Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

GU Welcomes Freshman Class

Veronique Millon/The Hoya Freshmen put on their robes during the 2004 New Student Convocation in McDonough Gymnasium Sunday afternoon. They will don these robes again in four years during their graduation.

Parents, administrators and new students packed into McDonough Gymnasium Sunday afternoon for the 2004 New Student Convocation. The annual convocation ceremony officially inducts freshmen and transfer students into the Georgetown University community. After a procession of new students and faculty members, Provost James O’Donnell opened the ceremony with welcoming remarks interspersed with bits of humor appreciated by the audience.

“About 175 of you are transfers to Georgetown from other institutions,” he said. “That was a smart move.”

O’Donnell spoke of the strong academic credentials of the class of 2008 and transfer students and described the new students as being “in the habit of excelling.” He ended his remarks by urging the students to “get plenty of sleep, keep your canteen full and brace for the adventure of a lifetime.”

As the 2004 Thomas P. McTighe Prize Winner, Hannah Powell (SFS ’05) spoke of her unique experience at Georgetown and urged new students to be immediately involved in the on-campus community. Discussing the intellectual rigors of the university she said that “in high school we were taught to learn facts but in college we learn how to think.”

” Georgetown is not here solely to stimulate your mind but to activate your entire being,” Powell said. “Here students are not a barcode lost in other barcodes.”

Powell’s remarks were followed by linguistics professor Deborah Tannen, who urged students to challenge themselves with difficult and unique classes. Tannen said that she had grown as a person in college through the study of subjects in which she was initially uninterested.

University President John J. DeGioia capped off the ceremony with his annual address.

Drawing parallels between the Olympic Games and the global university community, DeGioia welcomed the new students to Georgetown .

“Over the next four years strangers will become lifelong friends and faculty members will inspire and motivate you,” he said. “You will experience disappointments but you are blessed by gifts.”

As part of his annual speech, DeGioia used color stickers on the reverse of convocation programs to direct students to sit or stand to represent the percentage of the world afflicted by various challenges, concluding with the statistic that only one-hundredth of a percent of the world population has the opportunity to study at a major American research university. “You are living a dream beyond the imagination of most human beings,” he said. “What you do with this privilege matters.”

Most attendees said they enjoyed the ceremony and felt welcomed by the university community.

“It was pretty nice and made me feel that Georgetown is really interested in helping you and directing where you’re going,” Andrea Aguiar (MSB ’08) said.

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