The following speech was delivered by Dr. Robert Meade at the Academic Convocation on February 16, 2012. His remarks centered on the theme of the “Grad at Grad” characteristic: a Loyola student is becoming more academically excellent.”
Today we celebrate the Loyola Community. That there is one. That it is us. That we are here. It’s all good. And we also celebrate in a particular way students who have demonstrated Academic Excellence. We call their names. We give them awards. We applaud them. And we should. It’s not easy, doing what these students have done. And, what have they done? What is Academic Excellence? When I Googled “Academic Excellence” I got 11 million results in .43 seconds. Apparently when it comes to the subject of Academic Excellence, opinions differ. One high school student named Aria made this comment: “Academic excellence means having good focus and concentration on your work all the time. It means to have a good work ethic, meaning doing your homework and turning it in on time, not procrastinating, putting in effort, asking questions when you are unsure of something, listening to the teacher, completing assignments and projects. You don't necessarily have to have good grades if you aim for academic excellence but typically you can't go very wrong. It is the ability to achieve, perform, and make an effort in your academic activities.” What I like about Aria’s comment is the way she emphasized that grades are not the most important part of being academically excellent. Academic Excellence is not a grade but an attitude; it’s a habit of mind, a way of approaching your studies. Have a good work ethic. Do