Faculty and Staff Reflections

Class of 2021

Professor Eileen Kwesiga - Faculty Reflection

Class of 2021, I thank you for the nomination and I am honored to provide the faculty perspective for this year. Most importantly, I hope that you will feel affirmed and encouraged by my opinions about you. Resiliency is the word that comes to mind when I think of you. According to national averages, about 34.5 % men and 36.6 % women attained undergraduate in 2019. This year we can assume the numbers are probably lower, which attests to your strength especially with extra challenges you endured because of COVID 19 pandemic.

Four years ago, you came to Bryant full of hope, curious and ready to test your independence. For many of you it was your first time living away from the safety and comfort of your homes and parents. Before ever stepping in a classroom lecture, you were immersed into the IDEA Program where you worked on challenging real-life problems with a team of students you did not know as you bopped to Shape of You by Ed Sheehan, HUMBLE by Kendrick Lamar, Look at What Made Me Do by Taylor Swift etc. This experience begun stretching and preparing you for the many sleepless nights that you would experience in your four short years at Bryant. As if IDEA was not crazy enough, GFOB, MGT200, and many other “fun” classes were waiting for you which taught you concepts and ideas that expanded you cognitively. By this time, you had resigned to the fact that you could not avoid team projects at Bryant, and therefore it behooved you to learn how to work well with others for your sanity as well as your grade. Just as you were about to forever hate the concept of teams (in your sophomore year) and accept the fact that other humans or students are sloths that cannot be incentivized to do good work, something in your brain switched on and you become good at working with and leading others! In fact, in your third year you were now comfortable with college life and took on more leadership without the professors begging and just like emperor Kuzco you found your groove!

As you started to smoothly coast in your third year as you now knew how the system works i.e., how to work (manage) the professors, you liked your major, you had garnered some internship experience; COVID 19 Pandemic hit! You were sent home and had to adjust to zoom university with many challenges. Some of you experienced losses and stresses which could have made you give up, and yet you prevailed. Even though the going was tough for you, you sympathized with the seniors who were robbed their last year on campus. You hoped and prayed that you would not suffer the same fate. Summer was long and boring as you worked online, that is if you were lucky enough to find work. Some of you become actively involved in Black Lives Matter Movement and other social justice issues at home and at Bryant. Nevertheless, you could not wait to get back to school in the fall and see what your senior year would look like.

Your senior year can be quickly summarized as the year of quarantine! Many of you accumulated plenty frequent stay miles at the quarantine club. Withstanding, you rolled with the punches and strove to excel and make the best of the hand that was dealt to you. You continued your campus engagement activities, you interned, volunteered, attended classes whether online, in class, or somewhere in the stratosphere, and yet you did not complain too much. As you go out into this uncertain world, I have every confidence that the resiliency that you have continuously solidified through planned (Bryant’s excellent curriculum) and unplanned real-life challenges will serve you well. Everyone at Bryant is cheering for you, and I am sure they will all agree with me that the Class of 2021 you have overcome a lot and thoroughly turned those sour life lemons into one darn good lemonade! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

To the Bryant University Class of 2021:

Take stock of this moment. Recognize the gravity of this day. Reflect on your journey. And Rejoice in your accomplishments.

I want to challenge you to reflect on the entirety of your time at Bryant. The challenges and the joys, friendships and heartbreak, successes and failures.

No one alive has experienced early adulthood just quite like you. Over the past four years, there were countless national and global events that have shaped your outlook and prepared you to be the future leaders we all need. The #metoo movement gained international attention as women led the way for awareness and advocacy for accountability. Climate change and its devastating effects manifested in some of the worst wildfires ever recorded in California, Australia and the Brazilian Amazon. The movement for Black lives sparked worldwide uprisings when a series of high-profile murders forced the world to pay attention to racial injustice in America in the 21st century. Those events sadly, prepared us for more conversations when racial violence against Asian communities spiked in the same year. An increasingly polarized political climate, fueled by massive disinformation as a weapon against democracy and progress, culminated with a siege on the U.S. Capitol Building. And the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic changed many aspects of our lives for over a year. Many of you were thrust into necessary yet difficult conversations you did not quite feel equipped to have. I admire how many students chose not to be passive bystanders and actively sought ways to get involved locally and nationally. I hope that when you reflect on this period of your life, you will be able to say that Bryant University helped prepare you to face the challenges of tomorrow.

Global events may serve as a backdrop to your time in college, but the core of your memories will be filled with the people, places, and activities that meant the most to you. I have had the distinct pleasure to witness the transformational experiences that allowed you to push the limits of excellence. Along your journey, you forged relationships that strengthened your capacity to challenge, love, and lead. A distinctive feature of Bryant is how well it teaches students to ask better, more meaningful questions. As you prepare for the next phase of life, ask yourself, what did you learn from the challenges you thought were too great to overcome? What have you learned about yourself and how can you use that knowledge to shape a better world?

Personally, I want to thank you for allowing me to take part in so many of your experiences. From the 4MILE Program in the summer of 2017 to the 2021 commencement, I am fortunate to have accompanied you on this journey. Thank you for allowing me to be a mentor, an advisor, and an advocate. Thank you for the one-on-one conversations, the creative performances, and the considerate gestures of appreciation. Thank you trusting me to keep you safe when we were thousands of miles from campus in Europe for Sophomore International Experience. Thank you for telling your parents that you felt seen, heard, and appreciated on campus. Thank you for allowing me to provide guidance and support with some of the most important decisions you have made while in college. Thank you for making Bryant the place where you found your voice and decided how you will use it. I will cherish these moments knowing that I learned from you as much as I hope you learned from me.

Today, you should celebrate with family and friends. Tomorrow, the world needs you to roll up your sleeves and lead.

Congratulations, Bryant University class of 2021!

Sincerely, -Kevin K. Martins