Arnn addresses Class of 2028 at Freshman Convocation. Courtesy | Megan Li

Preparation for the future comes through cultivating perseverance, senior Faith Henry told guests at Freshman Convocation Aug. 25.

The class of 2028 and their families heard from Henry as well as President Larry Arnn and senior Garrett Goolsby before taking the matriculation pledge on the East Lawn. A procession of faculty, accompanied by the notes of a bagpipe, bookended the ceremony, and the College Chamber Choir led the singing of the “Alma Mater.”

In her address to the freshman class, Henry said she was originally going to write a speech focused on suffering, but she decided it was not what freshmen needed to hear. Henry added, however, that the class of 2028 should be ready to suffer.

“The first time you go down, you’re paving an entirely new path,” Henry said, using the analogy of sledding. “More times you go down the same path, the more likely you are to follow it. So it is with character. When we cultivate the habit of perseverance in our studies and friendships, we’re actually practicing the skills that we need to face greater challenges.”

Henry summarized her advice to the incoming class with three words: courage, perseverance, and joy. She encouraged the freshmen to stand strong in the face of difficult academics and awkward situations as well as find joy in close relationships and spontaneous adventures. 

“My encouragement to you is this: embrace this opportunity,” Henry said. “You don’t get these four years back. Cultivate the virtues of courage, perseverance, and joy, and remember that these virtues will help you to live a more complete life, both at Hillsdale and well beyond your college years.”

Goolsby began by describing the nature of challenge —it does not take long to change a person.

“You have four years of challenge ahead,” Goolsby said. “Hillsdale will change you — this place will mark you for the rest of your life.”

Goolsby advised freshmen to take a Sunday sabbath in order to cultivate humility and joy. 

“As a Hillsdale student, you’ll find that this college is all about humbling you. The first time you get a paper grade back — that will be especially poignant,” Goolsby said. “Remember and rest in the fact that your worth is not in your work. It is not in your to-do list and the number of accolades you can acquire, it is instead in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.”

In the midst of the busyness of classes and the enticement of many organizations to participate in, Goolsby emphasized the importance of rest.

“It’s going to cultivate an enjoyment of the work that you have to do here,” Goolsby said. “Take time to rest, let your passion for the work that you do build.”

Goolsby ended with a reference to Colossians 3 that pointed the freshmen toward the love of God, which enables them to rest.

“We’re to work heartily as for the Lord, not for men, but the Lord also gives his beloved sleep,” Goolsby said. “So rest in God’s love for you, knowing that that rest will recharge you for the great challenge ahead of you.”

Arnn discussed the importance of the college’s values: freedom, faith, learning, and character, something that cannot ever be fully understood, but can always be pursued.

“The principles of our country are summarized in the laws of nature, and of nature’s God,” Arnn said. “That’s a mighty phrase, also mysterious, isn’t it? Where would you look up those laws? And yet, the people who signed the document that contains that in its first sentence, they staked their lives on it and everything else they had in the last sentence. It was a real and a tangible thing — a thing worth dying for, and therefore worth living for.”

Arnn told the freshmen the faculty are people they will come to love and respect, but the respect of the faculty, as well as those around them, is something that must be earned.

“We have to do that because we have to work together,” Arnn said. “We’re the most independent cusses on Earth. And yet, the thing that defines us also makes us able to communicate better and in a different way than any other being on Earth.”

Arnn joked about teary-eyed parents bidding farewell to their children, and said the college will take care of the freshmen.

“Winston Churchill called himself a blubber baby,” Arnn said. “He, like we, knew that the good tears come from the sight of something beautiful, like your child marching off today to live.”