We have much for which to be thankful as this fall semester winds down: historic enrollment and retention rates, another win in women’s flag football (the team remains undefeated!), a winning record (5 – 1) in football, the launch of Schreiner Institute’s Drum and Bugle Corps, ABET accreditation for Engineering, and our volleyball team’s epic season which ended in a five set match against Colorado College in the conference championship final. In this season of Thanksgiving, I encourage us all to remember the many ways in which our individual and collective lives are blessed. And as president of Schreiner, it’s abundantly clear to me that Schreiner’s blessings are overflowing.

Norman Rockwell shaped how many of us think of Thanksgiving with one of his most famous paintings, “Freedom from Want,” which originally appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. It is the third in a series of four oil paintings, known together as the “Four Freedoms,” which were inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address with that same title. “Freedom from Want” captures the moment at a Thanksgiving dinner table when the grandmother places the turkey on the table while the grandfather stands expectantly to . . . bless the meal? carve the bird?

Be the first to eat? The Thanksgiving table is crowded with friends and family, and delight beams from every face. A figure in the bottom right corner peeks out at the viewer, inviting us into the tableau. It is an idealized image of what Thanksgiving is supposed to be. There is a deep truth in the painting but a high expectation, too, as it focuses on the perfect feast while glossing over all the hard work it took to prepare that beautiful Thanksgiving table.

Today, all your friends at Schreiner wish you a Thanksgiving that is perfect in every way. Not because that’s the way it will inevitably be, but because there are 5:30 am athletic practices and 6:30 am weightlifting sessions, because faculty work late into the evenings and on the weekends to make sure the labs are safe, because drums and bugles don’t play themselves, and because sometimes we believe the expectations of others aren’t high enough for our own lofty ambitions. I’ve seen the hard work our students and faculty have put in this fall. That’s why I feel blessed to be part of Schreiner University. That’s why I hope you’re thankful to be part of this institutional legacy, too.

Charlie McCormick, Ph.D.
President
Schreiner University