Senior Class Address
by James Clear '08
Chimes and Times at Denison
On behalf of my class, let me first thank the faculty and staff as well as our parents and families for celebrating with us today. Your constant support is certainly a major reason that many of us will be walking across this stage. And now to my classmates, my teammates, and my friends: I am honored to speak on your behalf.
In 1831, our fair college was set upon this hill, conceived by men of academic vigor, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, and fashioned on the ideals of a holistic education. These ideals, these principles, these ethics have been passed down through each generation of Denisonians. Perhaps there is no better example of the ever present link between each class than the College Bell that sits upon this stage. Built in 1855, it has been around almost as long as Denison herself.
Many years ago this bell was not a bell at all, but rather a collection of individual elements. In a similar way, we came here as a collection of individuals. Young minds ready to ripen and blossom thanks to the vast array of talents that we carried onto the hill four years ago. Through a little work, some heat, and a solid mold the individual elements of this bell were forged into the shape that sits here today. We have also put in work. We have survived the heat of academic challenge, and during this time Denison has been our mold. As students we have been shaped by the principles of a liberal arts education. The desire to explore and experience rings true in our hearts. Denison has taken our individual talents, our specific strengths, and has challenged them. We have been forced to make decisions about issues that confused us, questions that twisted our logic, and topics that redefined our notions of right and wrong. It is this intellectual stimulation that characterizes the atmosphere of Denison.
As the years have passed, this atmosphere has become a part of us ... and we, a part of it. Our College Bell has also been connected to the atmosphere of Denison. It spent years hanging from a campus tree, watching the smiles on students’ faces as they returned each August and invigorated the campus with life. It has seen the breath of students in winter, just as we have seen the breath of our best friends, as the first snowfall turned our chiseled buildings into soft white sheets. It has rested in the same halls where we endured the sweat, the sacrifice, and the headaches that came from moving past our previous limits.
And then suddenly, once this bell had become a part of Denison, it disappeared for a few decades. Upon its rediscovery, the bell was cleaned and polished into the beautiful instrument that we see here today. Some might say that like the bell, our previous personalities also disappeared as we found ourselves and grew into young men and women. It is certainly true that we have been polished. We have been honed into clear thinking students with a curiosity for knowledge.
After decades of quiet slumber, the bell broke its silence on an August day four years ago during the induction of our class. That day, it was decided that the beauty of this bell could be best appreciated if its song was also heard, if it was in action. In that moment, as our class was gathered together for the first time, we came to the same conclusion. We realized that our Denison education would blossom into something beautiful if we responded to each little test, to each challenging moment, by taking action. And so our talents began to ring out in all directions.
We dedicated ourselves to serving others. Some went to villages in Africa, some sat next to an autistic child in Newark, and some informed us of our responsibility to stand for equality, life, and liberty for all. Meanwhile, others pushed to reach the summit of athletic achievement, and did so. There are champions among us, driven by sweat and sacrifice, and carried by the trust of the teammates sitting beside them. Still others have spent long hours analyzing molecular structures, dissecting obscure pieces of literature, dancing across theatrical stages, or playing sweet musical notes. We have acted on the belief that the college experience will be what we make of it. And it is this desire to take hold of life, to make something of the time given to us that defines us both as individuals and as a community. If the Class of 2008 were a bell, this desire would be our ring.
And so as we say goodbye to the classrooms in which we learned, the halls in which we lived, and the fields on which we played, this bell will continue to ring out. It will continue to sound the call of the Denison community, a community that is centered on action. In the years to come, we will return to our lofty perch atop this hill with hair as silvery gray as the bell itself. And when that time comes, I hope to hear of the successes you have enjoyed and the good you have done as well as see evidence that just as this bell has never lost the ring that is in its soul, you have never lost the desire that is in yours. Thank you.