburrow ’81. In his remarks he mentioned the three C’s of life: choices, chances, and changes. And while those are great, I thought you know what’s better than three? Four.

In particular, mathematically speaking, four is the first composite number. It is also the maximum amount of colors you need to color any planar map so that no two adjacent regions have the same color. And it’s the only number in the English language whose word has the same number of letters as the number itself.

Four also happens to have a significant meaning here at SU: there are four academic areas: humanities, fine arts, natural sciences, and social sciences. Most of you will spend four years here, taking four classes a semester, each being four credits, all while using the 4.0 grading scale.

So, today I present to you the four C’s of your Southwestern journey. Our first C is community. Look to your left and then to your right, in four years one of these people may be your new lifelong friend. Look towards the edges of the room. There you might find a lifelong mentor, someone that helps you get your dream job, or someone that inspires you to fall in love with a whole new discipline. Entering my 19th year at SU, I can tell you that the SU community is special and I hope you’ll take advantage of every opportunity you have to get to know your fellow Pirates.

Next up is connection. This may seem similar to community, but here I’m talking about Southwestern’s Paideia philosophy of making connections. As you head off to your first class at SU, I hope you’ll take the time to start thinking about how what you’re learning in the classroom connects to your everyday life — to your job, the sport you play, or the Pirate adventure you’ll take this weekend. In another week when you have three more courses, you might start making connections between your academic coursework. You will also have opportunities to make connections between your coursework and various high impact experiences you have here at SU, such as internships, research, study abroad, or public engagement. Make connections.

Our third C is challenge. We grow the most when we challenge ourselves, try new things, or get outside of our comfort zone. Never taken a philosophy course? Register for one! Normally wouldn’t participate in a class discussion? Try it! Nervous about visiting a professor’s office hours? Just do it! We’re excited to see you! Comfortable just being in your dorm at 7 p.m. on a Friday? Why not try attending a student life event instead? I’m asking each of you to challenge yourself on a regular basis! And I’m so excited about this one that the next time I see you in the Sweet Surprise line, I may ask you what you’ve done to challenge yourself recently.

Our final C is collaboration. I may be teaching a calculus class for the 28th time this semester, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same class I’ve taught the last 27 times. Each class is unique because our classrooms are collaborative spaces. As faculty, we bring our disciplinary knowledge to the space, but it’s your lived experiences, knowledge, and creativity that helps shape the course. So, in the spirit of collaboration, community, and connection, I’m issuing you a challenge this morning. I want you to think about all the “going to college” advice you’ve received in the last few months from friends, family members, neighbors, teachers, and loved ones. Turn to those around you and share one piece of advice you’ve heard.

So to close this out, I’ll throw in one piece of advice that I saw at the gym last week, which is: “If cauliflower can be pizza, you can be anything.” Have a great first day of class at Southwestern and a community-building, connection-filled, challenging, and collaborative Southwestern journey!