Lessons in school pride and cultural appreciation, along with reminders to make those all-important phone calls home to mom and dad, were delved out at Friday’s student convocation, as part of the Preamble for all new George Mason University students.
S. David Wu, George Mason’s provost and executive vice president, urged the crowd to make the best of their college years.
“College is like an all-you-can-eat ice cream shop; you can choose to take a popsicle, and do the minimum and walk out, or you can make the most amazing ice cream sundae of your life, ” Wu told the crowd of about 3,000 students.
Making such a sundae requires effort, Wu added.
“Every time you thinking about sleeping in or skipping a lecture, think about that,” he said.
He encouraged the new students to take advantage of Mason’s vibrant undergraduate research opportunities, or use campus resources to start a business or study other cultures.
Mason music professor Michael “Doc Nix” Nickens brought the culture of the West Indies to the stage during his keynote address.
Nickens, a tubist, and music professor, played a duet with steel pan player and School of Music faculty member Victor Provost.
“When they invented that pan [in Trinidad] it was out of garbage. Professor Provost is now touring the world as a jazz musician on what was formerly a piece of garbage,” Nickens said. “Your idea could seem to everyone else like garbage … but I’m telling you, if you learn to look at it a certain way and you find the right motivation, you’re going to be able to turn that garbage into art.”
Nickens, the director of Mason’s pep band, the Green Machine, emphasized the need to develop school pride, and to learn the school fight song, “Onward to Victory,” which he sang.
“We are going to sing the praises of George Mason University … when we’re out there, we’re telling the story, we’re making sure everybody knows what’s going on with us—where we’re headed and how we feel about it.”
President Ángel Cabrera, arriving at convocation from a meeting at the White House about campus sexual assault, urged the group to look after one another and told them, “If you see something, say something.”
He also noted that now it’s time to change their focus away from preparing for college, “from getting here to being here.”
Hailey Johnson, an 18-year-old freshman nursing major from New Hampshire, said the event helped her relax.
“Coming [into EagleBank Arena] was kind of overwhelming, but coming in, settling down and listening to the president speak is what I needed,” she said.
Johnson, who is at Mason on a lacrosse scholarship, said she looks forward to helping the Green Machine support the basketball team, because student-athletes should support each other’s events, she said.