It is hard for anyone not to feel slightly intimidated whenever he/she is in the presence of Sr. Margaret Carney, St. Bonaventure University’s twentieth president. But as she addressed us, the Class of 2015, it was as if some of that intimidation melted away. 

After an introduction from Dr. Nancy Casey (and the “turn off your cell phone” spiel), Sr. Margaret spoke to us, not at us. She broke the ice right off the bat by sharing her love for the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

“I understand that makes me a rather dangerous and difficult person to like for some of you,” she said. 

She went on to delve into the history of the Steelers and their time spent on St. Bonaventure’s campus for their training from 1950-1954. Our attention was captured. 

If it was not clear to us before why our first assignment as a class was to read “Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal” by Conor Grennan, Sr. Margaret certainly cleared it up. There, accompanied by the president of the university herself, we as a class were given the chance to discuss the book we had all read. 

In “Little Princes,” Conor Grennan travels to Nepal to volunteer in an orphanage called Little Princes. He has mixed feelings about his decision to do so. He never expected to develop a deep love for the children of Nepal, but he did. After learning that many of the “orphans” are actually children who were placed in the orphanage by a child trafficker, Grennan made it his mission to find the families of each of the children. 

Grennan will speak to the Bonaventure community about his experiences on Monday, Sept. 26. 

“Now, there are an awful lot of you and there’s just one of him,” Sr. Margaret said. “So when he does come to visit, the question for me is ‘How do we maximize his interaction with this class?’”

With that, Sr. Margaret traveled around the Dresser Auditorium, listening to suggestions and building a Letterman-esque Top Ten List of reasons why the Class of 2015 wants to meet Conor Grennan. Some of the nominations were humorous (“I just felt he’d be honored to meet me,” said one member of the Class of 2015, much to his classmates’ approval) while others really hit home for St. Bonaventure students. 

“We thought he represented a modern example of the Franciscan values on which this university was built,” came a suggestion from Jessica Ceglia, a psychology major from Scio, N.Y.

While the other suggestions were just as important, Sr. Margaret ran with the one about Franciscan values. 

“Somebody said he seems to have some of the same Franciscan values that you’ve been hearing about since you were welcomed to Bona’s at Orientation and even in these first weeks of your freshman year,” said Sr. Margaret. “I would say, ‘Amen to that idea.’”

She discussed Grennan and his use of the word “resilient.” They had been through so much, and yet were so resilient that they could bounce right back and still act like little children. 

“My question to you, the Class of 2015, is: ‘How are you going to show us your resilience in your years here at St. Bonaventure?’” 

Sr. Margaret wants the Class of 2015 to make a mark at St. Bonaventure and for us to do something that the classes before us have not done before. We may be a diverse class full of different majors and interests, but we can work together to make a difference here at St. Bonaventure. 

“If you walk around this campus, you’re going to see little brass plaques with names. You’re going to see buildings — Plassmann, Reilly, Walsh, De La Roche – who were those people? Why is their mark so important? What is your mark going to be?” 

St. Bonaventure University has high expectations for us as a class, and we have very big shoes to fill. Maybe someday one of our names will adorn the front of a building here on campus. If Sr. Margaret’s hopes come true, our names will be famous at St. Bonaventure University. 

Sr. Margaret ended with one simple sentence: “I hope you have a great adventure.” 

We had the first of many great adventures together as a class just moments later. We were unaware that a storm had broken out during Sr. Margaret’s address. 

We screamed and ran together from the Murphy Professional Building back to our respective residences in the pouring rain.

-Emily Steves
Class of 2015

Originally published  in the Parent Communications newsletter (9/16/11).