Conversations in the First Year engages members of the incoming class in an intellectual and reflective dialogue through a common text. This year's text is Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder, and the class-wide conversation will kick off on Thursday, September 7, 2023 with First Year Academic Convocation — a beloved University tradition that welcomes all first-year students into BC’s academic community. This shared experience embodies the richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition at Boston College, which calls us to examine our faith and experience in conversation with others in order to pursue the greater glory of God.
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Go set the world aflame
In the entrance of the Jesuit headquarters in Rome is a striking statue of Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) with the motto Ite, inflammate omnia.—"Go set the world aflame." These were his parting words to Francis Xavier who was carrying the Gospel to the East, and it is our charge to you as you begin your experience at Boston College. Take the gift of education and carry it to great places throughout the world.
Past Common Texts
Cultivating habits of thought. That’s what coming to BC is offering you. Some habits can and should be digital, connected, and even multi-tasked. But sometimes we all need the habit of opening a good book, diving in, and leaving the din of our contemporary moment, temporarily, behind.
