We arrived at this institution with an abstract idea of what a liberal arts education should afford us. Many of us may have believed that we could deeply explore our greatest passions while finding a career path to lead us onward.
That a classics major can be properly prepared to excel in medical school or that a budding geoscientist will be ready dive into law is an idea that should be fully embraced and thoroughly encouraged. An individual's passion for ancient Greece or rocks should not be the sole determinant of their future. The mechanisms are in place for each unique student to make that happen. But they can often be overlooked.
In our own ways, we have each sought guidance and mentoring from those at our school. It is not a bad thing for us to give a bit of guidance along the way either.
Through this process, if inadequacies appear, let your grievances be heard. As well as DePauw can prepare us, we must also prepare ourselves. Don't wait to start exploring the possibilities of what you can do until after your four years have expired. Enjoy the luxury of exploration as early as you can because it will end far too soon for most of us.
Two-hundred and forty-seven days from now, one of the largest classes in DePauw's history will celebrate their graduation.
For many, that may be a worrying thought. Various seniors have expressed worry over how best to close the gap between their philosophy, or biology major, and the day after graduation. That worry may result, in part, from wondering what has been done over the last few years to help us better understand where it is we want to go.
Where have we as an institution come up short? What it is we want after these four years expire? How can this university, in all its capacities, best help us to answer these questions?
These questions are necessary for current and future students to ask early, and often. Not asked with worry and anxiety, but with enthusiasm and curiosity. Students must demand from DePauw a dedicated effort that is of the same magnitude that this institution demands of us.
Although in most regards we are an exceptional institution, we think it not improper when we say that DePauw is imperfect. Nor should we be disillusioned to think otherwise.
Moreover, look not at these four years as if they will be the best of our lives, but instead, as a foundation, from which our best years will come. To make this true, students must utilize the resources they are privileged to have and demand those that they lack. If we do this, we will be best suited to make the rest of our lives even better than these four years.
Students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni, should know a DePauw diploma proves we are fully capable and well on our way to greater achievements. When we return to our campus as physicists, novelists, choralists or philanthropists, we will hopefully do so because of an unshakable liberal arts foundation granted to us by DePauw University.
- Kirkpatrick is a senior from Overland Park, Kan., majoring in political science. Burns is a senior from West Lafayette, Ind., majoring in political science.