For the incoming class of freshman, you’re about to embark on a four-year journey (for some of you, even longer) where you will find yourself (or at least try to). For the returning class of seniors, you’re about to finish that very same journey and find your place in the world, post-Fordham.

It’s scary and exciting and nerve-racking and overwhelming. It’s a part of life.  

Ask your parents and loved ones about how quickly time flies. You were just learning to crawl and suddenly, you’re off to college in a blink of an eye, leaving the comforts of your home behind for life in a foreign city. 

But we’re not the only ones growing. 

Fordham is growing, too. From St. John’s College in 1841 up in the Bronx, to classes being offered at the Woolworth Building downtown in 1913 to the move uptown to Lincoln Center in 1961, to the construction of the new Law School Building and McKeon Residence Hall, Fordham has been growing up right before our eyes. 

True to its Jesuit mission, Fordham has been helping us grow, too. Through core classes, through service projects, through retreats and plays and forums – Fordham is pushing us out of our comfort zone and past our boundaries of knowledge.

Through the Jesuit tenets of cura personalis, magis and men and women for others, Fordham is challenging you to reach our potential as an individual while still leading a life beyond self, encouraging us to use everything at our disposal to learn more about ourselves, what we believe in, what we stand for.

Everyone is starting their journey at a different point. Everyone is reading the same book but is on a different page. 

There are those of us who are the first ones to step foot into the new FCLC, the first ones to break into the new dorms and new departments. There are those of us who are leaving, some of our last memories bearing witness to the fact that our home for the past four years has the potential to grow bigger and better.

Then there are the ‘in-betweeners:’ those who have been awoken by early morning construction and can now revel in all its glory. 

Like every good book, as we read more, we get so immersed into the intricacies of the book that we want to take it in as our reality. But there comes a time when we need to close it for good and pick up another book. 

For those just beginning, take it all in. Before you know it, you’ll be entering your last year of college and getting ready to say goodbye to your home for the last four years. It’s bittersweet, and filled with blood, tears and sweat. 

For those nearing the final pages of this volume of their lives, enjoy every single moment. You’ve worked hard, and the finish line is in sight. Keep your eye on the horizon, and get ready to set the world on fire.