Opening Convocation, Aug. 29, 2025

Remarks by President Andrea Talentino

Welcome students, families, staff, faculty, and guests.  It’s wonderful to greet you all here and feel your energy on campus.  

Recently I’ve been talking a lot about what going to college means, specifically about how your life changes, and about the freedom, both actual and intellectual, that it entails. That’s because nine days ago we dropped off my son for his first year of college. Like many of you perhaps, he’s a person who likes to have things planned out. He feels most comfortable when he has a schedule for the day, a plan for the week, and a goal for the year. But he's also talented at many things and has many interests, so he’s entering college undecided as to major, and this has been causing him some stress.

Several times he said to me (and this is the sort of extreme he worries about), “what if I’m ruining my life by not having a major yet, or not taking the right classes?” I explained to him that most of those who have chosen their major will change it at least once, and that most of the classes you take in your first semester of freshman year are classes that are required for graduation, no matter what your major. So your first-year seminar, your writing class, your required lab or whatever it might be will all be important and useful no matter what major you choose, and no matter what professional direction you ultimately take.

I also explained to him that the purpose of those classes is twofold: to help you explore areas you might be interested in, and help you build the abilities that will be essential to any successful career. He said “well, how do I know which class I need for my job,” and I said, that’s exactly the point. There’s no one right class. What’s important is not the specific information a class provides but how it teaches you to think, and ask questions, and engage in a rigorous process of finding answers.  

Then he asked, “but what if I choose the wrong major?” I told him it was impossible to choose a wrong major, because there is no right or wrong in that choice either. He should choose what motivates and interests him because that is where he’ll get the most opportunities to learn and where he’ll be inspired to do more and do well, which will ultimately be what determines his next steps. Not whether he got the highest grade in the class or did something exactly tailored to a job. In fact, I told him that since we know jobs are constantly changing, there is no way to be certain about what major might most connect and so his focus should be on thinking, and being curious and flexible. That’s what will make you succeed.  

In these conversations he would often stop and say, “Are you sure?” To which I would reply, ‘You know what I do, right?” But his fears probably represent many of the fears you share, because this is indeed a momentous step. And so, after we talked about some of those specifics I talked to him about transformation, and that’s what I want to talk to you about now.  

I’ll start with some questions, just as I did with him. Why have you come here? Why have you chosen to go to college and why have you chosen this particular college?  The most important part about college, and what I’ve been explaining to my son, is that it’s transformative. Some of the transformation is about independence. College is a moment when you embark on your independent life.  

For those who are residential students, you are no longer living with parents or other family, no longer beholden to the schedule and daily expectations of others, but free to make your own choices, set your own schedule, and engage in the activities that most excite you.  And for commuters, this concept of choice and independence is still critical because for whatever hours you choose to spend on campus, they are entirely yours. Not shaped or determined by your family except for the overall hope that you will work hard and do well. Your choices are also about the direction and meaning of your future life, as you think about (as my son has been doing) what majors and activities you want to engage in to pave the way to what you want to become.  

That’s the practical side. The intellectual side of college is equally freeing, because now you are in a setting where you can engage fully in a process of becoming. Who are you now, and who do you want to be? As I told my son, that question is now yours and the future is yours to create. Although you feel nervous and anxious starting out, any one of us on this stage would change seats with you in an instant. You stand at the precipice of discovering your full self and all its talents. These next years will be some of the most exciting of your lives.

How will you discover who you want to be? First, you need to start from the understanding that your time here is not preparation for something else, but the essential foundation of all that you will do. In the words of John Dewey, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” We live that concept at Augustana by focusing on teaching in a way that is deeply tied to both personal and community development. The Lutheran tradition that is the heart of what we do calls on us to serve our neighbor and work for the common good. We want you to be impactful citizens, motivated by the vocations you define in your personal and professional lives.

But even outside of formal learning, your education here will be your life. As you live on campus, connect with people from different backgrounds, states, and countries, and try different activities and clubs, you will learn the habits of mind and thought that will make you more equipped for the world. You will become more daring, more creative, more sure of your capacities, and more able to succeed in the fast-paced tech world.  The people around you, both your fellow students and our faculty and staff, will encourage you, helping to navigate the twists and turns, supporting you, and pushing you to be more than you think you are.  

Second, you need to recognize that we will not be asking you to address subjects with limited relevance to the world. To the contrary, we will be presenting you with the challenges critical to our time, and asking you to help craft solutions. Just because you’re starting out, or maybe starting somewhere new, doesn’t mean you should sit on the sidelines. As a mentor of mine used to say, “education is a full contact sport.”

Some of the challenges you address can be wrestled with in the classroom, such as the eternal questions of governance and representation that animate my own field of political science. Some will be wrestled with outside it as you engage projects that serve non-profit and business organizations.

Some may be geographically close, such as working with the City of Rock Island to address the water, health, or business needs of city residents. Others may be geographically far, perhaps assessing business practices in Hong Kong or addressing mental health in Costa Rica. But in every case the questions will be essential to the human condition and how we thrive, individually and collectively.

Finally, we will remind you that your time here is to pursue an education with purpose.  The opportunities that we present to you, both in classes and out, will be designed to help you craft a future that matters to those around you. I use the term impactful citizens intentionally because producing those has been Augustana’s mission for 165 years. We count among our alumni two Nobel laureates, one NFL MVP, a Para-Olympic silver medalist, a CNN Hero of the Year, a nationally recognized inventor, numerous Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 CEOs and Vice Presidents, and thousands of people who made a difference in their neighborhoods, communities, and countries.

How and where you make a difference will be for you to determine. In sport, in business, in civic life, in technology, we hope that you will commit to lifting others. The common thread among all our graduates is that they have lived out the principle that doing good for all does good for ourselves. Our national conversation on education has turned learning into an individual thing—what’s in it for me? That is certainly an important question, but it’s not the only one, for an important value of education is that it benefits society. That is why houses of learning date back to our earliest history.

Plato founded the Academy in Athens, and then his student, Aristotle, founded the Lyceum, in 387 and 335 BC, respectively. The great Al-Azhar in Cairo was founded in 970 CE. The University of Bologna in 1088. The first university in the United States, Harvard, was founded in 1636. And Augustana College, in 1860.  Education matters, for you, and for the societies you live in, and our ancestors have recognized that for over two thousand years.  

The beauty of this moment, right now, is that you are just starting on a journey with more questions than answers. And like my son, you might be wondering what the right questions are. I will tell you, every question is right. You, the class of 2029, come from 24 different states, 37 countries, and every corner of Illinois. You speak 21 different first languages. 170 of you are international students.

Although you may feel uncertain, your way is filled with possibility. The “right” thing for you is curiosity, creativity, and an openness to others. We have a fabulous faculty and staff at Augustana that will help you find your way—they will present opportunities and ideas that at times may seem overwhelming and complex and just plain hard, but will ultimately create the pathways that lead you to the A-HA moment, when you know, this is who I am, this is what I can do.

But remember this. Abigail Adams (1780) warned that “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence."  Our standards for you will be high, and our expectations rigorous. We are going to push you every day to move outside of what you find most comfortable and simple. And we are going to expect you to start forming and following your own questions. Seek out people unlike yourselves. Challenge yourself with ideas you’re not sure you believe. Consider how your activities and areas of study connect to and both support and complicate one another. Education is intended to be challenging because the world we live in is challenging. Answers are not simple. Your path to success comes through connection, creativity, and joy in curiosity.

We are delighted to have you join us as the newest Augustana Vikings.  Over your next several years this campus will mold and shape you as you mold and shape it, and prepare you to add to our great legacy of impactful citizens.  

Embrace the uncertainty. Embrace the possibility. And enjoy the discovery. Welcome to Augustana.

Sources:

Adams, A. (1780). Letter to John Quincy Adams. March 20. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-03-02-0240

Dewey, J. (2024). Democracy and Education. New York: Columbia University Press.