Applying to a university is tedious work.
From start to finish, the college application to-do list has often made a mockery of the high school senior’s limited free time.
But following those tedious applications comes the actual hard part: the decision.
Choosing which university to attend is arguably one of the more difficult and stressful choices of our young lives, knowing that our selection could identify our career paths, our lifelong friends and mentors, possibly even our future spouses.
For some students, it may have been a difficult choice to come to Bradley. For others, it may have been a fairly easy one. Regardless, it was a choice.
A choice to wear that “B” shield with pride. A choice to embody Bradley’s values and pillars everyday. A choice to rise up to the standard of what it means to be a Brave.
Bradley stands out from other universities because of who WE are, as students, without Bradley and what we can continue to strive to become with it.
Bradley did not ask us as students to conform to what a Brave is – to change who we are to fit a mold – but rather to define bravery in our everyday actions and decisions. WE decide what it means to be a Brave.
Tammy Lane left our little 5,200-person student body on the Hilltop to stand in front of an audience of 42.2 million people worldwide and receive an Academy Award for her work on the Chronicles of Narnia. She defined what it means to be a Brave.
Ray LaHood was inspired to promote justice and truth as he moved from the Bradley stage to the national stage, serving as our U.S. Secretary of Transportation and defying the barriers of partisanship. He defined what it means to be a Brave.
Lydia Moss Bradley, the first female to sit on a national bank board in America and the driving force behind the creation of the state’s first park system, founded our university to encourage education, personal growth and future success. She defined what it means to be a Brave.
The list goes on. Our alumni have been defining the “Brave” since 1897 by fulfilling their dreams and living out their passions. Every one of us has that same opportunity.
Homecoming Week is about honoring our past Braves, celebrating with our current ones and anticipating those Braves of the future. It’s a reminder to never stop working toward our own defining moments.
So, in the words of our alma mater song “Hail, Red and White:” Go onward, ever onward. Let courage and truth prevail. To Bradley University, all hail, hail, hail.
Be Brave, Bradley, and you’ll go far.
