Cultivating preschool virtues: an open letter to the student body

I was, frankly, mostly amused a few weeks ago when I heard that there are a few fire pits hidden in the woods past the old golf course on campus. “Kids will be kids,” I thought, and though it seemed slightly dangerous to have open fires in the woods, I didn’t think much about it.

I thought about it again when I happened upon one of these pits on a recent walk. I had imagined a tidy site, but was met by dozens — perhaps hundreds — of beer and hard seltzer cans, left in the woods, slowly being blown into the surrounding area and down the embankment.

This was a disappointing find. This campus is our common home, and it is sad to think we are not all practicing the preschool virtue of cleaning up after ourselves. In truth, I have noticed generally that there is a fair amount of trash and recyclables on campus this semester: water bottles, discarded masks and obsolete signs seem to be prominent among the detritus. Perhaps it’s something we can all try to notice and attend to a little better.

Please let’s all do our part to keep this place entrusted to us beautiful and clean — for one another and for the Lord of us all.

Your sister in Christ,

Sr. Agnes Therese Davis, TOR