04/29/2024
Delta Alpha Pi Induction Ceremony Opening Remarks:
Andrew Wilcox, Director of the Academic Success Center
I want to welcome all of our community members and our Delta Alpha Pi scholars to this, our fifth induction ceremony of the College's Zeta Upsilon Chapter of Delta Alpha Pi.
Over this last year, I’ve been taking a deep dive, exploring the hero's journey. Joseph Campbell, a famous scholar of mythology, looked at the structure of hundreds of stories, myths, legends and fairy tales, and discovered what he called the mono-myth of the hero's journey. Whether it’s Dorothy whisked off to Oz in the tornado, Harry Potter riding a flying motorcycle with Hagrid to Hogwarts, or Odysseus trying to escape Circe‘s curse to sail back home, they are all aspects of this mono-myth.
At this point, some of you might be wondering if I grabbed the wrong speech for this event, but stick with me. I promise I will get to the part that pertains to our Delta Alpha Pi inductees.
Back to the mono-myth! It’s called the hero's journey and has three parts. Part One, the call to adventure is where our hero leaves home for the unknown, because the thing that the hero needs, the golden key, the Horcrux, the water of life, is not going to be found in Walmart or Starbucks.
Part Two is entering the realm of primal forces, like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole to Wonderland or the Hunter following a white stag into a strange, foreboding part of the forest that he has never seen before. This realm of primal forces is filled with hidden dangers and monsters that threaten to destroy our heroes before they can recover the magical, golden object of their quest. Once the hero encounters these monsters then the realm of primal forces provides guides, like fairy godmothers and animal spirits, that aid our heroes to get past the monsters.
It’s often assumed that the story ends when the heroes overcome these strange and scary challenges and obtain the object of their quest, but that is not true. That would be like Dr. Cooper shaking your hand on graduation day and saying “Sorry kid this is it! I know you worked hard to get here, but now you have peaked and it’s all downhill from here.”
Luckily for all of us, a crucial part of the hero's journey is the bringing of the gifts back home, whether they be the cures that heal the sick, or the spell that breaks the curse, or the truth that reshapes the tribe. The gifts our heroes carry home are essential.
So what does this have to do with our scholars who we are gathered to recognize today? It has to do with the odds…
The odds are very high that these Delta Alpha Pi scholars answered the call to adventure and left home to learn new ways, new understandings, and new truths.
The odds are that our scholars who learn differently, have entered the realm of primal forces, and found themselves feeling alone in a strange place where they had to face dangers like dragons, Minotaurs and organic chemistry! To get through these challenges, they had to find allies like wise women, wizards, and maybe an emotional support unicorn.
The odds are also very high that this group of heroes, who prepared with such commitment and fought so hard to achieve their quest, will bring home many gifts:
The patience to understand themselves and others.
The drive and chutzpah to do hard things.
The vision and empathy to not leave behind those are different.
And the fortitude and knowing to lead the way.
To our Delta Alpha Pi scholars, new and old, and those who have not yet joined us, know that I recognize and honor your journey and see you as the heroes of your own tales, because the heroes who undertake these quests aren’t the biggest and strongest. They are not the richest and most politically connected. The hero is always the person of good heart.
So I asked this of you scholars:
Always strive to be of good heart and in a world of memeing, streaming, Snapchattering distraction, stay alert. I would hate for you to miss your next call to adventure.
