Reaching for the Summit
october 25, 2007
Good evening. My name is Ryan Hess. I am a sophomore Finance major from Springfield, Mass.
When I was asked to speak with you this evening, I originally thought this event would happen at Alumni Hall or the Martin Institute. I have to admit though, this place is pretty sweet. I even had my dad in a fit of rage and jealousy when I convinced him that I was playing a free round of golf this afternoon. I’m still not sure if he knows I was joking.
I feel it is right though, to be here today at this beautiful country club for this most significant and historic event. Today we begin a new chapter for Stonehill College, her students as well as her faculty and administration. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to represent the student body of the College along with Danielle here this evening.
My experiences during my short time thus far at Stonehill have motivated me to be an advocate for everything the College believes in and offers. My faith, my mind, and my body have all changed and grown over the past 15 months. Due in large part to the Congregation of Holy Cross, I have become engrossed in a community that allows and encourages me to celebrate my Roman Catholic faith as well as learn, study, and challenge ideas, formulas, and texts inside an exciting classroom.
I recently spoke at a Quarterly Management Meeting at Stonehill as a representative of the Athletics Department. I talked about the first time I came to Stonehill in the fall of 2005.
When I turned into campus, my father and I were overjoyed to see an absolutely gorgeous soccer pitch (a field to you laymen) laid out for all to see at the entrance of campus. As my dad and I share the same passion and devotion to football, as the Europeans put it, we knew Stonehill was a special place the moment we saw Skyhawk Field. As you can imagine, my mother, the one who had spent so much time organizing and helping me with my college search was very pleased with our sarcastic and what we considered witty remarks.
Even as we laughed though, I knew that it wasn’t Skyhawk Field that made me fall in love with the “Hill” as we affectionately refer to Stonehill, nor was it the breathtaking landscape or the classic looking buildings, it was a feeling deep inside my heart that assured me that Stonehill was where I wanted to spend my next four years.
I knew I would be happy there, and the people, the education, and my time with things like the Men’s Varsity Soccer program and the Student Alumni Association have made it more than I ever dreamed it would be.
As a student Ambassador of the College, I try my best to show prospective students the opportunities at Stonehill, because I want so badly for others to be blessed with the same experiences I have. Opportunities, my there are so many at my fingertips. They are as abundant as the trees at Stonehill, some more clear and obvious than others.
In the fall of freshman year, I approached Dean Favazza about introducing Paul Rusesabagina, the author of “An Ordinary Man,” a story of his heroic acts during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, to the college community. His story moved me deeply, and I believed it right for people to know exactly how great he was before he spoke to them. A man like that should never simply walk onto a stage without any recognition of his character.
With that experience in mind, I truly believe that a great majority of our learning must happen and be fostered outside of the classroom. Stonehill offers so much, but sometimes it takes a little work to find it.
This is by no means a negative aspect of the College. Rather it becomes a part of our education and growth at Stonehill. Part of learning and growing is becoming independent and driven. Just as I sought out Dean Favazza to pursue something I believed in, so too have countless other Stonehill students persevered to achieve there dreams.
Maybe it was done on purpose, or maybe it was completely incidental, but the name ATTAINING THE SUMMIT, applies to each and every Stonehill student. Every day we spend in our small suburban campus or on the streets of Boston and cities around the world, we work, and attempt to reach bars that have been set for us by professors, bosses, and friends.
We study science, business, theology, and fine arts. We play soccer, and baseball, and lacrosse, and basketball. We cry in the theater and laugh at comedians, and dance the night away at our Mixers.
Sure sometimes we fall. But I can assure you of this, a student at Stonehill would not call themselves a Skyhawk if they didn’t get back up and start working their way to their own summit once more. If I have learned one thing about the people at Stonehill it is this: we fail, A LOT, but our desire and dedication to recovering and working to fix our failures is second to NONE.
I often refer to the Mission Statement of the College when talking to anyone about Stonehill because I feel with every ounce of my being that it is the very core of Stonehill, and I quote,
“Stonehill educates the whole person, so that each graduate thinks, acts, and leads with courage toward the creation of a more just and compassionate world.”
When people read or hear that, some may think ‘Wow, this tiny school is trying to change the world?’ I am not so sure that we can change the whole world, but I know for darn sure we can make a difference, and that’s what Stonehill teaches us.
Our mission statement can be applied to each and every one us, and it can become our own. In our own small way, we can help to create a more just and compassionate world. Stonehill is so special to me because in the end, sure I’ll get a degree in finance, and my roommate will go on to med school, but what truly matters to the faculty and administration here is what type of people we are when we walk down that hill in front of Donahue for the last time, and I couldn’t agree with them more.
I don’t want to discuss the science center, or scholarships, or athletic improvements, I really feel that is for you to handle.
It is critical that you understand just how much Stonehill gives to young adults and that so many students like myself are forever grateful and appreciative of what the College has done and given us.
I simply hope you know that with your support my classmates and I, as well as any student who passes through our gates in the future, will strive to become businessmen and women, scientists, philosophers, actors, and professors that Stonehill will be proud to call Alumni. But most of all, we will strive to become the best people we can, because in the end great people are the ones who can make a difference.
Tonight I leave you with a quote from Bruce Barton, an American author and politician. He said,
"Most successful people have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand."
Attaining the Summit is our pathway to success. Tonight we embark into a new phase of the campaign in hopes of bringing continued successes and dreams come true to the entire Stonehill community, be it in the classroom, the laboratory, or the playing field.
And in the name of all the students at the “Hill”, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to give us the chance to makes those successes and those dreams, a reality.