Some 150 Notre Dame graduating seniors who are embarking on a year or more of service in this country and abroad will be honored during the University’s annual Senior Service Send-Off ceremony at9:30 a.m.May 20 (Saturday) in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Centers Leighton Hall.
Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., will address the seniors and their families on ** the Universitys commitment to service in education and throughout the lifetimes of its graduates.The ceremonys opening prayer will be offered by Sister Susan Dunn, O.P., recently appointed assistant vice president of student affairs and rector of Lyons Hall for the last five years.
Reflections on postgraduate service will be offered by Jennifer Mason, visiting assistant professor of law in theNotre DameLawSchool.A 1994 Notre Dame graduate, Mason served as a Holy Cross Associate for one year.She earned a law degree from the New York University School of Law in 1998, clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and completed a public service fellowship inWashington,D.C., before joining the Notre Dame faculty in 2005 to teach civil rights law.
At the ceremony each of the participating seniors will be recognized by name and service program, and each will receive a journal with favorite quotations and advice from various members of the Notre Dame community.
A blessing of the seniors will be led by Rev. William Lies, C.S.C., executive director of the Center for Social Concerns, and Liz Mackenzie, the center’s director of senior transition programs.
Among the service programs this year’s Notre Dame graduates will join are the Universitys Holy Cross Associates, which serves the poor in sixU.S.cities andChile; Notre DamesAlliancefor Catholic Education (ACE), which provides teachers for understaffed parochial schools in dioceses across theUnited States; Notre Dames Echo Faith Formation Leadership Program, which trains and provides religious educators for Catholic parishes; the Peace Corps and Teach For America.Many of the seniors became involved in serviceand social action through the programs and courses of the Center for Social Concerns.
Music for the ceremony will include songs chosen by the graduates and led by the Notre Dame Folk Choir. Following the ceremony there will be a reception outside theDeBartoloCenter.The ceremony will be shown in a delayed Webcast atnoonMay 20 on the University’s Web site http://www.nd.edu .
Tickets are required for this event and may be reserved by calling the Center for Social Concerns at 574-631-5293.
* Contact: * _Liz Mackenzie, director of senior transition programs, at 574-631-5779 or Mackenzie.12@nd.edu
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