Remarks—Daniel F. Sullivan
Moving Up Day— April 24, 2004
Good morning, and welcome to Moving-Up Day at St. Lawrence.
On this day each year we pause to recognize distinguished achievements
by members of the St. Lawrence student community. It is a time
when hearts swell with pride, a time to make sure that we communicate
to colleagues and friends our warm appreciation of their talents
and their successes, and a time to savor the marvelous opportunities
this place offers each of us to grow and to learn.
It is also a day in which, through the “moving up” ceremony
itself, we symbolize the growing maturity and progress of each
St. Lawrence class. At the end of our ceremony the first-year
students “move up” into the pews occupied now by
the sophomores, and so on, and the seniors, as the words of
the song say on the last page of your program, move “out
the doorway, down the stair, soon to start another pattern
in the fabric started here.”
The “moving up” ceremony, and the ODK tapping
ceremony which takes place right afterward in front of Richardson
Hall, are very special St. Lawrence traditions. They tie us
together with friends and colleagues from long into the past,
and they connect us all to future generations of students in
ways you cannot yet imagine. Savor this time together!
This university community has a great deal of which to be
proud on this marvelous day. The students we recognize here
are as good as they come. What a pleasure to be around them,
and to share vicariously in their successes and in their enjoyment
of what they do. For some, the achievements we recognize today
have come naturally. For most, they represent the overcoming
of significant challenges—climbing up on the rough side
of the mountain, as the gospel song says. We rejoice with you
in it all!
It is fitting also that our master of ceremonies this morning
is a strong and effective student leader. This
is your ceremony. So, without further delay
let us begin it with The Laurentian Singers. Thank you!
