And thanks for visiting my blog. For those new to it, I write once or twice a week during the academic year with the intention of making our students think, laugh, or pray - or all three!

It is great to have our students with us again and there is excitement in the air (and a football game coming up Saturday on Chuck Noll Field that will make history as the first game here in 45 years!). My wife Mary and I played tennis yesterday with some of our students, and yesterday’s “Mass on the Grass” under Fr. Vincent, our new Director of Campus Ministry, was a big hit with our arriving students. I had the good fortune to shake hands with each one of the Freshmen Saturday and I hope their orientation went well. I heard Damon Owens’ presentation was fantastic.

I hope you enjoyed your summer and that it was everything you wanted it to be. Getting adjusted to the demands of classes and studying will take some time – there is a Chinese proverb that says, “Three years to learn industry; three days to learn idleness.” While no one was idle all summer, the routines of College life will require much from you and I hope you get off to a great start. Last fall we had dozens of students who got off to a very slow start and ended up with academic dismissals – make sure you get off to a good start, ok?

Want to know some fun facts about the Class of 2011? There are 224 males and 201 females – we haven’t had more men than women entrants in a long time and that probably owes to football’s return to Saint Vincent. All in all, when you look at the “expected grade point average” calculation that factors in SAT and high school performance, this year’s Freshmen have the best academic credentials of any group in years here.

They also appear to be a very interesting group. Six Freshmen have a black belt in the martial arts, so watch out! Two students are triplets (but they aren’t related to each other). I can picture them sitting by chance next to each other in the cafeteria and then discovering what they have in common: “You’re a triplet? I’m a triplet!” Talk about an icebreaker! We have a Freshman who appeared on a 2004 episode of Law and Order – I don’t know if he was a crime victim or perpetrator or what, so find out and let me know. We also have a Freshman who worked as a cemetery groundskeeper - that person will feel at home when he or she wanders behind the dorms and discovers the cemetery where our venerable monks are buried!

In the Freshmen essays that were submitted with their applications, there were some memorable lines (and I swear I am not making any up):

“I am, deep down, a walrus.” 

“When I was a Knucklehead I used to get in trouble all the time.”

“Waking up every morning is a horrible, annoying task I must do.”

I love those! Besides unique personalities, the Class of 2011 boasts the largest minority group ever – 33 students. This brings our campus minority enrollment to 114 and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to see this growth in the diversity of our student body. We also have hundreds of students who are not Catholic which is also a real gift to the student experience on campus. If you surround yourself with people who look like you and pray like you and come from the same background as you, then you will not be challenged to grow and develop skills to understand and appreciate the richness of the world around you.

Saint Vincent believes your education begins in the classroom but it doesn’t end there. We are proud that campus life challenges you to work, pray, rest, and play. I hope this year you find the right balance. You won’t regret the time you spend studying or exercising or devoting time to the cultivation of friends. You also will be happy if you develop the discipline of a prayer life. The New York Times reported three days ago that an Associated Press-MTV poll of teenagers to age 24 showed a connection between happiness and religious commitment. It said, “Eighty percent of those who call religion or spirituality the most important thing in their lives say they’re happy, while 60 percent of those who say faith isn’t important to them consider themselves happy.” The poll also discovered that two-thirds of young people say religion and spirituality are either very or somewhat important to them. Only 14 percent said faith plays no role in their lives.

So if you pray, you are not alone. And if you pray, chances are, you’ll be happy.

Good luck this year and I’ll see you around campus!