Last year's First Flight Procession beginning on Linden Lane. (Lee Pellegrini)
Best-selling author and design-thinking advocate Dave Evans will serve as the keynote speaker at the 2018 First Year Academic Convocation, the annual event that celebrates the arrival of the freshman class to campus, on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. in Conte Forum.
Evans and Bill Burnett are the authors of the New York TimesÌý²ú±ð²õ³Ù-²õ±ð±ô±ô±ð°ùÌýDesigning Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life, which explains how the application of design thinkingâ the same envisioning strategy and tools responsible for brilliant technology, outstanding products, and remarkable spacesâcan help create a meaningful and fulfilling life, regardless of life status, job, or age.
In a 2016 New York Times interview, Evansâan adjunct lecturer in the Product Design Program at Stanford University, a management consultant, and a founder of game company Electronic Artsânoted, âThe question of âWhat do I do the rest of my one wild and wonderful life?â is on everyoneâs mind.â
Since 2004, each incoming class has engaged in a reflective dialogue about a common text in an effort to offer insight into how to respond to lifeâs questions, and to find direction in each studentâs personal journey.
âDesigning Your Life was chosen because the message fits well into our overall goals of student formation,â said Michael Sacco, executive director of the Center for Student Formation and Office of First Year Experience. âBoston Collegeâs philosophy of formative education encourages our students to engage in habits of reflection and discernment; these practices coincide with the purpose-driven design plan that authors Evans and Burnett present in their book.
âOur hope is that the first-year students will be inspired to design and envision what their life might be like over the next four years, as well as their future well beyond Boston College.â
Evansâ remarks will follow the First Flight Procession, a lantern-lit journey from Linden Lane to Conte Forum, which mirrors the same path 51²è¹Ýâs newest students will follow on graduation day. The Universityâs Jesuit community, faculty, and administration will launch their âflightâ with a blessing and a challenge to answer the call of Society of Jesus founder St. Ignatius of Loyola to âset the world aflame.â
âWe believe that First Flight holds a special meaning because it serves as a bookend of what they will again do when they gather on Linden Lane, four short years from now,â said Sacco. âThe event marks the beginning of their academic journey at 51²è¹Ý, and provides a connection for the class through the common reading of Designing Your Life.â
Evans, who earned a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Stanford and a graduate diploma in Contemplative Spirituality from San Francisco Theological Seminary, joins a notable roster of previous First Year Convocation speakers that includes Barack Obama and John McCain. More recent speakers have included Lev Golinkin â03, author of A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Cases of Vodka; University Trustee Steve Pemberton â89, whose bestselling memoir A Chance in the World was adapted for film; and New York Times op-ed columnist and author David Brooks.
First Year Academic Convocation is coordinated by the Office of First Year Experience, part of the division of University Mission and Ministry.
âPhil Gloudemans | University Communications