This year marks an important point in Miami University's history: as we all know, 2009 marks the bicentennial of the chartering of this institution which many of us have come to love during our time here. Today, Feb. 17, is the official "birthday" of Miami, and I think it is important to stop to commemorate not only the noteworthy history of this place, but also to look forward to the countless memories, minds and lives that will be shaped here in the future. People that know me can probably vouch for the fact that I am not much of a sentimentalist, that many things that get others all worked up emotionally I shrug off as unimportant (which, in my experience, is not found by the ladies to be one of my more endearing qualities). Still, as I look back on the way that I have been shaped by my time at Miami, the incredible people I have been able to know here and the boundless opportunities that have come my way through being here, I cannot help but feel great kinship to this university, its past and its future, as we begin to celebrate the bicentennial year.
Today in Millett Hall, a birthday celebration is being thrown for the university, and I look forward to attending. In some ways, I am curious to see just what is in store for the program itself (the specifics of which have been kept under wraps for the most part, something which always gets under my skin). However, I also see this birthday as an opportunity for me to look back on how Miami has shaped me personally, and how the people who have come here before have made this university what it is today. None of us live in a vacuum, and for our own benefit it is important to understand how we are affected by our environment. It follows then that it is important to understand what has affected that environment itself. To first-years in their Miami Plan geography or history classes, that thought may sound like academic mumbo-jumbo, but as a soon-to-be graduating senior (I told my dad that chances were much better than even that I would be out in May) it takes on significance.
It has only recently begun to dawn on me that my time here is short; next year, I will be in another city at another school, but I still hope that I can take time to come back here and revisit the people and places that have made Miami a special place to me. Student Body President Mike Scott is fond of telling (and retelling) a story from this past summer in Oxford when he encountered two Depression-era alums who were back for Alumni Weekend. When he asked them how it felt to return to their old stomping grounds, one replied to him that it was "good to be home." If I am fortunate enough to make it back here in 70 years, I honestly believe that my sentiments would be the same.
Miami of course has a documented history, from the days of Robert Hamilton Bishop through the Snowball Rebellion and the Rowan Hall sit-in to the present day. The Miami that we all know has been forged by these events, and in turn we are forged by them as well. This may fall on deaf ears when read by first-years, but to upperclassmen I expect that there is an element of this that will ring true. Members of the Greek community can understand how Miami's historical status as "Mother of Fraternities" has affected their lives; members of student organizations can understand how student activism throughout Miami's history has affected them. After all, "understanding contexts" is one of the foundations of Miami's liberal education philosophy.
If you are able to attend the birthday celebration today at 4 p.m. in Millett Hall, I hope you choose to do so. Today, and throughout the rest of your time here, I would urge you to reflect on how Miami and its past have affected you, and how you will affect Miami and its future.
