New Billikens Welcomed at Convocation Ceremony
08/20/2022
Saint Louis University officially welcomed its newest Billikens to campus at Convocation.
Fresh off their move-in, the students took part in the 2022 New Student Convocation and Family Welcome at Chaifetz Arena on Saturday morning. The incoming students heard from fellow students, members of the faculty, and administrators about what to expect at SLU.
President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., delivers the salutation to new students at the
2022 Saint Louis University Convocation at Chaifetz Arena on August 20, 2022. Photo
by Sarah Conroy.
President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., called Fall Welcome and Convocation his favorite week at the University.
“This event is where we welcome you, the newest members of the Billiken family,” he said. “Today, this week, you become a Billiken.”
Pestello said the No. 1 question students will be asked as a SLU student is to explain just what exactly a Billiken is.
“What is a Billiken? Never fail to answer that a Billiken is a mythical figure that stands for the way things ought to be,” Pestello said. “I can think of no better mascot for the University that something that stands for things the way they ought to be.
“We are serious — at our heart what we are trying to do is make the world like it ought to be, make this University the way it ought to be and you are now a part of this effort.”
Pestello explained the goals of the University and talked about how SLU was Catholic and Jesuit, but also international thanks to its Madrid campus. SLU also is an urban campus right in the heart of St. Louis.
The SLU president shared a story about a wedding he was part of this summer. Two University alums who met at SLU 101 got married this summer and invited Pestello to be part of the ceremony. The wedding was the end result of the initial steps the alums took to meet new people and make the most out of their time at SLU, he said.
“You will develop lifelong friendship, you may find your partner,” he said. “But nothing happens if you’re holed up in your dorm room. You have to engage, it’s absolutely critical.”
Vice President for Student Development Sarah Cunningham, Ed.D., told the students the goal of SLU isn’t about ensuring students get good grades. SLU’s goal for students is bigger.
“When we invited you to become a Billiken, it was not just to enroll at SLU and graduate, but it’s to thrive and be the architects of your own Billiken experiences,” Cunningham said. “I hope SLU 101 gave you an idea of how committed we are to preparing you to be successful. The work and learning that will take place inside the classroom are huge, but we are deeply committed to helping you develop as a whole person – cura personalis, care for the whole person.”
Aric Hamilton, a senior student in the College of Arts and Sciences and the president of the Student Government Association, offered his thoughts on what it’s like being a student at SLU.
“As students at SLU, we are oriented to a higher calling beyond ourselves,” Hamilton said. “Regardless of where our religious, moral, or ethical compasses may lie, our dynamic and rich identity as a Catholic Jesuit institution is transcendent and permeates to and through the SLU experience and defines what it means to be a Billiken. Our institutional mission calls us to pursue truth, seek justice, and find God in all things. Committing to this mission is committing to equity, faithful, relentless, thirst-quenching, soul-filling, life-changing equity in which you cannot rest. After all, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.”
Hamilton encouraged his fellow students to learn and grow at SLU, but also to remember who they are inside.
“If there is not anything else that you do in your time here at SLU, stand steadfast in your authentic self,” he said. “Speak to power to the unique gifts and talents that you bless our community with. This is not the time to scrunch your shoulders and hold your head down low.”
Ellen Crowell, Ph.D., associate professor in English and director of the University Core, noted the students filling the seats at Chaifetz might be in different places entering SLU. Some have majors already decided and a career to pursue. Others are still searching.
“No matter how you are arriving at SLU, you have a vital part to play in the university-wide conversation we call our University Core,” she said. “Our Core asks you to see your chosen major in conversation with and enhanced by the questions you encounter in classes outside your major — questions which might, in turn, lead you to minors or even second majors, third majors or even a minor.”
Crowell told the students that every Core class would be different, but the goal is to develop well-rounded students who learn first-hand what it means to deeply care about something.
“As SLU faculty, we are committed to showing you why we are passionate about our own subject matters, not because we want you to commit to our own disciplines of study, but to show you the joy of committing to something — something true to who you are now, but also true to the person you want to become,” she said.
Vice President for Mission and Identity David Suwalsky, S.J., Ph.D., pointed out the students’ journey at SLU was beginning where it would eventually end. Both convocation and commencement are held in Chaifetz Arena.
He told the gathered students that they should know everyone at SLU is part of the same community — a community for and with others.
“No one at SLU is an inconvenience, just not a cog in the wheel, another piece in the big blue machine,” Suwalsky said. “All of us are persons who possess dreams, ideas, and hopes for the future, all are worthy of respect and of opportunity. And we fight fiercely to make this campus, this city, and our society more just, more equitable, more like the Lord desires for our world to be.”
Pestello closed out the ceremony by telling the students that SLU is interested in each and every one of them thriving and reminded them that from this day forward, they are Billikens.