Fall 2025 Convocation Speech

I could have made a note for the next shift. Could have tried to find someone else. Instead, I gathered the bathing supplies and nursed, assisting the patient to bathe. 

This was no moment of grandeur. No selfie. No Snapchat - back then, it would have been a Polaroid. It was one of countless moments practicing humility and attentive presence. Practicing just do the next right thing. Notice how I intentionally emphasized practicing. Cause only one person got it perfect. Jesus.

A calling isn't just about our job titles, the impressive resumes, or our social roles - those are only important if we strive to reflect God’s Purpose for our lives. We must listen for His callings - so we make decisions that honor a delicate combination of our individual and collective purposes. It's about the deep, fundamental choices we make in the momentous and ordinary moments of everyday life.

Thank you to our students and their families who made the momentous choice to invest in Roberts. 

For me, the seeds of my momentous calling to nursing began with witnessing my grandmother’s suffering. They were nurtured by wise mentors, shaped by spiritual and professional growth, and lived out in both big decisions, like choosing nursing school, and small acts, like bathing a patient - another child of God.

At Roberts, mustard seeds of faith were planted over 160 years ago by B.T. Roberts and Ellen Stowe. Their obedience still bears fruit today. I see callings daily - in conversations, classrooms, athletics, clubs, online exchanges, and in alumni serving faithfully in the world. In all of this, I have my callings reaffirmed and nurtured. 

For years, that plant simply endured. It was a season of "just hanging on." This is the reality of resilience.

We don't grow and develop with ease; we grow through discipline and perseverance. Periods of discomfort become new growing pains.

 A calling requires us to NOT cut corners, to keep showing up, to stay committed even when our work feels mundane or unappreciated or too challenging. Our everyday actions in our respective roles here at Roberts matter.

For me, the most powerful lesson of the philodendron is the leaves that overflow with purpose.

Eventually, my husband took a chance and propagated the plant. That plant now overflows. It thrives in homes, such as, but not limited to, Staten Island, Pittsford, Hunter, Massachusetts, even in the house of our own professor Dr LaCelle.

The life of that one plant has spread, bringing beauty and life to new places. It symbolizes how to be a social movement. A calling that is lived out with faithfulness and resilience will naturally overflow.

Here at Roberts, the lessons we share and the values we hold each other to multiply, spreading into our world in ways we can’t even imagine.

But there’s one more crucial part to address and help each other with, this part is often difficult. It's the act of pruning.

Just as a plant needs pruning to remove what is no longer serving it, we, too, must have the courage to let go of what God is not calling us to do.

For example, we must let go of fear and the temptation to compare ourselves to others. We must prune the things that are draining our individual and collective energy, be they old habits, outdated systems, or a mindset rooted in scarcity.

Pruning is about making space for new, healthy growth. It’s about being truly attentive to the question, "What am I called to do right here, right now?" And just as importantly, "What am I not called to do?" We are not called to do everything, only to be faithful to His calling.

For me to be here, my husband and I prayed earnestly to discern God’s will. In January 2024, on a snowy day at Roberts, I sat with students, faculty, staff, and administrators. It was unlike any other interview I’ve ever had. I witnessed collective discernment. Together, people were asking: Lord, is she the right one?

My husband and I left our decades-long home on Staten Island, did the pruning, and made our home here.

And as I stand before you now, I can tell you this: I have never had so many people praying for my success. And that matters - because my success is not my own. It belongs to Him.

Our shared journey here at Roberts is not about grand pronouncements or heroic deeds. It's about helping each other to discern our own unique gifts and care for the philodendrons entrusted to us.

My challenge to each of us - define our philodendrons. Our calling.

My brothers and sisters, our work here matters. Your presence here matters. "Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up." (Galations 6:9)

Let us pray that we walk with our God to practice discernment, walk our neighborhoods, be attentive, and cultivate the courage to keep nurturing and propagating individual and shared callings. The life we have been planting and pruning will continue to grow long after we are gone.

The journey of that little plant - from a patient’s bedside in 1995 all the way to today - is a living testament to the truth that delivering fundamental care, nurtured with resilience and faith, takes root and multiplies far beyond anything we could ever expect.