Investing in yourself — Convocation 2018

Over 2,200 students and dozens of faculty and staff filled RecPlex Aug. 21 as the University held its 2018 convocation welcoming the Class of 2022 to the Flyer family.

President Eric F. Spina, in his opening remarks, kept his advice simple to the new first-year students: “Invest in yourself, invest in your education, invest in others.” S

pina encouraged the class to make education the central element to the college experience as that was the main reason they were sitting in front of him at that moment.

“This is truly the time to challenge yourself, risk failure, rebound from any mistakes — and reach higher,” Spina remarked.

Senior chemical engineering student Josh Romo added to the president’s message by telling the newest class that learning should not solely be confined to the classroom, but sometimes can be taught best outside the lecture hall.

“We change the world not by our achievement in the classroom, but by who we are outside the classroom, by our individual lives,” Romo said.

Detailing key moments of his journey as a young UD student to a rising senior, Romo spoke of experiential learning outside the classroom that have helped shape his view on his life and the world. He urged the newcomers to take advantage of opportunities to grow both inside and outside the classroom, because of how it helped him grow as a person. “[These moments] have broadened my perspective, changed the way I learn, the way I understand, the way I live and the way I love,” he said. “I love academia not because of what I have learned, but because where it has taken me and how it has challenged by life.”

Following key note speaker Josh Heyne, professor in the School of Engineering, all new students stood up and recited the honor code, solidifying their commitment by pinning their very first UD pin on one another.

The Class of 2022, comes from 39 states and 18 countries, and also has the highest standardized test scores and high school GPAs. It is the second-largest class in school history, following the class of 2021.