The longer I’m at Valpo, the more I’ve come to appreciate the rituals that bookend our academic year. (Twenty year-old me would not have predicted this.)  I enjoy donning those odd, medieval robes, hood, and tam to line up and process down the magnificently long aisle of the Chapel in August, organ music swelling the usually thick, humid air as we welcome new students and the return of the academic calendar’s cycle. This year the cool weather granted us all a reprieve at Convocation–merciful when you’re attired in a polyester and velvet concoction.   As much as I appreciate the Convocation’s music, addresses, and honors of scholarship and service, though, my favorite part of the ceremony is its closing–when we file out singing to form two multi-colored lines curving out from the Chapel and campanile toward the West Lawn. As Valpo’s new students emerge from the narthex, faculty and staff […]