A Tale of Two Archways

The Archway Commencement Edition

Welcome to the 2021 Commencement Edition of The Archway! The commencement magazine you are reading was compiled using submissions from the Class of 2021. Thank you all who sent in reflections, memories, photos, and more!

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today is a day of celebration and we hope that this booklet serves as a way to share in the joy and pride for our graduating class.

Congratulations Class of 2021!

Contents

Letter from the President...........inside front cover A Tale of Two Archways.................................page 1 Senior Reflections.............................................page 2 Senior Portraits................................................page12 Remember When...........................................page 30 Senior Class Gift.............................................page 43 Favorite Campus Location...........................page 46 Bryant Community Shout Outs.................page 48 Lessons Learned.............................................page 50 Senior Memories.............................................page51 Faculty and Staff Reflections ......................page 58 Commencement Awards..............................page 62 Letter from the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students....................................page 64 Letter from the Provost..............inside back cover

A Tale of Two Archways

As newly minted alumni of Bryant University, graduating seniors enjoy the long-awaited opportunity to take their first steps through the cast iron archway situated in the middle of campus – an artifact excavated from the Old Providence campus when Bryant moved to Smithfield in 1971. It is a very exciting and sobering milestone in the Bryant experience that all students who pass though Bryant’s gates have the privilege of partaking in.

And while the archway that we know today is a remnant of that campus, its significance on the old Providence campus (which was sold to Brown upon the move to Smithfield) was virtually nonexistent. Instead a brick structure, named the South Portico, was the archway that all who came to Bryant knew about. It was under the South Portico, attached to one of the old campus’ main academic buildings, where students of the past would gather during inclement weather and sunny days alike to talk about the happenings on campus.

This tradition stands in stark contrast to the tradition of the purpose that the cast iron archway serves to current Bryant students, who are afraid to pass under it for superstitious fear of not graduating. This tradition, too, served as the chief inspiration for one particular campus organization in finding its name. That organization, which was founded in 1946 and whose booklet you’re currently reading 73 years later, is The Archway.

So each time you walk under the archway, don’t only reflect on your four years at this institution, but also on the 152 years that preceded it and the illustrious and unique history, tradition, and values that have both fallen away and re-manifested themselves in the annals of Bryant’s collective memory.