Opening Convocation Exordium - Fall 2010

After arriving at Harlaxton on a damp dull Friday, Saturday 28 August dawned bright and sunny and set the scene perfectly for the opening Convocation ceremony for the Fall 2010 cohort. Students gathered expectantly in the Long Gallery and awaited the sound of the bagpipes which announced the start of the proceedings. 

Following the processional, when Faculty members made their way to the front of the Gallery, the national anthems of the United States of American and the United Kingdom were sung with piano and flute accompaniment provided by Miss Erin Copeland and Miss Heidi Cotner respectively. 

 

The Revd. Mr. John Bruce, Assisting Priest at the Church of St. Peter and St Mary, Harlaxton , then gave the Invocation. The text, which voices so well the aspirations for students and faculty alike, is reproduced below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Opening Convocation provides a formal opportunity to introduce Faculty, and this was done by the Master of Convocation, Dr Edward Bujak. Dr Kingsley then gave his address, which included the assembled College singing ‘The Garden Song’ accompanied by Dr Jerry Burns, Professor Sally Brown, Mr. Clayton Cook, Mr. William Jared Kern, Miss Shelby Haun and Dr Philip Taylor. At the end of the ceremony the Piper and Bodhran drummer, escorted Faculty out of the Gallery.

 

The day was rounded off by the formal Principal’s Reception and High Table Dinner, an opportunity for the Principal and his wife Suzanne to greet everyone and for Faculty and students to dine together in a similar way to that still carried out in many of the older Universities in the United Kingdom.