Memorial
University is committed to excellence in teaching, research and
scholarship, and service to the general public. Our mission statement
says so, and anyone who spends any time around one of our campuses
knows that it is so.
Our mission also states that the university recognizes a special
obligation to educate the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador.
That obligation is never more obvious than during convocation,
when the years of hard work and dedication pay off for the hundreds
of students who mark the end of one stage of their life journeys
with a university degree.
On the following pages, you will meet some of the people ending
this journey and starting another. But, as we know, not all routes
are the same and we hope this issue will bring to the surface
the hidden stories of students who may have taken unique passages
to reach this point. Some, like Nancy Lear, are physically challenged,
yet succeed despite these obstacles. Others such as Chris Ryan,
have taken full advantage of the broad range of opportunities
available to students to move in directions of which they might
not have suspected they were capable.
But the driving force behind all of these stories is our intention
to highlight the diversity and range of experience offered to
those who decide to pursue a university degree. You can be the
judge of our success.
— David Sorensen
Editor, the Gazette
