Right in the middle of a flurry of new beginnings, Opening Convocation served as a moment for faculty, staff, and students to pause and reflect on the small acts that, together, will create their community—and a shared home—in the year ahead.
“I want us this year to focus on home as a verb, as an act, and as a struggle,” said keynote speaker Dr. Roopali Phadke. Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies—a department that focuses much of its work on what it means to sustain life on Earth—Phadke issued a challenge for those in the audience: start thinking about home as something made in community, not out of brick and mortar.
“Home isn’t a structure,” she said. “For me, it is a memory of the goodness in life.”
That theme echoed beyond Phadke’s keynote, with campus leaders exploring ways that Mac can build and rebuild their community one small act at a time.
Here are four takeaways from the event.
Intentional homemaking
Greeted by the campus wind turbine and the United Nations flag flying overhead, Phadke felt her own “homing instincts buzzing” during her first trip to Macalester in 2005 for a job interview. But truly making Mac her home has taken intentionality and care, something she advised her fellow Scots to engage in actively.
“For those of you new to campus and maybe those who are still feeling a little unmoored, I recommend doing some homemaking,” she said. “Find that bench where you can catch your breath. Find a basement kitchen to cook in. And find home in St. Paul, getting off campus to make home among our many diverse communities.”
But, Phadke says, homemaking isn’t just about finding comfort. A home is also a community where neighbors support one another—something the Twin Cities experienced firsthand during Operation Metro Surge.
“If your civil liberties are threatened again, know that those sitting around you and standing around you will stand up for you in defense of our shared home,” she said.
The importance of small
President Suzanne Rivera opened her remarks reflecting on the simple joys of a new school year—a new notebook, unsharpened pencils, and a boundless sense of possibility.
“I genuinely enjoyed covering textbooks with brown paper from grocery bags, labeling folders for each subject,” Rivera said of her time as a child, adding with a smile, “Can we all agree that green is for science?”
Small joys and small acts, Rivera said, can collectively lead to a strong, flourishing home. She quoted writer adrienne maree brown: “Small is good, small is all.”
Small acts, she told students, can vary from holding the door open for someone to deeply working to understand another person in the room. “Watch for incremental progress and celebrate the little wins,” Rivera said. “And when you’re daunted or you feel overwhelmed, find one small next step.”
Leaning in to difference
Saint Paul mayor Kaohly Her made an appearance, urging students to embrace complexity and difference, rather than shying away from it.
“We can’t just have diversity of people, we have to have diversity in thought, we have to be able to hold multiple truths that may be conflicting in the same reality,” Her said.
Instead of retreating from differing viewpoints, Her encouraged Scots to use the skills they learn on campus to make better homes all over the globe.
“It is the education that you receive here that will give you the critical thinking skills in order for you to be able to do that,” Her said. “And it’s not just a skill that you are learning here because we think it is important academically. It is important for the survival of our own society and our country.”
Shaping a new home
The incoming Class of 2030 also got plenty of practical advice from Student Government President David Christenfeld ’27. The senior history major doled out tips on everything from working with professors—“Ask them about their own research,” Christenfeld said. “It could lead to job and research opportunities for you!”—to exploring the Twin Cities, including his personal favorite: watching the Timberwolves play on the cheap at Target Center ($10 tickets on college nights).
But he closed with a simple message about the power Macalester students have to shape their new home.
“One of the great things about being a school this small is that every student has a real voice and say in what happens,” Christenfeld said. “If there are things that you want to change, you can change them.”