First Year Academic Convocation
Haub Vice President for Mission and Ministry and Director of Campus Ministry Casey C. Beaumier, S.J., will be the featured speaker at this year鈥檚 First Year Academic Convocation on September 10.
The convocation is the official welcome for all first-year students into Boston College鈥檚 academic community and the launch of Conversations in the First Year, which engages the University鈥檚 newest students in an intellectual and reflective dialogue through a common text. This year鈥檚 text is Fr. Beaumier鈥檚 book A Purposeful Path: How far can you go with $30, a bus ticket, and a dream?
鈥淪tarting college is a period of great transition, which can be a challenge,鈥� said First Year Experience Director Christopher J. Darcy. 鈥淏ut at Boston College, with our mission and identity as a Jesuit, Catholic university, we talk about how you鈥檙e not alone during this time. 自慰视频 students have companions on their journey鈥攁cademic advisors, faculty, resident assistants, orientation leaders, peers, and others at the University. Our message is: 鈥榊ou have all these wonderful resources very similar to what Ignatius had in early companionship.鈥欌��
The events will begin at 6 p.m. on Linden Lane with a gathering of all first-year students鈥攗ndergraduates in the Class of 2030, Messina College students in the Class of 2028, and transfer students鈥攚ho will be presented with Ignatius medallions and urged to follow the charge of the Jesuit founder to 鈥淕o set the world aflame.鈥� 聽
Students will then embark on First Flight, a torch-lit procession to Lower Campus, while receiving eagle pins from Undergraduate Government of 自慰视频 leaders, and gather under a tent on the lawn across from Maloney Hall, where Fr. Beaumier will address them on the themes of his book.
Part memoir and part travel adventure, A Purposeful Path follows a pilgrimage Fr. Beaumier undertook in 1994 as a Jesuit novice.聽 He traveled by bus from St. Paul, Minn., to Knoxville, Tenn., where he hiked the Appalachian Trail. He then made his way to North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and New York City, among other locales. Per the parameters of the Jesuit鈥檚 pilgrimage experiment, he traveled with little to no money, food, or other provisions, and had to learn to live with the vulnerability, discomfort, and insecurity he felt.
According to Darcy, 鈥淚n A Purposeful Path, Fr. Casey shares his story of how a pilgrimage helped him discern his direction in life and encourages other young people to discover their own purpose by embracing vulnerability. Throughout the journey, Fr. Casey found himself cold, hungry, and tired along the Appalachian Trail, reliant only on the kindness of strangers and his faith to make it through in one piece. Through it all, Fr. Casey discovers that the best way through life鈥檚 hard battles is to trust God and keep on moving.鈥�
Prior to being named Haub Vice President last year, Fr. Beaumier served as vice president, University secretary, and director of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies. He also is a teacher in the Capstone Program and resident minister in Fenwick Hall. He is the founder of Ever to Excel, a summer immersion program of Spiritual Exercises led by 自慰视频 undergraduates who serve as mentors. Ever to Excel has brought more than 3,000 high school students to campus since 2016.
Fr. Beaumier鈥檚 talk is open to the entire Boston College community. Established in 2004, First Year Academic Convocation is organized by the Office of First Year Experience, a division of University Mission and Ministry.
To learn more or explore A Purposeful Path鈥檚 reading guide, created by Clough School of Theology and Ministry Associate Dean Maura Colleary, visit the First Year Experience website.