Well everyone I knows it’s been a while since you’ve had an updated blog to read from me, and I’m sure you’ve missed my ridiculously creative blog titles haha jk, but I think I have a decent excuse—I’ve been hidden away in various corners throughout campus studying for finals. 

Anyways this week and the past week I have been extremely busy with school work as well as participating in many events around campus such as Founders Week. Founder’s Week is a week dedicated to the Brothers of Christian Instruction. We honor the Brothers for all that they are and all that they do for us, and all that they have done for our Walsh University community. Without the Brothers, Walsh would not be what it is today, because the Brothers came up with the vision of Walsh and dedicated their lives to making Walsh and the students who reside here part of their mission, allowing their legacy to live on in the students. To celebrate this week there were many events planned on campus that were dedicated to the Brothers and all that they stood for. I was lucky enough to participate in the Legacy project. Our desktop publishing class was encouraged to create a piece to share and be judged at a competition held to find out what the Brothers meant to “us,” the students. We split into groups and everyone came up with new and creative ideas of how to go about designing this project. My friend Kate Lombardo and I came up with the idea to create a Video timeline of the many pictures of the Brothers from 1960-present day. We decided that we would go to the library, find as many old yearbooks as we could and scan many pictures that we felt displayed the Brothers as they passed along their legacy to the students. We also had access to several recent pictures, as well as alumni pictures on our computer to add into our slide show. Each time we would find a new resource to use we would get more excited as the slideshow/video was turning into something really special, and we had thought that this would be something that could be used to show new students what Walsh’s vision is all about—so it could serve as more than just our project, this could be something passed along into the future of incoming students and staff. We knew we were dedicated when were finalizing out project on a Friday night around 9:00p.m. (Not too many still doing homework at this time on a Friday) but we were on a mission. Kate would edit the photos in Photoshop and I would place them and add effects in Windows Movie Maker. With the final touch of two modern Christian songs we had finalized our project and were ready to burn our masterpiece to DVD.

I don’t think Kate and I had any idea that we would have so much fun with this project. Not only did we learn so much about Walsh’s history but we had so many laughs looking back at the campus, the student life, and how “different” everything was compared to today. Overall, we found that as the numbers of Brothers declined on campus, due to many of them passing away over the years, that there vision still was able to live on just as strong as ever through the works of the students—especially within the Walsh University Campus Ministry Program.

Well,   “judgment day” finally came and Kate and I were anxiously awaiting the results of our project. After seeing the other projects created by fellow classmates we knew that they competition was really tough, every project was professionally designed and you could see the creativity of each student come alive as they were presented. Finally, the votes were in and we found that 2 of the 3 top prizes went to our desktop publishing class students. Kate and I had won second place, and $75! We of course split the cash and talked about how this was such a win-win project, as we learned so much and were able to show others how much the Brothers meant to us—while earning a little extra cash (always a plus for college students). In the end, it’s obvious that we gained so much more than a little extra cash—we were able to be part of the legacy and the mission of the Brothers.

To top off Founder’s Week I also attended the True Light Concert dedicated to the Brothers of Christian Instruction. Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel was at “standing room only” as students and community alike came to celebrate this special event. Many of my friends are part of the choir, so we were able to get a nice group together and go to support them as well. Afterwards there was a nice reception where we could visit with the Brothers as they shared stories with us from the past.

What a great way to lead up to Thanksgiving Break, finals, and now we anxiously await Christmas break!

For many of us, especially myself, I am looking forward to our mission trip to New Orleans to help rebuild homes, this trip coming up December 6^th—13^th…stay tuned for more updates and pictures from my experience!!

Take care, best of luck with the remainder of your finals!!

Chris Burr

P.S.

Here is our project in case you want to check it out!

Click this link! The Legacy Lives On…