Good morning, and thank
you, everyone! All praise be to God for getting us here! I am immensely honored
and humbled by this award. I would never had made it this far without so many
wonderful people – Dr. T, Dr. Williams, the monks, all of the Faculty and
Administration, and everyone in the Athletics Department: your indelible impact
on my time at The Abbey will never be forgotten. To my parents and sister: you
have never given me reason to doubt your love and support – thank you.
And now? Wow. I can’t believe
this day has finally come. It seemed so far away when I celebrated my 18th
birthday on move-in day freshman year. How much we have grown since then! You,
my fellow graduates, are some of the most honest, invested, generous and
passionate people I know; you are all as deserving of this honor as I am. I am
blown away by this community, which is filled with so many like-minded and
like-hearted people, who have chosen to share their lives with one another.
Many of you know that I
have lived longer at The Abbey than I have in any place since the 3rd
grade. In a place normally filled with transition, I have found stability. For
the first time in a long time, I have put down roots – and actually had time to
grow. It breaks my heart to leave this place that I love so much. We have
shared our lives so deeply that I have wanted to say “Life Stand Still Here,”
as Mrs. Ramsay does in the novel To the
Lighthouse. I have wanted to press pause, to stretch a moment out as long
as possible before it becomes a memory, to keep the laughter and smiles
eternally present. I am overjoyed to call The Abbey home, and you my Abbey
family.
I believe with all my
heart the closing lines of our acceptance letters – “Excellence is not an
accident; Divine Providence has led you here.” Divine Providence led us to this
space – this piazza of the Basilica, the monks’ front porch so graciously
opened to us – it led us here four years ago when we attended Matriculation and
became official students of Belmont Abbey College. Divine Providence has guided
us as we shared practices, conversations, laughter, tears and ideas, all across
on campus – even on these very steps. And now, Divine Providence has led us
back to this porch as we become students of the world. How precious it is to
share this moment with you all, on my favorite spot on campus. This porch seems
so simple, hardly anything special about it, but it holds so many memories. It
represents everything most dear about The Abbey: the simple, everyday things
that allow for extraordinary moments and make up a life. All the classes and
the lunches and the smiles and nods on Abbey Lane that grow into conversations
of “What? You too? I thought I was the only one” – conversations C.S. Lewis
calls the beginning of Friendship.
In the Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot writes, “What we call the beginning is often the end /
And to make an end is to make a beginning. / The end is where we start from.”
Walking across this porch brings us full circle. It’s sad to leave home, to
leave a community held so dear, but Eliot also tells us that “Home is where one
starts from.” Our Abbey home has prepared us in mind, body and spirit. We have
learned about work and prayer, sport and virtue. We have been encouraged and
aided as we sought truth and excellence. Let us embrace the beginning in what
feels like an end. Excellence is not an accident, my friends; we are blessed to
be drawn to the new opportunities available to us because of our time spent
pursuing excellence here at The Abbey. Let us trust in Divine Providence as we
seek truth beyond these grounds.
Now: to my teammates,
roommates, classmates and friends, I leave you with a few more words of T.S.
Eliot: “Not farewell / But fare forward, voyagers.” Now, y’all better be at
homecoming!
-Tana
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