The Earth Gives Up Its Secrets

News of a moving ceremony that lifted our eyes from the earth beneath our feet to the skies above leads off our round-up of seasonal news from St. Norbert.

A symbol of respect and unity
A new flag flies high over campus in acknowledgement of the college’s commitment to honoring the indigenous land on which the institution stands.

The Menominee flag joins the United States and Wisconsin banners outside the F. K. Bemis International Center, hoisted as the result of a student-led initiative. The suggestion, from the Council of Indigenous People student org, was one warmly received by President Brian Bruess ’90. Bruess joined representatives from the Menominee nation to lead the May 8 dedication ceremony at which the flag was raised.

As the current occupants of ancestral Menominee nation land, the college invites an ongoing relationship with Native communities, and in its land acknowledgement statement renews its commitment to respect the region’s living history.

Unearthed on campus
The earth beneath our feet continued to yield up its stories this summer. The ground itself gave back a treasured object from the college’s more recent history. It was a story that would be picked up by the Chicago Tribune after a bit of a detective hunt led back to its original owner.

It was 1976 and John Daciolas ’80 remembers the day clearly. He was helping a young woman who had slipped in the fresh snow on campus. Once the pair regained their footing, Daciolas noticed his ring was missing. Fast forward 45 years, and Mike Counter (Office of Communications) was on campus after-hours, pursuing his hobby of metal detecting. He picked up a strong signal, indicating a decent amount of zinc underground. Counter dug until he found the source: a Holy Cross High School class ring from 1976.

Counter contacted researcher Andy Caldie ’07 (College Advancement) who identified the ring with the now-shuttered Chicago school. Read the full story to follow the ring’s journey back to its original owner.

“I am extremely grateful to these three people who cared enough to make it their mission to track me down,” Daciolas says. “It brought back great memories from a very special part of my life.”

In other news …
For a quick summer read, check out two recent “Humans of St. Norbert” stories featured on the St. Norbert College Facebook page:

• Griffin Strang ’22 tells his story interning with the Green Bay Booyah, a professional summer league baseball team. 
  
  
• Carrie Ryan (History) recaps the trials, errors and knowledge gained helping her son navigate virtual kindergarten.

And for a bit of school pride, read on for a pair of recognitions that resonate at the end of a challenging year:

• The Greater Green Bay Chamber of Commerce recognized the college for showing great resiliency and fortitude in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  
• And an Inside Higher Ed article highlighted St. Norbert’s impressive admission numbers at a time when many colleges expect declines. The article pinpoints a commitment to the student experience as a driver for St. Norbert’s success: “On Presidents Day, the college came up with the idea that [President] Bruess would lead the tours, and he led two families around the campus in 12-degree weather. The families (who were friends) were touring three colleges. One of the other colleges closed because of the weather, and one closed tours that day because of COVID-19. St. Norbert enrolled the students.”

July 15, 2021