Dear Class of 2014,
Do you hear a loud BUZZ? That’s the sound of Welcome Weeks at American University. The campus is alive with anticipation and excitement about the year ahead. Your class brings lots of new energy to a campus community that is already exceptional for its active engagement in the life of the nation’s capital and issues around the world. Adding you to AU is sure to make this a memorable year. Welcome!
Great spirit – that’s the first thing you’re going to notice as you settle into the rhythm of campus life. Nearly everyone here is passionate about something – world affairs, the arts, social justice, sustainability, all AU Eagle sports teams ... and of course, politics! AU students swelled with pride when news was released recently that the Princeton Review ranked AU #1 for most politically active students - the third time in the last five years that we’ve earned this distinction. We look to you to uphold this impressive record.
During Welcome Week, most of your class will be drawn into the city of Washington, D.C., to explore its history and neighborhoods and to meet some of its residents – people who have lived here a lifetime, and others who have come here from all over the world. Whether you participate in Discover D.C. or the Freshman Service Experience, many of you will become pathfinders for your classmates as you encounter places and people that you will want to introduce to others. We also hope that your encounters will motivate you to find ways to serve and enhance the city throughout your years at AU. Hunger, homelessness and illiteracy are just a few of the problems facing the D.C. community. These are problems you can help address through the gifts of your intelligence and a commitment to service. We encourage you to be the agents of change that this community needs.
City living calls each of us to be engaged citizens in a variety of ways. Just after classes begin, we’ll observe CIVITAS Week – a week of activities that spotlights “civility” and helps us focus on how our individual actions affect the quality of the life we share in this beautiful corner of Northwest Washington. Whether you’re listening to music in your residence hall, navigating the Terrace Dining Room, hurrying to class or walking back to campus from a shuttle stop, the CIVITAS message is, “Choose to be thoughtful and considerate in your treatment of others and of your environment.” Good neighbors – on and off campus – are what make great communities.
Everyone who passes through AU’s gates to join this campus community is bright, highly motivated and already accomplished in some endeavor – and “success breeds success.” As you begin your studies think about how that phrase describes your journey here and how it will drive what you do now that you’ve arrived. What awaits you at AU is the next level of engagement and a broader definition of success – one measured in terms of your capacity to create a better community and a better world. So, take your place among AU’s experts and leaders in the vast learning laboratory that is Washington, D.C. and make us proud to call you Eagles.
Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle,
Gail Short Hanson
Vice President of Campus Life
