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The College of William and Mary - 317 Years Old and Going Strong
I am a proud alumni of The College of William and Mary a.k.a. The College of Knowledge a.k.a. The Alma Mater of a Nation. I graduated in 1988 and go back whenever I have the opportunity to visit. The four years I spent at William and Mary shaped my future. I have so many fond memories of my days there and I never stopped being in awe of the history of the place. When you walk on the cobblestone sidewalks or up and down the stairs in the Sunken Garden or in some of the older buildings on campus, you can't help but notice the 'divets' - the reminders that thousands of footsteps have walked there before you for centuries. The campus of William and Mary is beautiful. It is quiet and serene and outside was a favorite place to study.
As an alumn, I receive the William and Mary alumni magazine. In this past issue, President W. Taylor Reveley III spoke of Charter Day. William and Mary's charter was signed February 8, 1693. Every February, the college celebrates Charter Day. President Reveley spoke and recorded some o fhis speech in the Alumni magazine. It reminded me of the pride I feel about having attended a college with so much history and in honor of my alma mater's 317th birthday, I thought I would record it here.
"When Charter Day is stripped to its essentials, laid bare, it's a birthday, a celebration of another year in the long life of the College of William and Mary. As our charter indicates, William and Mary was born on February 8, 1693. So today, February 6, 2010, almost 317 years later is close enough for purposes of this year's birthday celebration.
When we humans are young, our birthdays come around very slowly and once the magic moment finally arrives, it is glorious. The wild animal excitement of birthdays subsides as the years accumulate, and the birthdays begin to pile up, rolling in more and more quickly, relentlessly, like the surf rushing to shore. Some birthdays remain special, though - when we get to be 21 - or 300.
William and Mary had celebrated its 83rd birthday when the colony of Virginia declared independence from greate Britain in June 1776, creating the state of Virginia. Our state was born right here in Williamsburg. W&M people played leading roles in creating it as well as in giving birth to the United States of America. As Dumas Malone put it, "Our continent has provided no greater seedbed of greatness than the one square mile of this old colonial capital, and no American institution of learning has ever surpassed the record of this little College, in Jefferson's generation, as a nursery of statesmen." With shy modesty, we at William and Mary do call ourselves the alma mater of a nation.
William and Mary has been alive and kicking for more than three centuries. The College is still glued together, moving ahead, full of current excellence and future potential. That's quite something.
Let me end this birthday riff with a few epigrams. As you'll see, I've been ecumenical in my sources. They range from two Popes to Dr. Seuss. Their common theme is a celebration of age. If anyone enjoys celebrating age, it's those of us at the College.
- Pope John XXIII - "Men are like wine. Some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age."
- Pope Paul VI - "The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune."
- German Proverb - "To remain young while growing old is the highest blessing."
- Pablo Picasso - "It takes a long time to grow young."
- Henry Ford - "Anyone who keeps learning stays young."
- Abraham Lincoln - "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
- Finally, Dr. Seuss - "Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."
There is only one College of William and Mary. So we do say to this marvelous university on its 317th birthday, in the words of Dr. Seuss, truly "there is no one alive who is Youer than You."
I am proud to know my footsteps have mingled with so many amazing individuals from the past and will mingle with those yet to walk the grounds of The College of Knowledge. I will leave you with a common joke that was told on campus when I attended.
Do you know why Thomas Jefferson built UVA?
Because his nephew wasn't smart enough to get into William and Mary!
