Earned Albion’s Young Alumni Award!
Published:
Last Friday, I had the honor of being presented with one of Albion College’s Young Alumni Awards at the Alumni Awards Ceremony. Returning to Albion is always a great experience, and being honored alongside my old Physics professor Aaron Miller made it extra special. My acceptance speech, paraphrased a bit, was something along these lines:
“Recently, there have been many questions in America about the value of a liberal arts degree, or even of a four-year college degree. Sometimes, these questions are even raised from within our institutions of higher education. My response to that is to look around this room: the accomplishments of tonight’s awardees are the answer to that question. The contributions of the people in this room to their communities, workplaces, and the world at large are a testament to the power of the liberal arts education that Albion provides. The education we receive here, the liberal arts baccalaureate, is the foundation of the gifts that we give back to society.”
…or that’s what I had in my head before I stepped up to the podium and immediately forgot what I meant to say. I think I got most of it across to the audience, though. I will continue to do my very best to provide my students at ODU with the same rigorous education I was fortunate enough to receive at Albion (et al.).
Besides Dr. Miller, I was also happy to reconnect with my advisors Darren E Mason and Mark Bollman and classmate Charles Coutteau, along with many others (far too many to name), as well as to meet the other awardees. I hope we can continue to meet regularly!
Also, for those who are curious, the TSA did take a look at my pointy and heavy glass award, but they did allow me to fly with it.