Multidimensional

Academic year opens with a call for conviction, passion, immersion

August 28, 2007

Following Convocation, new students walked through the doors to Old West to sign in to the college.

Senior Anya Malkov has some universal advice for the class of 2011. Get involved, not inundated.

"It may be tempting to get involved in as many organizations as possible, to pack your days so tightly that they blend together. Avoid that," Malkov said during the opening ceremony for the 2007-08 academic year Sunday at the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium. "There is a difference between seizing opportunities to become involved and joining a million clubs simply because that is what you have done before.

"Resumé padding makes for a lousy way to spend four years," Malkov, the student-senate president, added to mark the opening of Dickinson College's 235th year. "So do not sign up for a club because you think you ought to, do it only because you want to."

The message—quality over quantity, coupled with an open-minded, earnest approach to learning—resonated throughout Convocation.

"Educating yourself is about passion and conviction," said Professor of Geology Jeffrey W. Niemitz, who shared the 2007 Ganoe Award for Inspiration Teaching with Associate Professor of Psychology Teresa Barber. "You may already have an intellectual passion or you may have come to Dickinson to find that passion. Diligently develop your passion through classes, discussions with faculty and classmates, even exploration and discovery of the world at large. Find the deep connection between the curricular and the extracurricular. Your passion may not be popular with some, your parents for example, but above-average people can articulate their passion with conviction. Your parents will come around, trust me."

Barber told the audience that Forrest Gump had it all wrong. Life, she said, is not a box of chocolates but rather a 'fridge pack' of soda, the kind packaged in cardboard with a perforated edge, and which requires a blend of skill, luck, knowledge—and sometimes a little help—to open.

"My advice to you is not to live your life of fridge packs alone," Barber said. "Your peers, our alums, staff, faculty and administrators can help. We listen well, we know the rules, and we offer good advice. We've been there. Believe it or not, we all have our own fridge packs. Some fridge packs are scratched, torn and a bit beat up. A few of them are held together with duct tape. But don't worry. We won't drink your sodas."

President William G. Durden '71 led the 621 registered first-year students through a ceremonial sign-in, opening the doors—and literally the doors of Old West's historic Memorial Hall—to an educational adventure that promises to be rewarding and challenging.

While in college, students will have ample opportunity to develop a global sensibility, engage the world and form meaningful connections with people and ideas, Durden said. He described those skills, developed in an atmosphere of civility and accountability, as the Dickinson dimensions, serving not only as the foundation for a well-rounded, unique education known but forming the bedrock for life beyond college.

"These years will become what you make them," Durden said. "You are as responsible for your education as much as, if not more, than we. Thoroughly immerse yourself in the pursuit of knowledge. Seek meaningful ways to apply that knowledge in the wider world. Celebrate your success. Learn from your mistakes, and work to fully grasp the distinctiveness of the Dickinson dimensions."