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It’s one thing to embrace the College of the Holy Cross mission statement — it’s another to embody it in everything you do. Once every year, the College honors five alumni who have made significant impact in their fields and have dedicated themselves to living the College’s mission with Sanctae Crucis Awards, the highest non-degree accolade the College bestows upon alumni. The 2019 distinguished recipients of the award are: Kate Curran ’85; Timothy L. Porter ’68; Jane Ryder ’82; Dr. David E. Wazer, M.D. ’78; and Benjamin Zawacki ’97.

The honorees spread out among different classrooms and communities, sharing advice, wisdom and memories of life on The Hill. We caught up with these impressive alumni to listen in on what has resonated in their education and to hear the surprising ways that their Holy Cross days ripple through their work.

Twelve years ago, Holy Cross set an ambitious goal: to be completely carbon neutral by 2040. Thanks to a comprehensive set of initiatives and policy changes, the College is nearly halfway there.

According to the latest data, Holy Cross reduced its carbon emissions by 46.8 percent between 2007 and 2017. Reducing carbon emissions is an important effort towards fighting global climate change. Leading scientific organizations around the world agree that the earth’s climate is warming, and that “rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver.”

“Pope Francis in Laudato Si and Father Arturo Sosa, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus have emphasized that care for our common home has to be a priority for the Catholic Church, the Jesuits and all of us who work together supporting our shared mission,” said Fr. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J. President of the College. “We must safeguard the earth and its beauty for the survival of future generations and human flourishing and our students are modeling for us how to become engaged.”

The effects of the College’s Carbon Neutral Plan can be seen across campus:

• A green building policy calls for all major construction and renovation projects — including the College’s newest projects, the Luth Athletic Complex, the Joyce Contemplative Center, the upcoming Joanne Chouinard-Luth Recreation and Wellness Center and the performing arts center — to comply with LEED certification requirements.
• Lighting across campus is being replaced with high-efficiency LED bulbs and motion sensors.
• This fall, thanks to a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and a rebate from National Grid, the College installed electric vehicle charging stations in the parking garage.
• Dining Services has made a host of changes to improve sustainability, including going “trayless” in the main Kimball Dining Hall. This means about 25 to 50 percent less food is wasted, and up to a half gallon of water is saved per tray not washed, saving 900 gallons of water a day.

These are just some of the current initiatives driving down the College’s carbon emissions.

The effort towards reducing carbon emissions began in 2007 with the formation of the Presidential Task Force on the Environment, and it continues today. Fr. Boroughs recently announced that College administrators would soon be meeting with members of the student environmental concerns organization Eco-Action to work towards creating a new staff position to support the College’s sustainability program.

College of the Holy Cross students, faculty, staff and alumni have left their mark — physically — on the new Joanne Chouinard-Luth Recreation and Wellness Center.

Members of the Holy Cross community gathered at the site of the new building to mark an important construction milestone, the blessing and placement of the structure’s final steel beam. Before the ceremony, the beam was made available for community members — including the construction crew — to sign with purple pens.

Following remarks from Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president of the College, the beam was hoisted to its final destination at the top of the steel structure.

Construction of the building, colloquially referred to as The Jo, is made possible by a $40 million donation — the largest in College history — from John Luth ’74 and his wife, Joanne Chouinard-Luth. A significant part of the donation, $25 million, is allocated toward the renovation and expansion of the Hart Center, now the Hart Center at the Luth Athletic Complex, which was dedicated in 2018. The balance of the donation, which was recently increased by an additional $7.5 million to total $15 million, is being used to fund The Jo.

The new 52,000 square foot facility will offer a new home to campus recreation, through a wide range of fitness and wellness spaces, including sports courts, weight rooms, a golf simulator, three rooms for yoga, cycling and fitness, and a one-tenth-mile suspended jogging track overlooking Worcester. The three-story facility will also be home to club and intramural sports and house an expanded office for Public Safety.

“John was a transfer student to the College of the Holy Cross, and he was working for an alum, John Flavan ’53, in his restaurant in St. Louis,” Fr. Boroughs said to the assembled crowd. “He wasn’t a particularly happy student at the time, and John Flavan thought that John Luth was underchallenged. He said to him, ‘I know where you should be going. It’s not here — you should be going to College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.’ John was one of nine children. Certainly, they had no resources for him to come here. John Flavan paid his way so he could come to the College tuition-free.

“That experience, as John Luth would tell you, shaped and framed his whole life. As a consequence, John Luth has adopted the principle of giving back that is so essential to all of us here at the College. There’s a line in the Gospel of Matthew saying ‘The gift you have been given, give as a gift.’ And John Luth certainly embraced that philosophy by giving back to those who follow, so they can have the opportunity he had.”