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Ave Maria University is Finally Home - Ribbon is Cut on First Day of Classes
August 27, 2007
In the early hours of August 27th, the ceremonies of Ave Maria University's first official day of classes began with a continental breakfast. A large crowd of students arrived, braving the early hour in spite of the previous late nights spent in catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones.
At about 7:45 a.m., the crowd migrated to the campus green adjacent to the Academic Building. A Junior ROTC color guard from nearby Palmetto High School marched and stood at attention as voices rose in the Pledge of Allegiance. The day was blessed with a prayer led by AMU's Chaplain, Fr. Garrity, followed by President Nicholas Healy introducing Chancellor Tom Monaghan.
Mr. Monaghan spoke of the troubles AMU had in the past, in its initial move from Michigan to Florida. Knowing the move to Florida was a necessary step for the success of the school, he braved the disapproval from many faculty members and students and moved to Naples, where the students lived for four years on a temporary campus.
On Monday the ongoing struggles faded and his goal was fulfilled. After years of planning and development, Ave Maria Town was finally ready for habitation. Over 180 new students came on Thursday to begin their Orientation, and nearly all of that number showed up for the ribbon cutting.
"I'm relying on the grace of God to get me through," said Student Government President, Joreen Belocura, after her speech refused to print that morning. She spoke of the amazing gift that AMU was "not only to us, as we start classes, but to the world." After these inspiring words, the ribbon was cut.
After the ribbon cutting ceremony, where Mr. Monaghan sliced into the blue fabric with a gargantuan pair of scissors, he said to an AMU parent, "My mind is set to the future," explaining that this goal was the fruit of planning; "it was a given once the ground was broken."
At noon, Fr. Garrity celebrated the opening mass in the Student Union ballroom, which is also a temporary chapel. "Church and state ought to cooperate in many areas for the common good," he said in his homily on the relation between church and state. After the Mass, Robert Thomas, a former chairman of the AMU board of trustees, received an honorary doctor of laws degree, the first to be conferred at the new campus.
The festivities culminated in a luau, rumoured to have one of the local wild boars for its main dish. Everyone who attended received a lei and a special edition shirt, featuring the names of all AMU students aligned in the shape of the Oratory on the back welcoming them to Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida.
by Meaghen Hale