When Congresswoman Donna Christensen ’66 was looking at colleges in the 1960s, she planned to bolt from the “cloistered” life of an all-girls boarding school and bust out at a big university. “But the Dominican nuns and my parents wouldn’t hear of it,” she told her audience at the College’s fourth Multiethnic Commencement Celebration on May 8. Click here to read Christensen’s entire speech.

U.S. Virgin Islands Rep. Donna Christensen '66, right of President Carol Ann Mooney, gathers with students for the Multiethnic Commencement Celebration on May 8 at the Student Center
U.S. Virgin Islands Rep. Donna Christensen '66, right of
President Carol Ann Mooney, gathers with students for
the Multiethnic Commencement Celebration on May 8
at the Student Center

Instead, “I chose Saint Mary’s, mainly because Notre Dame was just across the highway,” she said. “But over the four years I spent here, it is Saint Mary’s that made the difference in my life, and the course it would take, more than anything or any place else.”

The College will do the same, she said, for the seventeen graduates —“my Saint Mary’s sisters of color” — honored at the service. In addition to Christensen’s speech, the celebration featured a thoughtful welcome from President Carol Ann Mooney ’72, speeches by graduates Kendall Davis ‘11, Jingqiu Guan ‘11, and Denise Lopez ‘11, and an awards presentation.

Christensen, congressional delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands, had the audience laughing at her campus rule-breaking, marveling at the historic events that shaped her college years, and admiring her deep-rooted passion for improving the world.

She started by painting a picture of Saint Mary’s from 1962 to 1966, a world of early curfews (6:30 p.m. weekdays and 8:30 p.m. weekends), no co-ed visitations on either campus, and ethnic diversity embodied in three African American students. “Saint Mary’s has come a long, long way,” she said about diversity on campus, which had 16.5 percent minority representation in 2010.

The congresswoman went on to explain her own claim to the College’s history by being one of the first students to take a class, parasitology, at Notre Dame. Then she spoke of national history that occurred during her college days: the Bay of Pigs invasion, the assassination of President Kennedy, the Vietnam War.

And the civil rights movement: “It had a profound effect on our two campuses,” she said. “We knew we had to be part of the change that was taking place in our country.” This manifested largely through a tutoring program for South Bend school children that exists today.

Christensen paid tribute to Saint Mary’s excellent professors, especially former biology Chair Clarence Dineen, who encouraged her to become a medical doctor when she had deep doubts. The College’s emphasis on service helped her become a family doctor who cared for patients “not just with skill, but with compassion,” she said.

Saint Mary’s also prepared her for a congressional career that started in 1996. She pointed out that three Saint Mary’s alumnae served in Congress with her: Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Madeleine Bordallo of Guam, and former Congresswoman Anne Northup of Kentucky.

Christensen predicted great opportunities and responsibilities for the students honored that night. “We women of Saint Mary’s of color have a special role to play, a special calling that no one else can fill,” she said. “Our mission must be to transform this country and world into ones that are equitable and just.”

And, finally, she challenged the grads: “Make it your primary mission to spread God’s love, because it is the only way to bring justice and peace to a world that’s in dire need of both.”