Hollins University officially launched its 183rd academic year on September 3 at one of the school’s most cherished annual traditions, Opening Convocation.
The ceremony this year, held in duPont Chapel, welcomed more than 200 new students into the campus community and featured the procession of seniors in their graduation robes for the first time.
President Mary Dana Hinton encouraged new and returning students to “plan and live into a year that is filled with purpose and with joy. A sense of purpose will equip you to do your very best work this year. Allow your purpose to sustain you as you tackle new or big projects, study away, or savor the culmination of many academic experiences. Allow your purpose to move you to new encounters and to explore new opportunities.”
Hinton conveyed the importance of “making joy your constant companion. We live in a world in which joy is precious and fragile. There are those who are so estranged from it that they want to take yours away, too. Don’t allow that.”
The foundation for “the purest joy,” she said, “comes from taking care of your mind and your heart. In a world that wants you to conform to its needs, acknowledging, advocating for, and finding peace and joy and love in your soul is a radical act. But it’s a radical act in direct alignment with our mission as a liberal arts university.”
Hinton invited the campus community to “take the time to get to know our newest members and embrace familiar relationships with others, that we seek to see, connect with, and love the individual complexities and beauty we each bring. That in fact we recognize Hollins would not be the same without each and every one of us. I want you to be the beautiful hearts and minds that you are today, always and in all ways. You’re too valuable, too sacred, to be anything less than that.”
She concluded by sharing her hope that “love empowers the learning that happens across our campus. I ask that this love, this care, this connection be the fuel that powers our community as a whole, because in the end, that’s what matters most.”
In her remarks, Student Government Association President Jillianne Junio ’25 spoke of the value of trust and her realization after she toured and subsequently arrived at Hollins as a first-year student that she could “trust the community here. However, I most importantly found that I need to trust in myself. There are obviously many unknowns, hows, and whys. But if you want to trust and believe, it all starts with you. You need to trust yourself even though there are many ‘what ifs.’ You need to believe in yourself because you never know where it can lead.”
Junio urged her fellow students to “take a leap of faith and swim across the unknown waters to see what lies on the other side. Reach out to one another and check in with each other. To trust in one another as we enter this new academic year. To believe in yourself and the community that you have at Hollins. To be kind and commit to our university and your futures.”
Highlighting Opening Convocation was Nora Kizer Bell Provost Laura McLary’s recognition of students who had earned honors from the classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027, along with the university’s Presidential Award recipients and Batten Scholars. She also announced that the Hollins University 2023-24 soccer team had received the Alumnae Association Award for Scholastic Achievement in Athletics as the athletic team with the highest cumulative grade point average (GPA) for the season. The team’s cumulative GPA for the period was 3.55. A plaque with the winning team’s name engraved on it will remain on permanent display in the gymnasium.
In addition, Associate Professor of Music Shelbie Wahl-Fouts and members of the Hollins Choirs led the audience in singing “The Green and the Gold” and “Hollins, Rah!”
Opening Convocation was the culmination of a series of events inaugurating the new academic year that began with New Student Check-In on Saturday, August 31 and continued with a multi-day array of orientation activities.
“It’s where we begin to establish the importance of belonging, well-being, and campus engagement,” said Gary Brown, vice president for student success, well-being, and belonging. Over the spring and summer, he and his team “built a more intentional and cohesive orientation program that maximizes providing students with opportunities to get to know one another and become familiar with campus activities and available support services. The goal is to enhance engagement, excitement, and confidence.”
“I’m excited to just get settled in and start having all these amazing adventures,” said Ella, a first-year student from Delaware, during check-in at Moody Student Center. She plans on studying psychology at Hollins and is also “looking into doing theatre. I’m already signed up for the choir.”
Gina, her mom, noted, “She found Hollins when she was a sophomore in high school, and it was her top pick. She really wanted to come here, and I thought it was the right place for her, too.”
Ella, a first-year student from Maryland who will pursue communication studies and creative writing, said, “I’m really excited to start classes.” Her parents, Alison and Kenyatta, added, “This is a great time in life. We’re looking forward to hearing wonderful stories about what she’s learning, people she’s meeting, things she’s doing. Being here at Hollins, it’s a great place.”
Following Opening Convocation, the class of 2025 took part in the traditional First Step event on Hollins’ historic Front Quad. Each year, seniors line the sidewalks of Front Quad dressed in robes they creatively design themselves. Bearing bottles of cider specially decorated for the occasion, they take their symbolic first steps onto the grass.
Top photo: Hollins’ class of 2025 poses in their graduation robes for the first time on the steps of the Cocke Memorial Building.
