Michael McFarland, SJ; President of the College of the Holy Cross

Welcoming Remarks to Se Puede Conference on Student Success

     Distinguished speakers, faculty, students, families, community partners and other supporters of Latino education, welcome to Holy Cross. We are honored to be hosting this conference, not only because of the quality of the people involved and the work you are doing, but because it reflects our own mission and values in several important ways.

     First of all, experiential education, in which students integrate their coursework with experiences outside the classroom, is and always has been an important part of Jesuit education. We talk about education as a cycle in which study and experience become the subject of reflection, leading to judgment and action, which begets more experience, beginning the cycle again. In a passage we often use here, Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, then Superior General of the Society of Jesus, at a conference on justice in Jesuit education in 2000 told us, "When the heart is touched by direct experience, the mind may be challenged to change. Personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is the catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection." Experiential learning, or engaged learning, as we like to call it, pervades many aspects of students' experience here, including community-based learning courses, study abroad and internships - whether in the business, nonprofits, government or ministry, volunteer service, student research, immersion programs in underserved communities.

     Students' insertion into the community is not just for their own sake, to make their learning more effective. Their positive impact on the community is just as important. One of the fundamental objectives of Jesuit education, going back to its origins 450 years ago, was to foster civic virtue, that is, to produce good citizens, people who will be involved in their communities and work for the common good. In particular, as Fr. Kolvenbach indicated, there is a special commitment to social justice and service of the poor and the marginalized. It should begin here in college; but it is something graduates should carry with them for the rest of their lives. The number of Holy Cross graduates who go on to full-time volunteer service in underserved communities after graduation and the even greater number who make service and work for justice part of their lives reflect this.

     All of this is not just part of our Jesuit heritage; it is also part of our own particular history. Holy Cross was founded here in 1843 as a refuge for immigrants who had fled poverty, famine, religious persecution and political oppression to come to these shores, only to find more persecution and exclusion here. The deep and rigorous Holy Cross education and its nurturing community provided both a way of preserving their heritage and their faith and access to the goods of the wider society, ultimately preparing them for leadership roles in medicine, law, government, education, business and religion.

     Today we are reconnecting with that proud history, as we seek to serve a growing and ever more diverse immigrant population, many of them from right here in Worcester. Latino students are the largest and fastest growing part of that population. They have enriched our campus in many ways, through their talents, their experience, their culture, their dedication and their hard work. They include students like Yachira Torres, whose family came here from Puerto Rico when she was four, living in Great Brook Valley then Plumley Village. Yachira did not learn English until second grade, but flourished in the public schools here, graduating from North High School and going on to Holy Cross. She has taken full advantage of the educational opportunities here, compiling an impressive academic record. Even more notable is the way she has remained committed to her neighborhood. She works with young adolescent girls in Plumley Village to help them build positive self images, stay away from trouble and envision a better future for themselves. She also is a key part of the Collegiate Success Institute, working with students from underrepresented groups at North, preparing them for college. For this extraordinary community service, Yachira was recently recognized with the outstanding young leader award as part of the Telegram and Gazette's Vision Awards. This is one of many success stories we have had with our Latino students here.

     So, it is a great pleasure to be able to celebrate, explore and enhance the very productive community partnerships we have in this city, particularly with its strong and vibrant Latino community. We thank Worcester State College for working with us to make this day possible, along with our other community partners, Adelante Worcester, Christian Community Church, Stand for Children, and the Worcester Youth Center. I also want to recognize and thank the faculty members from Latin American and Latino Studies who have been planning for the conference since last summer, especially the members of the conference planning committee: Rosa Carrasquillo, Ricardo Dobles, Josep Alba-Salas, Daniel Frost, Justin Poché, Bridget Franco, Rocío Fuentes, [Isabel Álvarez Borland, Maria Rodrigues], and Cynthia Stone. Thank you all and have a wonderful day.