By Webster University President Elizabeth Stroble
As we mark Webster’s first century with year-long centennial activity, our celebration is enhanced when the members of our community celebrate with us.
As we mark Webster’s first century with year-long centennial activity, our celebration is enhanced when the members of our community celebrate with us.
Our downtown kick-off on Sept. 19 was followed by the Garden Glow and other Webster Groves events that evening, and the homecoming and family activities throughout the weekend. These events welcomed family, friends, alumni, neighborhood residents and business colleagues to come together in celebration.
Together, we lined up for food trucks, signed the Big 100, posted photos with mascots and raised our glasses to toast Webster alumni and community members.
The festivities continued throughout the weekend just as they will throughout this year until they culminate in November 2015, one hundred years after the original building cornerstone was put into place.
This is a year to celebrate. Sen. Roy Blunt, with co-sponsorship by Sen. Claire McCaskill, successfully led a Senate resolution recognizing Webster’s centennial. Reps. Ann Wagner and Lacy Clay have advanced a similar resolution in the House.
The American flag flying next to our centennial flag in front of Webster Hall was flown over the Capitol in late July, thanks to Wagner.
Sept. 19 was named Webster University Day in Webster Groves with a proclamation from Mayor Gerry Welch.
For the City of St. Louis, Mayor Francis Slay named Sept. 19 as Webster University Centennial Day. We can also thank Slay for requesting President Barack Obama to send a letter in Webster’s honor.
The last known time Webster received a letter of congratulations from a U. S. president was in 1940, the 25th anniversary of our founding, when Franklin Roosevelt sent a letter to Webster President George Donovan.
We are honored to receive this letter from President Obama, who acknowledges our truly global nature as an institution dedicated to meeting students’ evolving needs.
The letters have now become part of the historical record for Webster University, just as we contribute not only to Webster’s history, but also to the present and future for a thriving Webster in its next century.
President Roosevelt Letter to Webster
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