To the Case Western Reserve Community:
The crosswalks at Adelbert and Euclid are crowded. The Binary Walkway is filled. The first years have spelled C-W-R-U on the football field.
Finally, the campus feels right again.
True, the weeks before commencement are such an activity-packed sprint that summer’s stillness is often welcome.
But it isn’t long before the place becomes too quiet.
Certainly some of our students and faculty labor year-round, but even more of them toil in other locales in June, July and August. That sense of renewed energy doesn’t really hit until move-in day, when our numbers swell by more than 1,200 over the span of several hours.
For those first-year students, it’s all new: orientation, activities fairs, and yes, today’s first classes.
No matter how long ago your last first class may have been, you know some of what they’re feeling. Nerves. Excitement. Uncertainty. You cannot wait until it all becomes more familiar. And then, after that, you yearn for when it was all yet to be discovered.
One of the privileges of campus life is that we get these reminders of renewal multiple times a year. Each Semester. Convocation. Commencement. And so forth.
They’re all focused on what can be, what comes next. Possibility reigns.
Savor this opening week. Enjoy the wide eyes and eager curiosity. Imagine, as they do, all that you might experience and achieve in the coming months.
Let them inspire you, just as you will do for them.
You can start with this video, with scenes of those first hours on campus. Then, maybe, recall your own memories. Finally, ask yourself, “How will I ‘think beyond the possible’?”
Have a terrific year.
Barbara R. Snyder
President