In My Words/Meaningful Opportunities Build Across the Generations

by President Brian J. Bruess ’90

There’s something uniquely captivating about our work in higher education: We have the privilege of bearing witness to the magic that happens when a student discovers their passion. Like Molly Freye, whose work with the Violence Against Women Act grant team led to a passion for lifting up the voices of underrepresented groups in the workplace and in our communities. Like Subash Lamichhane, whose firstsemester psychology class sparked his passion for neuroscience. And like Cara Orbell, whose travel podcast led her to discover how she came to life when interviewing others about their own passions.

These enchanting stories surface every day at St. Norbert. You’ll likely get glimpses of some yourself as you read in the pages that follow about the lives of our current students and of our alumni who are so generously sharing their gifts and their passions with the world.

Then come more extraordinary moments, when we see the student experience intersect with the passion of those who choose to give generously to the college: When alumna and trustee Karen McDiarmid establishes a fund to continuously develop faculty’s understanding of our mission, support student learning, and bolster the college’s efforts with equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. When the family of Wm. “Red” Lewis, a longtime friend of the college, gives to support student emergency financial needs because, as Red often said, “Sometimes people just need a little hand up.” When alumni Lauren and Adam Winters establish operating endowments for both the men’s soccer and the women’s swimming and diving programs – the first such endowments to support each program – because they were so moved by their own athletic experiences.

Hearing the passion that donors and alumni have for both the college and for our students is what makes our new Support What Matters campaign so exciting and so joyful. The campaign, focused on building the St. Norbert College endowment, allows our alumni, friends and families to see the impact of their gifts lived out in the SNC student experience. It also makes a statement.

Their gifts show a belief in the long-term health and vitality of the college; a belief in what our faculty, staff, board of trustees and leadership of the college do day to day to impact student lives; and a belief in our mission and in what it means to be a Catholic, liberal arts, Norbertine college.

An endowment allows us to dramatically improve the overall quality of what we do at St. Norbert College, to produce even better outcomes. If our loan default rate is already a remarkably low 1 percent, how do we make a St. Norbert education affordable to even more students? If our four-year graduation rate is one of the best in the state, how do we make it even stronger? If 96 percent of our graduates have a job or are in grad school or serving in the military after six months, how do we bring that up even further?

Giving to the endowment is an investment into those key areas and more. It’s an investment in our students, making a St. Norbert College education affordable through scholarships. It’s an investment in the SNC experience, helping to fund programs and activities that are important and impactful to today’s students. It’s an investment in our faculty, unleashing excitement and interest by fueling intellectual pursuits, funding student-faculty collaborative research, and providing access to equipment and supplies.

As we approach our 125th anniversary as the world’s only Norbertine institution of higher education, we’re also investing in deepening our understanding of our mission traditions and in integrating those understandings into the lived experiences of our students, so that we’re able to graduate students who are distinguished, impactful, ethical leaders who pursue the common good. Doing so is what ensures St. Norbert College remains distinctive and relevant in the world of Catholic higher education.

A gift to the Support What Matters campaign is an investment in St. Norbert College. Though it has a profound impact on us today, the true gift is that of supporting the college – and of supporting St. Norbert students as they pursue their many and varied passions – over the course of the next 125 years.

March 17, 2022