My Graduation Adventure

Day 1

It has been an experience! To date, I have been going to school for 3 years and 16 weeks, and as of this weekend I qualified to attend the graduation ceremony at The College of St. Scholastica’s main campus to celebrate earning my Bachelor of Arts Degree. As a non-traditional student, doing a non-traditional accelerated degree program I would have to say that I have no regrets, it has been a rewarding experience. The only thing that I missed out on in my college experience is the sense of community that comes from attending a big college campus. So I decided to experience as much of the campus graduation activities as I could before calling myself an Alumnus.

We started out on Friday afternoon with a pre-planned campus tour – after of course the long drive to Duluth. Both my Mom, and my friend and classmate Deanna Bauer accompanied me on my mad mission to absorb as much of this experience as possible. We found the campus! And made it on time! Our tour guide was an on campus student who is currently in her senior year. She did a great job of modifying the normal tour to what we were looking for; the art, architecture, and history of the campus.

I should first of all point out that The College of St. Scholastica is in the midst of celebrating their 100 year anniversary. The college was started by Benedictine nuns and they built this college on a hill from the ground up. In the early years, this was a fully self-sustaining community that with hard work and perseverance created an all-women’s college before women even had the right to vote. Of course many changes have happened since then, the college became co-ed in the 60’s and although there are several of the Sisters that are deeply involved in the operations of the college – the college is run by a board of directors, and the Sisters are no longer the primary educators. To this day there are over 80 Sisters that occupy the monastery on campus.

The campus is beautiful, the majority of the original buildings built of blue and gray granite are still used to this day, a lesson for all of us in a day were we build schools that are useless after only 20-30 years.  For instance the original chapel with tall ceilings has been converted to a chapel with three stories of library overhead.

So back to my story! During our tour we asked about seeing the Monastery and we were told that tours were not something done often, but of course we were persistent – phone calls were made – begging occurred – sob story about driving a long distance to connect with the campus was told. Finally, we were met at the entrance to the Monastery by Sister Mary Catherine who agreed to give us a tour. She started with the history of the Benedictine traditions, how the Sisters came to be in Duluth, and then gave us an overview of how the school was started. The current Monastery was built as a high school and served as both classrooms for students and living quarters for the Sisters. Today the first and second floors are mostly offices, and a couple beautiful lounges. I love old architecture; the inside of this building was not overly ornate. However, if you looked there were touches here and there that have survived a 100 years of remodeling and repurposing. The third floor was the most surprising to me; it is a care facility for the elderly Sisters. We were taken around and introduced to several of the Sisters receiving care and I have to say that this was not like any nursing home I have ever seen. Each Sister is treated with love and respect which was obvious when we were introduced. There was one Sister in particular that was in a wheel chair that looked very frail, she is over 100 years old, and when we greeted her she reached out her hand to me. I gave her my hand and she guided it to her chin and then to her cheek. I could feel the love and warmth that this woman has in her heart, even though her body is weak.

Being part of a faith based education system does not mean everyone that attends has to share the same systems of belief, what it does is base all parts of the educational system on a set of values. I have heard a lot about the college’s core values throughout this past year; community, respect, hospitality, stewardship, and the love of learning. The campus tour and the conversation we had with Sister Mary Catherine really brought home the consistency in which the college lives its mission.

Day 2

I made everyone get out of bed early so we could cram as much of the celebration in as we could; it may have actually been the hardest for me when morning actually came. The hotel I chose was very old, and everything was very uncomfortable – I will leave my complaining at that! Except for the weather – sorry, more whining to follow. 

For those who have never been to Duluth, MN, it is on a big hill with roads crisscrossing at all imaginable angles. It has been compared to San Francisco, only Duluth happens to be on the shore line of Lake Superior – think very cold, and a lot of “lake effect” snowfall. We woke up to pouring down rain and wind, luckily it was still 35 degrees so the truck made it from the bottom of the hill to the top with no issue except the driver experiencing constant confusion over street names and general directions. First Street and First Avenue on the same block, seriously? I am convinced the town was laid out by drunken sailors, but I have not yet found the historical proof. My experiences driving in St. Paul have been similar, but that is another story.

Our first stop, the Baccalaureate Mass. Just to clarify for those who might be confused at this point, I am not Catholic. However, I was raised to respect all faiths even if it is not my own path. As I get older, I am finding the experience of learning about others beliefs has both strengthened and enhanced my own beliefs for the better. So, it was on the schedule of events - so we went to Mass and it was a positive experience for me. The message for us graduates was about lighting our own path – be the light in the darkness. Whether you are spiritual or not, this was a powerful message. Also, I have to add that the priest was having way too much fun with us. All morning we were worried about getting our hair wet from the rain. Well, we got showered with holy water being flung from some type of tree branch (this was more than a little surprising to some of us not expecting it!).

After mass, we were able to navigate the underground tunnel system to our next stop (without a map BTW). We attended the graduate brunch; it was good food and good conversation. Then off we went to the graduation ceremony.

There was a lot of excitement in the lineup for graduation, and I was surprised at the number of students that traveled from the Brainerd campus; especially with the current weather conditions that were deteriorating rapidly. Our mascot, a giant Saint Bernard danced alongside of us as we started to walk into the ceremony. Bag pipes played, “When the Saints go marching in.” During the ceremony we also listened to an American Indian Drum Group, and the St. Scholastica string Orchestra; which were both powerful performances. Most graduations that I have attended over the years have had long winded speakers that babbled endlessly – our speakers were brief but eloquent in delivering their message. The ceremony itself was well organized, exciting, and went by quickly. I could tell that my Mom was just as excited throughout the event and it was great having her there. I bought her a “St. Scholastica MOM” sweatshirt that she is already proudly wearing. Even now I am still tearing up a bit that my Dad was not here to celebrate with us, I know he would have been proud.

We left the campus in a rush after a few important pictures were taken to beat the weather. The drive home was sloppy, until it turned into four inches of freezing slime with no visibility for the last 45 miles. We made it home in one piece exhausted from our weekend. Now I must prepare for my next big adventure!