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Digitized by the Internet Archive 2017 with funding from in Muhlenberg College Alumni Trust Fund https://archive.org/details/ciarla2008116muhl Muhlenberg College Allentown, Pennsylvania wTiiV' Message From the President.., \ To the Class of 2008: Yearbooks are funny things. You probably won't get your hands on this one 'til months after graduation, when the memories of Muhlenberg have just begun to recede a bit and the realization that "real life" is underway has started to sink in. So you will leaf through Gloria's pages, looking for pictures of yourself and your friends, remembering good times and happy moments, and then you will put your yearbook on a shelf, or, more likely, in a box. Over the years, assuming you schlep that box from domicile to domicile, you will bring it out occasionally and iook at it again (maybe you are doing so now). had that experience with my own yearbook just recently, and, after recoiling I from the appalling haircut and ridiculous moustache that define my senior photo, I started to think about what college memories matter most. First and foremost: friends. They helped me figure out who am - just as your friends I probably did for you during your years at 'Berg. So remember their jokes, their quirks, I the pranks we played on each other (yes! President Helm once played pranks!) with special fondness. Next think of my professors - the ones who inspired me, sometimes I shocked me ("this is not college-level work, Mr. Helm!"), and even old Professor Gould who gave me a "C" in his course after spilled red wine on his white carpet during a I night-before-the-final "symposium". Honestly, don't remember many particulars of the I course content (except Homer and Herodotus, of course) but do remember the I research and problem-solving skills picked up along the way, as well as the ability to I know when was doing my best (and when wasn't). And somehow also learned I I I that, even though the faculty and staff focused their full attention on me throughout my four years on campus, the world is not all about me. learned that the world I expects me to give back, to raise others up, to share what have been given. I hope that during our four years together at Muhlenberg have had a chance to help I I you in some fashion. If not. I'm sure there are other members of our community who did. And now, whether you are reading this months or years after your graduation, I hope you are equally committed to giving back, impossible, of course, to forecast It is the future. But one thing I can predict with total certainty: Muhlenberg still needs your loyalty, your involvement, your support. In fact, the students who are living here today are counting on it. Come back to visit as often as you can. Stay in touch. Do your bit for 'Berg. And, years from now, try not to laugh too hard at your yearbook photo. Best wishes. Randy Helm