The students in the 2015 Bachelor of Arts in Humanities for Leadership cohort were some of the first people I met at Seattle University.

Matteo Ricci College freshmen arrive on campus a few days early, and students from all three MRC programs—humanities, humanities for leadership, and humanities for teaching—are encouraged to spend time getting to know each other and bond as a group.

So it came to pass that my terrified, overwhelmed freshman self spent my first few formative days of college with the first-ever humanities for leadership students that Seattle U had ever known—and I’m so glad I did.

For four years, I have watched from a slight distance as these students have grown into the remarkable people they are today. They have handled the inevitable challenges of a brand-new program with grace, and I am continually humbled and inspired by the ways they have adapted this flexible degree in accordance with their own gifts to help create a more just and humane world.

I’m biased, of course, but Matteo Ricci College has always seemed particularly successful at embodying Ignatian values and accomplishing the goals of Jesuit pedagogy. Whenever I have had the privilege of sharing a classroom with the BAHLers (as they’ve been dubbed), I’m constantly blown away by their thoughtfulness, self-reflection, acuity and poise.

We are the first undergrad class at Seattle U to have never known a university without the humanities for leadership program, and we are all the better for it.