Currents: past as prologue
Remembrance of Convocations Past
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For generations of students and visitors, the trip to New London involved an 8-mile stage coach ride from Potter Place railroad station. By the time this nostalgic outing was photographed in the early 1930s, motor coaches had taken up the task. |
Program, Colby-Sawyer College Academic Convocation, Monday, September 6, 1993
“Derived from the Latin word, 'convocation' literally means the 'calling together of the academic community…' At Colby-Sawyer College, it is the happy task of the president to call the College together in convocation so that faculty, students, and the whole College community witness the matriculation of the entering class…”
Invitation, Colby Junior College Convocation, October 18-19, 1957
The President, the Trustees and the Faculty of Colby Junior College cordially invite you and your family to be their guests at a Convocation on the theme “Women's Role in an Age of Anxiety and Hope” To be held at New London, New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday October eighteenth and nineteenth Nineteen hundred fifty –seven
"The Measure of Excellence”
by Dr. Carroll V. Newsom, Senior Vice-President Prentice-Hall, Inc., Former President New York University. Principal address at Colby Junior College's 125th Anniversary Convocation, May 19, 1962.
“Much has been written in recent years about the concept of excellence: But, have we really been honest in its application? For instance, can the word 'excellence' be properly associated with education as a procedure, as a program? I doubt it! Education, concerned with the cultivation of mental powers, can be devoid of meaning and value, it seems to me, unless the recipient of the education becomes a better person…
“Yes, we do need excellence! I agree with those who advance the thought that the very future of our civilization demands it. But, first, perhaps we as a people should adopt a common axiom that the word is most meaningful when applied to the life of each individual.”
Convocation Awards Presentation
Memo from the Colby-Sawyer College Public Information Office to Dean of the College Wallace K. Ewing,September 16, 1976
“It… may be necessary for you to aim the awardee at the camera. The alumnae put their arm around the awardee's waist ('a hug') and turn her physically if necessary. This gets the face visible to the audience (and camera) and adds to the warmth of the whole thing.
“It's not required---though the first college president I worked for was always very careful to do it---but you should look to see if the photographer has shot. Once I have the photo, I'll nod or signal and you can let go of the awardee. A whisper such as 'We gotta get a picture of this' is readily accepted by all awardees.
“So please try and remember this little stage-plan. These photos are critically important for many reasons. Please don't make me have to chain your left leg to the podium! Thanks.”
“It's About Time”
by Don Coonley, Keynote Address at Colby-Sawyer College's Convocation, September 4, 1994
“You may, by this time, be saying to yourself how peculiar it is to be listening to someone who is dressed in a costume which was a fashion statement about 500 years ago. Consider this truth to be a visual indication that time at this institution operates on many levels. And it has for 156 years. In the earlier days, when the only way to arrive on New London Hill was by foot, horseback, or stagecoach, which could average at best seven miles an hour, Salem, Massachusetts, the home of one of my new advisees, was a two-day trip. Time ran more slowly then….
“I imagine that you've been told before to use your time profitably. What I'd like to suggest to you is that you be in your time. The mountain that stands over the campus to our east is called Mt. Kearsarge. Geologists say it was formed a billion years ago, and was already ancient when the first Indians arrived here about 10,000 years ago. To look at the mountain every day is a reminder of its substantial time on earth--- as opposed to our own.
“Still, the new students will have 23,000 hours here; the seniors, still almost 6,000. Still time to be, time to become. You'll need to know the clock time of your first class tomorrow, of course, but you may want to pay attention to the natural rhythms of time, too--- and there's no better place to experience and to celebrate the seasonal changes than here, to live life as deliberately as nature, as Thoreau put it…”
Please send comments about this to Peter Walsh.
