Why Community Matters

Welcome back to campus for the start of another semester at Bentley. If you’re new students joining us for the first time, we’re excited to welcome you to the community. I hope you all had a restful holiday season and got to spend quality time with family and friends. The winter break is such a valuable time to reflect on last semester’s successes and rejuvenate ourselves for the start of a new term. 

As each semester begins, I’m reminded of how special the college experience is. It’s a time in your lives when you can explore what you’re passionate about and learn to turn that passion into a career. A time for partnering with professors on research projects that interest you. For debating ideas over lunch in the 921. Even for joining in snowball fights on the Green Space or getting geared up for Spring Day. All of these are opportunities to strengthen the bonds you’ve created, to be part of a community in which everyone around you – your fellow students, faculty and staff – is here to help you to learn and grow. That sense of community is what makes your time in college unlike any other that you’ll experience.

And while there’ll be countless happy times, there’ll be challenges, too. Let’s be honest about that. As in life, there will be moments where you feel anxious or overwhelmed. Applying for internships, mastering new topics, researching job opportunities or sometimes just being away from home. These can all be stressful. But working through challenges is part of the college experience – and the human experience, too.

That’s why it’s crucial, as we begin this new semester together, to focus on being present for each other in and out of the classroom. Offer help when you think it might be needed. Ask for help when you need it. These are the moments when community is most important. When one of us may need a boost to get through the day, it’s good to know that we are all here to lift them up.

After all, that’s the greatest thing about being part of this wonderful, tight-knit community that we call our own. Welcome back.

Alison Davis-Blake
President