December 2012

Question:

Dear Abbot Pennings,

How many students have graduated from St. Norbert College?

MaryBeth Earle Davich Ascher ’71 

Answer:

My dearest MaryBeth,

I am most grateful to have received your note. Every month I look forward to answering such inquiries from my readers. Yours I address with utmost pride.

From its inception, our beloved St. Norbert College has sent forth 20,895 graduates. The largest class graduated in 2011; the smallest class consisted of one individual, the Rev. Ignatius Francis Van Dyke, O.Praem., who received his degree in 1900. 

With the college continually striving for excellence, I find myself pondering how many graduates our fine institution will yield in the next 100 years. It stirs my soul to imagine tens of thousands of Green Knights living out communio in the wider world – a world that so mightily needs it.

Responses to “Ask the Abbot” questions are penned by St. Norbert College staff in the name of Abbot Bernard Pennings, O.Praem., who founded St. Norbert College in 1898.