The incoming Haverford class of 2029 was welcomed to the community this week with the College’s newest tradition: convocation.The ceremony was created following a report from the Committee on Freedom of Expression, Learning, and Community released on July 9 this year. One of the committee’s recommendations was “designated community time” to strengthen bonds and reaffirm our values of trust, concern, and respect. Convocation is one of the first moves towards addressing this recommendation.
The event’s program began with an invocation from Lori Pineiro Sinitzky, Associate Director of Religious and Spiritual Life for Quaker Affairs. Sinitzky invited each student to “hold the community in the light” during a moment of silence, prefacing with the acknowledgement that “we enter this Holy silence together, recognizing that we are more whole because of the different religious, spiritual, and non religious traditions, identities, and ways of being represented by all of us scattered, joined together as a diverse community.”
Sinitzky then welcomed Students’ Council Co-Presidents Sarah Weill-Jones ‘26 and Ben Fligelman ‘26 to the stage. The two leaders spoke on the importance of community and their own experiences throughout three years at Haverford. Well-Jones emphasized that as student leaders, they are there not to “do things above you, but for you and with you.”
Fligelman led from this statement of principle with a note on the importance of the Honor Code. “Community is not possible without shared commitments,” he said. “Trust, concern, respect … I want to make clear to you that those aren’t just empty words.” The Code, Fligelman expounded, is what keeps us true to our values, and though each student’s pledge to these values is tested at one time or another, we must always remind ourselves that our agreement is, as he put it, “what makes an education your education.”
President Wendy Raymond was next to take the stage, offering words of solidarity in their first week of classes. “As you go [through college], you won’t be going it alone,” she said, concluding with an encouraging message: “At Haverford, you are consequential. You will make a difference, you will make your mark, and I am so looking forward to seeing it.”
Helen White, newly appointed Provost of the College, spoke next, emphasizing the importance of creating lasting relationships with professors and students alike, as those are the connections which will enrich and enliven the college experience.
Honor Council Co-Chairs Sofie Quirk ‘28 and Michael Pyo ‘26 then led the Class of 2029 in a recitation of the Honor Code’s preamble, the sound of which gave Dean of Student Life Scott Wojciechowski chills. “That’s something, in my four years here, I haven’t really felt,” he said, following the ceremony.
Nikki Young and Dean McKnight closed out the ceremony by leading the first years through two final rituals: first, the awarding of College pins, and then a procession out of the auditorium led by the first and last students on the class’ alphabetical roster.
“We encourage you in the days, weeks, and years ahead to bring your individual selves into this loving and caring community,” McKnight said, “expecting to be accepted in the fullest of who you are in what you bring as an individual. However, as you’re prepared to depart tonight, we’re going to ask you to recess to Founders’ Green as a unified group of new students, joining together as a large class cohort for the very first time.”
Thus the Class of 2029 filed out of the auditorium to the tune of Founder’s Bell ringing 33 times, commemorating the College’s founding in 1833.
1 comment
Dear Friends,
Thank you for this excellent piece! I am excited to join Haverford College in celebrating community. The statement from Ben Fligelman ’26 resonated deeply with me:
“Community is not possible without shared commitments…Trust, concern, respect … I want to make clear to you that those aren’t just empty words.”
With those words in mind, I look forward to seeing what the new academic year brings for the Class of 2029 and for the College community as a whole.
Warmly,
Shakira M. King
Class of 2017