Fall Convocation — October 26
The Fall Convocation for the University of Maine and University of Maine at Machias was held Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at the Hutchins Concert Hall in the Collins Center for the Arts.
The event featured a keynote address by Rena Newell, Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative to the Maine House of Representatives and reflections by President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Chancellor Dannel Malloy, and faculty, staff, and student leaders.
A recording of this event is available online.
A transcript of the event follows:
John Volin: Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for the fall convocation. I’m John Volin, executive vice president for Academic Affairs and provost at the University of Maine. A hearty Maine hello to the members of the class of 2025 and a warm welcome to all members of the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias communities who are joining us today, both in person here and in the Hutchins Concert Hall, and remotely via livestream. Today we will explore the theme: “Connecting Our Past with Our Present and Future.” To open our program, please stand for the national anthem sung by Ryan Conway, a member of the class of 2021.
Ryan Conway (Singing):
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
Oh say, does that star‑spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
John Volin: Please be seated. I would now like to introduce our stage party. I ask you to hold your applause until all are standing. Dannel Malloy, chancellor, University of Maine System. Joan Ferrini‑Mundy, president, University of Maine and University of Maine at Machias. Rena Newell, Passamaquoddy representative to the Maine State Legislature. Heather Ball, assistant vice president of Academic Affairs. Robert Dana, vice president for Student Life and Inclusive Excellence, and dean of students. Elizabeth Davis, vice president of the University of Maine Student Government, president of the General Student Senate. Janina Deisenrieder, president of Graduate Student Government. Dan Demeritt, senior executive director of Marketing and Communications. Aurianne Fitz‑Marquez, Marine Sciences major. Dinna Hundie, physics major. Chris Lindstrom, vice president of Human Resources. Jeffrey Mills, president and CEO of the University of Maine Foundation. William D. Nichols, president of Faculty Senate, professor of Literacy Education. Ken Ralph, director of athletics. Darren Ranco, chair of Native American Programs and director of Native American Research, associate professor of Anthropology. Christopher Richards, vice president for Enrollment Management. Kody Varahramyan, vice president for Research and dean of the Graduate School. Jake Ward, vice president for Innovation and Economic Development, Joanne Yestramski, vice president and Chief Business Officer. Please give them a round of applause.
I now invite Dee Nichols, professor and Faculty Senate president, to the podium to read our land acknowledgment.
William “Dee” Nichols: Thank you, John. It is an honor to be here as I have a daughter who graduated class of 2021 and I’ve got a daughter who’s in this class of 2025. So it’s an honor.
On behalf of the faculty at the University of Maine, I’d like to open our Convocation today by acknowledging the University of Maine’s presence on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation, and the University of Maine and Machias’ location in the homeland of the Passamaquoddy tribe. Both of our universities recognize that in these homelands, issues of water and territorial rights and encroachment upon these sacred sites are ongoing, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy homelands are connected to the other Wabanaki Tribal Nations — the Maliseet and Micmac — through kinship, alliances and diplomacy. UMaine and its regional campus also recognizes that the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy and the other Wabanaki Tribal Nations are distinct, sovereign, legal and political entities with their own powers of self‑governance and self‑determination. As we gather here this afternoon at our Convocation, I would like to invite us all to consider how we live and how we work on this land, and to attend carefully to our roles that each of us play as members of the University of Maine and University of Maine at Machias, in shaping future relationships with the land and among its people.
I now welcome Provost John Volin back to the podium.
John Volin: Thank you, Dee. It is now my pleasure to introduce University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy. Chancellor Malloy joined the University of Maine System in 2019. Prior to his appointment in Maine, Dannel Malloy was a two-term governor of Connecticut who was honored as the 2016 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award recipient defending the U.S. resettlement of Syrian refugees. In his first year as chancellor, the University of Maine System became the first statewide educational enterprise to unify the institutional accreditations of its public universities. Today the universities of Maine are evaluated together based on how well they share state resources in meeting standards of institutional quality and higher education effectiveness.
Last October, the Harold Alfond Foundation announced a $240 million challenge grant for the University of Maine System. The commitment to the system’s strategic direction and its students is the largest gift in the foundation’s history and the ninth largest gift ever to a U.S. institution of public higher education. Chancellor Malloy continues to lead the University of Maine System’s response to COVID‑19. The “Together for Maine” initiative has been one of the nation’s most successful higher education student and public health campaigns. This semester, more than 99 percent of our student population has come into compliance with our safety practices, making it possible for us to be together in-person for today’s convocation.
Please join me in welcoming Chancellor Dannel Malloy.
Dannel Malloy: I am deeply honored to have been invited by your president to participate in this Convocation. I want to welcome our class of 2025, to the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias. I ask that those of you who will participate in these proceedings or see them subsequently in some other format take a deep breath and understand that you have made a wise decision in coming to our universities. But also, a wise decision to accept an opportunity that has been presented to you by the people of Maine. They have invested in us, in the belief that we will return the human capital necessary to drive economic development in this state and elsewhere; that we will improve lives and the outcomes of those lives by providing educational opportunities that might not otherwise be afforded to some of our residents and students.
I want to thank the collective bodies of people working at each of these universities for their outstanding dedication to your success is what drives them. They have been doing this for years and doing quite a job of making sure that we rise to the occasion, the occasion of greatness in our presence yet undetected. We are very happy to be part of this family and you should enjoy your time here but invest your time here to make sure that when your day is done, we collectively can say that the world is a better place for the contributions you made in part because of the education you received with us. Good luck.
Joan Ferrini-Mundy is the president of the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias and is vice chancellor for Research and Innovation of the University of Maine System. She was named president in 2018 and vice chancellor in 2021. Dr. Ferrini‑Mundy was formerly the assistant director of Education and Human Resources of the National Science Foundation, where she subsequently served as Chief Operating Officer. She has provided campus-based academic leadership as an associate dean and served as a professor of mathematics at two land grant universities. Dr. Ferrini‑Mundy is a national leader in STEM education, research and policy. During her NSF tenure, she co‑led the development of a government-wide strategic plan for science, technology and engineering education across 14 science agencies that achieved improved coherence and impact in the federal government’s three-billion-dollar STEM education investment. Dr. Ferrini‑Mundy is chair-elect of the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences and chairs the Academic Advisory Team with FocusMaine. She serves on the boards of Maine Center Ventures, Maine and Company and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Executive Steering Committee. She’s also the vice chair of APLU’s Research Intensive Committee, a board member of the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities and co‑PL of a $240 billion gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation. She earned her Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of New Hampshire, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Please welcome President Ferrini‑Mundy.
Joan Ferrini-Mundy: Welcome to the Fall 2021 Convocation at the University of Maine. This gathering is meant to be a welcome to the new students joining our communities, and a greeting to all who have returned. This is especially fitting given all that we all have faced over the past 20 months of the COVID‑19 pandemic. The past few weeks since we came back to campus have felt like a warm reunion and a celebration of being together.
I began to work on these remarks by thinking I’d make three main points and so here was my first attempt. One, this semester marks the beginning of a new era for the University of Maine. Two, you the class of 2025 and everyone here will leave a special enduring impact on this university. And three, you are “defining tomorrow” now.
And then my plan, through long‑standing professorial habit, was to explain more about what I meant by each point. Then it struck me that to make sense of these points, what we need is to hear from you, our students. So today I’m announcing the “UMaine Students Define Tomorrow” initiative. We — administrators, faculty, staff, alumni — we will hear from you on this, not the other way around. My cabinet invites you to bring your ideas about what you need to define your own tomorrow at the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias. The initiative will include a series of open student‑led Ideas Labs, beginning in December. These are to elicit and discuss your ideas, what do you want for your time here at University of Maine or at UMaine Machias, and how would you like your experience in higher education to take on new shapes. Should everyone have a research experience each year of their time here? We’re already making a start on that through the remarkable Harold Alfond Foundation gift and the research learning experience program. Do you want to have more living learning communities here on campus? Have you had a chance to do service learning in nearby communities? Want to have input on the directions of UMaine research on climate change? How about spending a semester at the coastal campus at Machias? Do you have ideas about how to bring more students to UMaine? To be a part of fundraising with donors? Have a guaranteed job when you graduate? You of course will think of so much more. This will be an idea generation exercise, followed by prioritization and discussion about where we can focus and succeed. We need your best ideas, so start thinking. This will fit into the Strategic Vision and Values process.
One resource will be the final work of the president’s Commission on Excellence and Equity at the University of Maine 2025. Last year I charged this group with offering a bold vision for UMaine’s future as a student-centric, research-focused, diverse and inclusive institution that serves as a resource for the community, a thought-leader in the state and region and a proactive force for shaping the evolving needs and demands of our society.
To be sure to address the theme of this Convocation — “Connecting our Past with our Present and Future” — I turned to the speeches made at another convocation, the celebration of UMaine’s Centennial in 1965. I was especially drawn to the remarks by John Hannah who was the renowned president of Michigan State University, a university which also happens to be part of my past. President Hannah said, “the one great resource that no state can afford to squander is the true potential of its young people. With that potential developed to its maximum, they are in a position to contribute to the upbuilding of the economy of the state, the services of its society, the quality of its government.”
You will develop your true potential here at UMaine and UMaine Machias. I ask that you help us help you to just do that. Thank you.
Darren Ranco: Good afternoon. I’m Professor Darren Ranco, chair of Native American Programs and coordinator of Native American research here at the University of Maine. I’m a Penobscot Nation citizen, and it’s really lovely to see our tribal flags showing here. It is my distinct honor to introduce today’s keynote speaker, tribal representative Rena Newell, so just going off script, she is an extraordinary person and we’re really lucky to have her here today. She is one of those Wabanaki women who do so much for so many people and I really just want to honor her for that. She’s been super-generous; I think she’ll tell you how generous she is with her time with me. If not for the generosity of Wabanaki women, Wabanaki men would be very lost and I think Dwayne would attest to that.
Rena Newell is serving her first four-year term as Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative to the Maine House of Representatives. She currently serves on the Judiciary Committee, after previously serving on the Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee. Representative Newell is the former tribal education director for the Passamaquoddy Tribal Government. That’s where I first came to know her and just how hard she fights for her people both inside and outside education.
She is very involved with efforts in the Legislature to expand upon Tribal/State coordination, as well as tribal sovereignty and she’s a continuing student at the University of Maine Machias and really just please help me in welcoming our keynote speaker representative Rena Newell.
Rena Newell: Woliwon — thank you, Dr. Darren Ranco for the introduction. I say in a good way, we have certainly come further in getting to know one another during the last 10‑plus years of working together, and for that, I am grateful. However, I will reserve a memory of the day that I received a postcard event invitation from your office at the Wabanaki Center addressed to Rena?
Woli Spaswiw — it’s a good day! Greetings to the University of Maine, University of Maine at Machias and to distinguished elders, veterans, administration, students, faculty, family and guests in attendance. I am honored by the invitation to serve as today’s keynote speaker, so to offer words to this year’s convocation theme of “Connecting our Past with our Present and Future” from an Indigenous perspective.
Kci Woliwon to Chancellor Malloy, President Joan Ferrini‑Mundy for sharing your remarks. Woliwon to William Nichols for the land acknowledgment and greetings as well. I appreciate and have received your words. Upc, Nil Liwis Rena Newell — again, my name is Rena Newell. Peskotomuhkat nil. I am Passamaquoddy. Nuceyaw nil Sipayik. I am from Sipayik. Lepsenti yuq nil — I am the Tribal Representative to the Maine State Legislature. I welcome this opportunity to share my words, and please, I would encourage each of you to receive what you may and leave the rest, for it is with good intentions that I come to speak with you today.
It is my hope to bring forth a message of Indigenous Perspective through the importance of representation and recognition of tribal voices within the areas of education, language, culture and self‑governance.
As I begin, I would like to share a Passamaquoddy song. I had thought to sing it solo, however, I thought about that again. I would like to honor my late aunt Blanche Socobasin, and to also recognize my cousin, Wayne Newell, a Passamaquoddy Tribal Elder and a former University of Maine Board of Trustee member. I understand that for more than 40 years, the two of them would often perform this song together, both known nationally for their contributions to preserving our language, culture and songs.
I further understand this song was sung before any business was conducted as a formal welcome and greeting ceremony. Today, I share the Passamaquoddy welcome song, to greet and welcome some of you to Fall 2021, your first semester of academic learning, and to others, to greet and welcome you back as you continue learning, teaching and administering within this education institution.
I would like to invite Dwayne Tomah to the stage. It has been said that he is the youngest fluent Passamaquoddy speaker, one that holds many stories relating to our culture through language, songs and history, and I am pleased that he has agreed to accompany me here today. The Passamaquoddy welcome song — Woliwon.
Dwayne Tomah (Singing Passamaquoddy song)
Dwayne Tomah: It’s an honor for me to be here with you and as we share ancestral songs of our people. These are not just songs. These are teachings of our people. This particular song that I’m going to share with you is a very archaic song that’s been handed down for thousands of years. And this particular song is a welcome song, and the reason why I picked this song for the ceremony is to show the utmost respect for one another, and to share. So this is in honor of Blanche Socobasin who was very instrumental in carrying on our archaic ancestral song.
(Drum sound and singing)
That particular song is to honor each other, the ceremonies have been handed down for thousands of years to honor each other.
Rena Newell: As an Indigenous child coming from a small family of seven, I was taught to sit quietly. If I was to be seen, I was not to be heard. Perhaps this should have come easier for me, as I have been told that my voice was delayed, from my inability to speak words. I recall an early memory of playing on the floor of an office and later learned that my parents would often take me to appointments to work with a speech therapist. Thankfully, my ability to pronounce words came, although not always correctly. I have also been told that I have not yet stopped speaking. However, only recently has my voice held itself to express and share words with confidence.
I was recently encouraged by my youngest daughter, Iiwsu Kye Neptune, to provide a quote to fourth graders as to the importance of education as tribal citizens. As we celebrated our return to in-school learning at our new elementary school in Sipayik, I offered the following. “As we continue to gain knowledge through education and life experiences, it is equally important to remember our culture and language from which allows us to uniquely identify ourselves as Peskotomuhkati — Passamaquoddy Tribal Citizens, and where we come from — Sipayik. The value of knowledge, education and the preservation of language and cultural connectedness is of great significance, not only for oneself, but for the growth and sustainability of our tribal community and continued survival as well. Always remembering to be mindful to carry the essence of who we are and where we come from with pride wherever we may travel in this life”.
Please allow me to introduce my daughter, Kye Neptune. I am proud to say that she is a graduate of the University of Maine at Machias and she is here today with her colleagues from Wabanaki Public Health who work within the Division of Education, Culture and Language; Cyril Francis, University of Maine masters graduate; Newell Lewey, recent graduate of MIT in language and linguistics.
As the former tribal education director, I worked directly with post-secondary tribal students, other Wabanaki tribal education directors and within the various levels throughout the University of Maine System. It allowed me to advocate on behalf of students when needed, yet always encouraging their voices to be heard, and supporting their presence within the institutions of higher education. Professional success was received in witnessing students pursuing their higher education goals and reaching their academic success.
My sister, Molly, is in the audience today. While there may be a few years of age between us, she was raised in the presence of our Ukhomi, our grandmother, Evelyn, who was a fluent Passamaquoddy speaker. Having learned to speak only in our Passamaquoddy language, my sister Molly had reached the age to begin her formal education and began attending our local elementary school. She would learn quickly that her voice was soon discouraged from speaking her native language of Passamaquoddy. However, despite the treatment she received that came with this discouragement, she continues to speak and recognizes Passamaquoddy as her first language. I am extremely proud to say that she is a graduate of this institution, having completed her master’s degree. She previously served as the Sipayik Human Services Director, where she participated in the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a commission that was formed to lead a truth‑seeking process to undercover the truth about child welfare practices relating to native children within the state of Maine. She now currently serves as the vice principal of our sister reservation at Indian Township School. She holds a strong voice of advocacy on behalf of our children. And I often tell her that she has a heart of gold. Please rise, my sister, and be recognized.
I will now shift to reflect upon my work as the Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative. I feel it is my duty within my role to strengthen the government‑to‑government relationship between the tribe and the state. Yet, in doing so, to be mindful in furthering the progress of the tribe’s right to self‑determination and self‑governance. While one can seemingly expect through tribal‑state relations that issues of mutual interests would be addressed from a government‑to‑government basis, I think it is safe to say through a historic lens that the perceived limitations set upon the tribes from the state through rules, regulations, and its “Blue Book” laws (since repealed) prior to the 1980 Land Claim Settlement Act, and through additional laws set forth in “The Maine Implementing Act” would suggest a lack of reciprocity in trust, and more importantly, dialogue. When I sought the position to serve as the tribal representative to the Maine State Legislature, it’s fair to say it was during a time of continuing contention and limited representation. I knew that I would be the only Indigenous person visibly seated. Despite the designated seat, and glimpses reflective of the past, I knew that I would not sit quietly, and I continue to welcome the opportunity to increase the visibility of the Passamaquoddy tribal citizens that I proudly represent, not only with my physical presence, but with my voice as well.
My work in the legislature is with good intention to strengthen representation and bring a voice to the issues that affect us. Therefore, I am pleased to mention the following legislation that I had previously sponsored that has now become written in statute. LD 453, “An Act to establish a permanent Wabanaki appointment of a member of the Wabanaki tribe to the Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System.” LD 361, “An act to establish a permanent Wabanaki appointment to the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory Council.” LD 1073, “An act to establish a permanent appointment of the Wabanaki tribes to the Marine Resources Advisory Council.”
Although the Passamaquoddy tribal citizens are guaranteed to exercise their protected rights to enjoy life, liberty and happiness, as other Maine citizens under the state constitution, as a result of the limitations set upon the tribes under the Maine Implementing Act to exercise our sovereign rights to access and provide clean water to the Passamaquoddy tribal citizens of Sipayik from the lands we own, have threatened our right to living healthy within our environment. I have submitted proposed legislation that I hope to be addressed in the upcoming 130th second regular session beginning in January 2022.
In closing, today is a great example of reconciliation. May we continue towards allowing the spaces for each other to continue to improve upon our relations. For the time is now to change the narrative, for the future generations deserve this. We must come to accept the richness in diversity of all who share this land by working together. I believe collectively, we can make the difference. Kci Woliwon for allowing me to share with you today. Nid temp swi (That is all).
Robert Dana: Thank you very much, Representative Newell. Your words were inspiring and heartfelt and we appreciate deeply you being here today and for bringing so many of your friends and family. Thank you for your leadership in Augusta.
Hello, everyone. It’s wonderful to see you all here today. I’m Robert Dana, Vice President for Student Life and Inclusive Excellence, and Dean of Students. It is my distinct pleasure to introduce Elizabeth Davis, Vice President of the University of Maine Student Government, and president of the General Student Senate. Elizabeth is a senior from Portland, Maine who is pursuing a political science degree with minors in legal studies and criminal justice. She plans to attend law school. Please give a warm welcome to Elizabeth Davis.
Elizabeth Davis: Hello, class of 2025. It’s difficult to believe that three years have passed since I was in your position. I wish I could come up here and give you an inspiring story about how involved on campus I was in my first year, how I met all of my closest friends, how many fun events I went to and how great of an impact I had on the UMaine community. But unfortunately, I don’t have a story like that. During my first year, I was hardly involved with anything. The relationship I was in at the time took precedence over me forming new friendships. My roommate who was one of my only close friends dropped out. And most of my professors barely knew who I was. It took the pandemic to make me realize something that I wish I had realized when I was in your shoes, that any experience, including college, is what you make of it. When COVID‑19 sent us home in spring of 2020, I felt more isolated than ever. And I had decisions to make. Did I want to continue feeling isolated and unhappy, or did I want to make a change and find my purpose on this campus? Did I want to blow through my four years here, or did I want to make a lasting impact?
These are some of the things that I wish I had done sooner. One, form strong relationships with your professors, attend office hours and participate in class. Your professors want to help you and will be a valuable resource in connecting you with opportunities and helping you prepare for your life beyond UMaine. Besides that, you’re paying for your classes, so you might as well get something out of them. Force yourself to get involved on campus. It might not seem like it at first, but getting involved will help you form some of your closest relationships, make you feel like you belong here, and provide you with opportunities to make a difference. And last, your proudest moments of your time here at UMaine will be the times where you put yourself out there and make decisions not only for the well-being of yourself but for the well‑being of the community. After all, it’s difficult to find your purpose when you’re sitting in your dorm room.
As cliche as it sounds, you need to be the change you want to see and it’s up to you to create the campus environment that you want to live in. Before ending, I’d like to share this brief poem by Edgar Guest: “Is anybody happier because you passed his way? Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today? This day is almost over and its toiling time is through, is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?”
Thank you.
Kody Varahramyan: Greetings from UMaine’s Research Office and the Graduate School. I’m vice president for Research and Graduate School Dean Kody Varahramyan. It is my privilege today to introduce Janina Deisenrieder, president of Graduate Student Government. Janina is a second-year global policy student at the school of policy and international affairs. She graduated in May with a master’s degree in communication from UMaine. She’s a communications and policy intern for AARP Policy, Research and International. Please join me in welcoming Janina Deisenrieder.
Janina Deisenrieder: Thank you for the introduction, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Varahramyan. And hello, everyone. My name is Janina Deisenrieder and today I’m here as the president of the Graduate Student Government to send you our warmest welcome on behalf of UMaine graduate students. I arrived in Orono in 2019, after 12 hours of traveling halfway across the world and I was full of energy and motivation to start my master’s program in communication.
Now, two years later, and after receiving incredible opportunities thanks to the University of Maine, I am still here setting my second master’s program and studying global policy. I would have never assumed that after this one‑and‑a‑half semesters, the global pandemic would fundamentally change the way we receive education. But UMaine stayed unwavering in its commitment to foster success, discover and produce new knowledge and advance the cultural, economic and civic interests of communities around Maine.
As we slowly adjust and pivot towards a “new normal,” I’m more than confident that UMaine will realize the three main goals, to support and grow Maine’s economy through new discoveries and by building a workforce whose members are engaged in their communities and prepared for lifelong success. To continue to provide accessible and affordable education, research and services through processes that ensure effectiveness, efficiency and quality. And to be a rewarding place to live, learn and work by sustaining an environment that is diverse, inclusive and fosters personal development of all of its stakeholders.
I’m honored to not only be a part of this journey but also to have the trust of the graduate students and the graduate student body to represent them. I look forward to the academic year and all that we will accomplish together. Together we can define tomorrow.
Robert Dana: Thank you very much, Janina. So wonderful to have heard you. I do want to give a shout out to the students who have worked with us today, Ryan did a beautiful job singing. Janina, thank you so much. Auri and Elizabeth, and we should thank them especially.
I’d like to also thank Chancellor Malloy and President Ferrini‑Mundy, and all my friends and colleagues here on the stage. They were committed to this experience for our students and there’s nothing really more important than saying to our students, you matter; we care for you; you’re loved; this is your university, and this is your community. And in that vein, I’d like to thank the committee that put this together, and it’s quite resplendent and a wonderful experience, and for all of you here and for all of you out in the cyber space, we’re so thrilled. But thank you, first of all, to James Psalidas and Brian Olsen, our co-chairs, Will Biberstein, Jessica Chubbuck, Robin Delcourt, Scott Delcourt, Mary Mahoney-O’Neill, Margaret Nagle, Dan Qualls, Lauri Sidelko and John Volin and thank you so much to Sam Hallett, Scott Stitham, to all of the Resident Life staff and all of the RAs. It takes quite a village to have such a wonderful opportunity.
Well, we are at the closing moments and there’s nothing more important than taking stock of where we are in life. And for our new students and for our continuing students, you’re at a time in your life that could never be more important. You’re dwellers on the threshold today, but tomorrow, you’ll be the change agents, the leaders, the doers, the actors, that people like me are following. You’ll care for me. You’ll care for my children. You’ll care for the earth. You’ll care for the society. You’ll make us better.
So I hope you’ll take an opportunity to reflect on the importance of your college experience. I hope that you will grow and prosper in this community here and in Machias, loving communities and caring communities. And the degree to which each of us can contribute to that, commit to it, the stronger we’ll be.
So thank you so very much. Thank you particularly to President Ferrini‑Mundy for conspiring with this entire group to make this happen. So thank you very much.
And now I think I’m supposed to do this and the Stein Song is supposed to start, but I’m not sure. Danny, take it away.
Fill the steins to dear old Maine
Shout till the rafters ring,
Stand and drink a toast once again,
Let every loyal Maine fan sing.
Drink to all the happy hours,
Drink to the careless days,
Drink to Maine, our alma mater,
The college of our hearts always.
To the trees, to the sky,
to the spring in its glorious happiness,
to the youth, to the fire,
to the life that is moving and calling us,
to the gods, to the fates,
to the rules of men and their destinies,
to the lips, to the eyes,
to the ones who will love us some day.
Oh, fill the steins to dear old Maine,
Shout till the rafters ring,
Stand and drink a toast once again,
Let every loyal Maine fan sing.
Drink to all the happy hours,
Drink to the careless days,
Drink to Maine, our alma mater,
The college of our hearts always.