St. Michael’s Class of 2028 was offered a warm welcome, sound advice and a glimpse of university pomp and circumstance at Orientation Week’s Invocation ceremony.
The event, which also saw alumnus Victor Dodig, President and CEO of CIBC, awarded an honorary degree, took place in the University of Toronto’s storied Convocation Hall.
After the members of the academic procession and honoured guests took their seats, Archbishop Francis Leo, St. Michael’s Chancellor, welcomed attendees, and Sonal Castelino, the university’s Director of Mission and Ministry, offered a land acknowledgment and prayer.
University Principal Irene Morra, the first to address the group, began by telling the students how excited everyone is to have them at St. Mike’s.
Recalling memories of her own first year, she noted that the mixed emotions students are feeling, including excitement, nerves, and curiosity, are all part of the first-year experience. She then urged students to take part in as many opportunities as possible, whether by taking a class in an unfamiliar subject area, making an appointment with the first-year check-in program, or attending social events.
“This is your experience,” Morra said.
President David Sylvester echoed those sentiments, telling the incoming students that they would find “a boatload of experiences” while in university.
St. Michael’s is “a place to explore new ideas and build new friendships,” he said. “A new world is opening up.”
Following his words of welcome, Sylvester introduced Victor Dodig (SMC8T8), who was awarded an honorary Doctor of the University of St. Michael’s College degree for his extensive philanthropic work on a broad range of causes, including supporting student life and helping new Canadians feel at home in Canada.
Praising him as a leader of integrity, Sylvester said Dodig possesses the “three C’s” necessary to excel not only in one’s field but also as a person: competency, commitment, and compassion.
He also reminded students that the Dodig family’s generosity supported numerous programs on campus, and that the social heart of St. Mike’s is the Dodig Family COOP.
After his degree was conferred by the Chancellor, Dodig offered a warm and humorous address to students.
“St. Mike’s opened up the world to me,” he told them, adding that today’s students have “the honour and obligation” to contribute to the community and make the university an even better place.
Dodig, who was a student athlete, involved in orientation and SMCSU, and the co-founder of a marketing club while at St. Mike’s, reminded students of the importance of making friends and of the vast support available to them to help make the most of their university years.
“Stay connected…. University is not a solitary path. Don’t feel like you’re on this path on your own,” he advised.
Dodig then spoke of his family, and his father’s decision to move to Canada to create a better life for his them, expressing gratitude for all life has offered him including the desire to keep learning. He explained, for example, that even though he has many AI experts at work, he is delving into the new technology himself because it interests him.
Graduation will not mean an end to learning, he added, arguing that exposure to new ideas and activities keeps one young. To demonstrate that, he told the students he had recently attended a Taylor Swift concert with his daughter because she told him he might enjoy it.
He then broke into the chorus of Love Story and the crowd cheered in appreciation.
Lisa Gleva, St. Mike’s Executive Director, Advancement, offered congratulations and thanks to Dodig and reminded students that many of the extraordinary opportunities that will come their way at St. Mike’s are thanks to donors and alumni who help in everything from supporting scholarships to serving as mentors.
“The ways you get involved, the relationships you build, the life skills and habits you develop, and the ways you give back will define your time here and will nurture your inherent gifts in service to the world beyond the university,” she told the assembly.
The Chancellor then concluded the ceremony and told students, “Do not be afraid to be open to the many surprises. If you welcome that, it will stretch your mind.”
The dignitaries, in all their academic finery, then processed out of the hall, and the students remained to hear some messaging from student leaders, their eyes opened to all that awaits them in the next few years.