Presenting the Class of 2008
By Kathy Ruby, Director of Financial Aid and Interim Dean of Enrollment
Sept. 4, 2004

Good afternoon and welcome to St. Olaf. As a staff member, this is my favorite day of the year. The excitement and enthusiasm you bring as you arrive on campus is contagious and energizes us all as we go about our daily work.

My job today is to present you to the Dean of Students and the Dean of the College. Since I am actually the Director of Financial Aid and have only recently stepped into the role of Interim Dean of Enrollment, I was not closely involved in the admissions process in the winter and spring. As I read statistics and files, and became better acquainted with you, it became evident that you are are a wonderful group of young people.

One drawback to working in college enrollment is having to face how young the students are. Every year as the birth dates of applicants come flying across our computer screens, we are forced to confront our own aging. If you walk down the Admissions and Financial Aid corridor on any December day, you can hear cries of despair emanating from various offices: "This guy was born the year I started junior high!" Or, "This girl was born the year I went to college!"

This year this process became especially painful for me because I babysat one of the members of the Class of 2008 almost 18 years ago when she was six months old. She was the niece of my post-college-graduation roommate, and I was asked to take care of this future Ole while my roommate, her brother, and her sister-in-law attended a family wedding. Since my roommate and I had both graduated from Carleton the year before and her brother and sister-in-law had graduated from St. Olaf several years before that, I was surprised that they trusted me with their infant daughter. My short and early encounter with her seems to have had a positive effect; she has grown into a smart, funny and interesting person. I hope the rest of you enjoy meeting her. However, I will have to stop myself from contacting her professors on Thursday to warn them that she may be a bit of a rabble rouser in class; she screamed the entire time her parents were gone. Even at that young age, she must have sensed I was a Carl.

As we formally welcome you into the St. Olaf community, try to remember the efforts of those who have loved and supported you and encouraged you to be here today. Whether it was quizzing you on spelling lists, gently -- or maybe not so gently -- reminding you to practice the piano or cheering you on through endless soccer games, your family and friends have played an important role in you being here today. So I would like to ask the parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and all behind-the-scenes supporters of our newest Oles to stand to be recognized.

Who is this group of students who have decided to enroll at St. Olaf this fall? It's a wonderfully large group; there are 836 of you in total. And -- as you will learn as you get to know each other better -- you are an interesting and varied group of young men and women. You are fluent in 20 languages, ranging from Arabic to Vietnamese, and you have lived in countless foreign locales, including Argentina, Russia, Paraguay, Poland, Finland, India, Germany, England, Singapore, Switzerland, Madagascar, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. While some of you were traveling around the world, others were making your mark right here in rural America. You can count as one of your classmates a Future Farmers of America state champion in vegetable production, a "Grand Champion" llama shower, and the owner and manager of a 100-head sheep production operation.

You are committed to making the world a better place, and are actively and creatively involved in your communities: One of you is an Emergency Medical Technician. One of you performs clown ministry in a nursing home, and one of you has served as a referee for Special Olympics floor hockey. You do what you can wherever you are: One among you is a member of Minnesota's highest-earning team in the Walk for Diabetes, while another of you has worked at a children's hospital for the crippled in Kenya. Some of you are already bona fide journalists: having worked as a news anchor for Ozarks Community Television; as a weekly columnist for the Detroit Lakes Tribune; and as a high school newspaper food critic. We've notified the food service to be on their best behavior.

You have arrived here from 39 different states -- the top three being Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. With 25 students, Oregon came in a surprising fourth. This is the first time in recent history that the fourth state has not been Illinois. Those of you from Illinois will have to send word back to your high schools that St. Olaf is the place to enroll next year if you want to gain back some favor in the Admissions Office.

While 326 of you identified your religious affiliation as Lutheran, this year's incoming students also represent 28 other denominations. Fifteen percent of you had at least one parent attend St. Olaf and 32 percent have some sort of familial connection with us. Thirteen percent of you are first-generation college students.

You are athletes in every sense of the word. You have ridden horses and unicycles, skipped rope on the North Pole, and performed aerial gymnastics at a youth performing arts circus school. The range of activity is vast. One of you was co-president of a croquet club, while another has climbed Mt. Kilaminjaro. When the sports you wanted weren't available, you founded clubs and teams in lacrosse, sailing, bicycling and ping-pong.

You are also a talented and diverse group of musicians: Two of you play mandolin. One of you won the First Chair award in 2003 from Instrumentalist magazine. And yet another of you has appeared in three Minnesota Opera productions. In addition, one of you was the drummer in a band called Periwinkle and the Vivid Tangerines. Unbeknownst to you, you won the St. Olaf Admissions Office award for most creative garage band name.

There are artists among you as well: A young painter recently created a mural in a high school library, and a budding young sculptor submitted a soapstone sculpture of a molar to a national competition where it won a silver award from more than 15,000 entries.

Some of you are teachers working as instructors in voice, violin and ceramics. The performers among you have already performed in Carnegie Hall, the Rose Bowl Parade, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the Illinois Renaissance Festival. One of you was a member of a Tibetan cultured dance group that danced for the Dalai Lama. Another of you sang at the White House for Christmas. And some of you just know how to enjoy the good things in life: One young man knits with his grandma. Another is restoring a 1977 Triumph TR7, and one young woman has played Scrabble five times a week since she was 5.

For some of you, the path to St. Olaf has not been easy. An unusually high number of you have experienced the death of a parent. Many of you have had your own injuries and illnesses that have delayed or sometimes destroyed other dreams and goals. Whether we are reviewing financial aid files or admissions files, we are amazed by the perseverance and determination of those of you who have overcome huge obstacles to fulfill your dream of higher education. We are blessed to have you in our community.

It has been a joy to get to know all of you, and I hope you enjoy learning more about each other in the upcoming days, months and years. The energy and passion that has brought you here today will be embraced, celebrated and developed here on the Hill. On behalf of the Admissions and Financial Aid Offices, I wish you the best as you begin this part of your life's journey.