More than 1,000 freshmen were officially welcomed to the University of Central Arkansas Monday during Opening Convocation at Reynolds Performance Hall.
The ceremony marked the start of the 2010-2011 academic year. Classes begin Thursday.
UCA President Allen Meadors congratulated the students for making the choice to continue their education. Fewer than 20 percent of Arkansans have earned a baccalaureate degree. Meadors encouraged the freshmen to finish college.
Visit UCA’s YouTube page for more on this year’s convocation.
“None of you would be here today if the university faculty and staff didn’t know you were capable of graduating from college,” Meadors said. “We believe in you. We want you to do well and to earn the degree that will help lead you to your destiny. We’ll do our share to support you and guide you along this journey but you must do your share as well.”
Meadors shared several tips to help students succeed and stressed the importance of being involved in various activities on campus.
“On behalf of the faculty and staff here at UCA, I welcome you to this community of higher thinking and learning. We look forward to your contribution,” Meadors said in closing.
Associate Provost Jonathan Glenn, who presided over the ceremony, shared the seven habits of highly effective scholars: honesty, courage, persistence, consideration, humility, responsibility, and integrity.
“Learning in the university – like learning in the wider world – is partly about coming to know things and how to express and apply what we know well,” Glenn said. “It is also about the other side of language, about learning to listen. ‘. . . a strongly held opinion is worthwhile only as long as the speaker opens his ears as well as his mouth.’ Somewhere between the ears and the mouth – somewhere in here — is where the hard work of consideration takes place, where conviction grows and responsibility has its roots, and where the individual may choose to be a productive part of a larger world.”