Sophomore's poem highlights induction ceremony

The University seal lowered and the pipe organ blew to announce the beginning of IU's Freshman Induction Ceremony, the official acceptance of Bloomington's newly initiated Class of 2009. \nThe event, which annually serves to welcome freshmen and to provide emotional salve to parents just before the moment of severance, could have been mistaken for the marriage of lesser royals had it not been for an abundance of Hollister T-shirts. Still, amid what some could justifiably have conceived as pomp, the event was not thoughtfully dismissed.\n"I think the induction will be a good pep talk for the parents -- something to bring us together," said Tom Druml, whose daughter, Andrea Druml, is the first he has delivered to college. \n"They want to go (to induction)," said Andrea Druml, decidedly less enthusiastic about her parents' attendance to the ceremony, "but I think it's more a matter of course."\nIU President Adam Herbert, in line with the afternoon's flurry of inspiration, instructed freshmen to "embrace the unknown, stretch your mind and remember that your greatest competition will be with your former self."\nHerbert referenced poet John Giardi's acknowledgment of the ideal campus as "a monument to the unknown," and the unknown, accordingly, served as a guidepost for much of Herbert's speech. He effectively drew on the likes of Giardi, Aristotle and Lance Armstrong, but Herbert's prime offering came by way of previously undiscovered literary talent, and sophomore Ali Diercks.\n"There is nothing like the first semester of college," began Herbert, quoting Diercks to incite nods of agreement throughout the crowd. He continued in her words:\n"Walking between Ballantine and the Union, past Beck Chapel, the brilliant brick reds and the dusty browns, the fall leaves beginning to change ... looking at statues and tiptoeing over pathways named for philanthropic alumni ... this is all mine, these bricks, that building, those trees, that sidewalk: it's all mine, I am this university."\nDiercks said she completed the essay to give to her parents, who are IU alumni, as an encapsulation of her first collegiate year. Moved by his daughter's words, Ali's father e-mailed the essay to Herbert whose secretary contacted Diercks only days before the induction about using it in the president's speech. The essay, composed independently on "a rainy summer day" was well received and Diercks's words proved as relevant to the day as the barrage of any Hindu wisdom or academic rhetoric flying about the IU Auditorium during the ceremony. \nIn tandem, assistant professor Amy Cornwell and Richard Prather translated the ceremony into American Sign Language, but despite collective eloquence both in speech and in sign, the gathering was not spared the seemingly annual reference to the popular movie, "Animal House." \nIUSA President Alex Shortle, made use of the movie's wisdom regarding obesity, inebriation and idiocy. It was not until IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis approached the lectern, however, that what is technically "Induction" became fully realized.\n"The Cold War, which served as the paradigm of my childhood and much of my life, was coming to an end as the majority of you were learning to talk," said Gros Louis, lending perspective to the vast expanse of knowledge and time inherent to the learning process.\nMaking historical use of Thomas Jefferson's death, as well as society in Lincoln's America, Gros Louis traced three centuries in an effort to establish an idea of endings as true beginnings in the design of poet T.S. Eliot.\n"You'll need good vision toward both the past and the future," said Gros Louis, and then added, "The world as you now know it -- if we do our jobs right -- will never seem the same."\nProjected onto the back wall of the auditorium stage in the moments before the ceremony a sign, in black and white, circa 1956, stated, "Welcome to the Best Years of Your Life." This feeling was echoed throughout the afternoon's proceedings, portrayed as excitement by some and jealousy by most others. Gros Louis' remarks best captured the sentiment. \n"I envy you," Gros Louis said of the uncertain path ahead of IU's newest. "I hope it all goes very, very well"