The College Connection
STORY
Madison Kozera, English Major, of Abingdon, MD
Upon entering the College, one of the first phrases that all new students hear is “Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat,” implying that, no matter how long after they graduate from Saint Vincent College, a piece of the College will always travel with them. For current students, alumni, staff, and even friends of the College, the phrase rings true. Community acts as the heart of SVC, drawing people together and forming relationships that would have never existed otherwise, making connections that have withstood the test of time. SVC’s Honors Convocation and Commencement speakers, Theodore Chavez and Bill Strickland, embody the virtue of community that the College embraces, displaying how their connections have drawn them to SVC long before either of their speeches. ♦
Theo Chavez, C’08
The Honors Convocation speaker for the spring 2023 semester, Theodore Chavez, C’08, has close ties with the SVC community. An alumnus himself, he not only shares the title of Saint Vincent College graduate with his uncle and nephew, but he also shares in many of the same experiences: move-in day, welcome weekend, the Big/Little dynamic, and more. The FBI Honors Internship granted him another opportunity to interact with SVC members of similar interests, whereupon he discovered even greater connections and opportunities.
With each new relationship he formed, the deeper a love he found for his work with the FBI, and he soon realized that without the SVC community and its members, he would never have become a forensic examiner for the FBI—an individual needs the help of a community to open doors that would otherwise remain forever closed.
“I would soon learn that I was following in the footsteps of other Bearcats and creating a trail for others.”
Bill Strickland, H’23
A born and raised Pittsburgher, Bill Strickland is an integral part of the SVC community, acting out the role of an honorary Bearcat—a role that was made official upon receiving an honorary doctorate during the spring 2023 commencement ceremony.
During his address, Strickland explained that when he visited campus for the first time in 1965, it was for an architecture project he was working on under the guidance of his art teacher, Mr. Ross. The visit lead him into the monk’s residence at Saint Vincent and the Chapel, where he found himself in awe of the light throughout and surrounding it. This visit was a turning point in Strickland’s life, one that inspired his future projects and in turn help him to form lifelong relationships within SVC’s community.
Thanks to the community that Strickland engaged with and created within SVC, starting with that first visit, his life has remained forever impacted by the individuals he’s met along the way, and so has our Bearcat community.
“That light is still present today at this school and represents the light I saw surrounding that Chapel many years ago.”