PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Carthage: Where practical heroes are made

In the previous edition of The Carthaginian, celebrating Carthage’s 175th year, I reflected on how this institution’s deep founding purpose — to enlighten the people of the American frontier — has remained true even as we have adapted our education for the needs of society in each generation.

This issue explores a different sort of purpose: the one that guides each student’s life journey. It is fitting, then, for me to connect the two, and to reflect on what they mean for the enlightenment that Carthage continues to shine into the Midwest.

Carthage’s 19th century mission to enlighten the Far West had a narrow focus: educating Lutheran pastors who would, in turn, lead and teach in communities far and wide. The College fulfilled its deep purpose then not only by the work of its faculty and staff, but by the actions of its graduates.

The same can be said today. The question, then, is what is the work of those graduates, if it is no longer mainly to lead Lutheran churches?

First, Carthage has sought since 1870 to offer curricula that prepare students for a wide range of occupations, all in the service of our belief in Lutheran whole-life vocation. The practical education we offer in diverse fields from business to education to nursing and now engineering, as well as from English to music to theatre, reflects our considered understanding that our society and economy need all of these. Moreover, we know that students are seeking these fields as part of shaping their personal vocation.

The impact of our graduates, therefore, is in the success of their work across so many fields of endeavor, from the arts to the sciences, from small businesses to corporations, from agencies to not-for-profits. Practically every organization — particularly in the Midwest — needs a Carthage graduate in some capacity to amplify its work for the prosperity of its people and community.

Carthage’s impact, however, does not stop with the workplace — for there are more and still deeper effects. That additional impact has its origin in the liberal arts, seen as practical preparation for that Lutheran sense of whole-life vocation, to serve society.

I put it this way: Our graduates grow into practical heroes needed by their communities. They become that special admixture of independent and dependable, self-reliant and reliable.

They become the ones others seek out for solutions, depend on for guidance, and count on to follow through when the going gets tough.

Whether it is in the workplace, the family, or the house of worship, these are the qualities that communities need — and they are the ways in which Carthaginians, regardless of occupation and personal vocation, live out the mission of our founders.

Once upon a time, our nation had many institutions creating such practical heroes, from the military to the scouts, from church groups to civic organizations to youth sports. If today some of those institutions struggle to perform our founders’ mission, rest assured that, at Carthage, we carry the flame.

John R. Swallow