The Jewell Journey

By Chad J. Jolly ’94
Vice President for Institutional Advancement

We were on the steps of Gano Chapel, camera ready. She said, “This is the seventh consecutive decade that someone in our family has attended Jewell.” Judy Landers ’67 was poised to take a photo of her nephew Brian as his classmates prepared to take their ceremonial final walk around the Quad.  As the bagpipers finished a short concert on the green and took their place to lead the processional, the near-graduating seniors lined up to move around the Circle of 1849, the brick walkway stretching from the Chapel around Jewell Hall.

A proud mother leaned over and said, “I took a photo in this very spot when the class did this on her first day here. I am hoping to take a picture from the same vantage point today.” She paused and offered an unsolicited comment: “We couldn’t imagine how good Jewell would be for her.”  It was a revelatory statement from a mother fully realizing that her daughter was the beneficiary of rich experiences, talented peers, and committed mentors brought together on her daughter’s behalf. I smiled, knowing that although her two photographs would be similar, the “vantage point” was markedly different. 

The pipers led them along the path of bricks engraved with names of the alumni and friends who made their Jewell experience possible. The mother snapped her photo and our students were cheered by faculty, staff, parents, and Judy Landers ’67. 

Their walk reminds us that the Jewell experience is like a grand journey. At the start, students only have a glimpse of what is to come; yet they press forward because someone gave them confidence that ours is a journey worth taking. Highly personal, rigorous, and experiential–markedly different than what a student might find at a community college, comprehensive university, research university, or regional private college. 

This was not simply a day to celebrate our graduates, but a day to celebrate all who contributed to their experience and all who gave them the confidence to step forward.