Farewell

Another year has come to a close, and with it we say goodbye to this year’s honors graduates. This is our fourth graduating honors class, and like their predecessors members of the Class of 2015 are moving on in an impressive variety of directions. Many will continue their education—in education, chemistry, criminal justice, physical therapy, and biology. Others will begin their careers in fields as varied as banking, engineering, marketing. And so borrowing (as I did last year) a line from Catullus, we say to the Honors seniors, Ave atque vale! We salute you and your achievements even as we to say farewell.

One more farewell: Laura Priest, this year’s honors graduate fellow, is completing her master’s degree in Higher Education and will follow her three predecessors as she moves to a new stage on her professional path. As visitors to the Honors suite know, Laura has been a steady presence in Merrimack Honors. She played a central role in coordinating our honors housing selection, producing the weekly Terrific Tuesday Update, and successfully managed the first every Honors shadow days (one in February and one in April), which made a big impact in our recruitment this year. Finally, Laura piloted a model for a revamped honors service learning requirement for sophomores. For all this and more, thank you!

Dr. B