“… although
the names
keep changing and the bodies keep changing, the larger pattern that
holds us together goes on and on.
—Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance A human being goes through many changes over the course of a lifetime. Still, there is a part in each of us that remains true no matter where we are, or when we stand in time. Any parent can tell you, they are able to sense their child’s personality in her first years, seeing that personality develop fully as the child approaches maturity. What is true of our deepest selves does not change with age or circumstance. In the 83 years since the founding of College of Our Lady of the Elms, this campus has seen many changes. It has added new buildings. It has seen times of peace, war, economic distress, and economic growth. It has been home to many generations of students who faced circumstances different from that of their predecessors. Although College of Our Lady of the Elms has embraced these changes and adapted to an increasingly protean world, its mission and core values have remained the same.
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What College of Our Lady of the Elms offers to a student today is what it offered to students 50 years ago: a values-based liberal arts education as the means to economic advancement, personal and spiritual growth, and the greatest tool for helping others. In that, the Elms experience is transcendent.
of our theology programs on students from very different backgrounds, and the lives they touch.
This issue of the College of Our Lady of the Elms magazine will give you an insight into the core of the Elms College experience and a deeper understanding of our identity. You will read about how we continue serving immigrant students and making them part of our American family by inviting them into the Elms family.
How College of Our Lady of the Elms looks can change depending on who is looking, and when. As you read these stories, use them like a prism, knowing that what you see changes with your vantage point, while the light shining through them remains the same.
You will read about the changing traditions that have brought our students together over the years and new ones that seek to tighten the bonds among our newest students. Our Catholic identity is the keystone to our foundation and you will read about the impact
You will also read about four alumnae, one of whom pursues a career in science, and three who are links in a chain spanning generations in one family.
ary Reap, IHM, Ph.D. M President