You were nothing more than 524 acres of Indiana farmland with a crude log cabin and one overworked Catholic priest serving as a missionary to the Potowatomi Indians. The line of priests and Indians trailed away over the years, and you were abandoned until the winter of 1842. With just $541.12 ½, you were rescued from obscurity. Bricks made from the banks of your lakes built the first buildings to house and educate young boys. But you were poor, simple, and small, often ridiculed for being useless and unnecessary. Your first students paid their $13 per quarter for tuition with manual labor and bartering, swapping potatoes for Latin and cattle for grammar lessons. You valued academic and religious studies over recreation and did not have the means to support non-academic programs, like music. More than once you were burnt to the ground by careless use of candles and poor electrical wiring.

You have more than 130 buildings on 1,250 acres. Your faculty and students come from all over the world, and the line of alumni trails 167 years. You have $7 billion in endowments from well-known and famous people as well as loyal alumni and friends. You are building a new parking lot for the Morris Inn, a new and expanded Eck School of Law, the Ryan Hall for housing undergraduate women, a new Stinson-Remick Hall for the School of Engineering, a new combination Center for Social Concerns/Institute for Church Life building, and the $215 million Eddy Street Commons. You are rich, multi-faceted, and large, often praised for being innovative and essential to the academic world and the Catholic faith. Your 11,600 students pay their tuition with loans, grants, scholarships and their parents’ hard-earned cash to the tune of $36,000 per year in exchange for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. You have more Heisman Trophy winners than any other college football team, and you have the oldest marching band. You have your own fire department.

Your growth will be in cyberspace rather than continuing to erect bricks and mortar buildings. Your faculty and students will connect online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year from every country and continent. Your endowment will grow so large that all students will receive sufficient grants, financial aid and scholarships to fund their education. You will build vibrant, virtual communities of learning on the Internet. Your richness, multiplicity and size will be the gifts you nurture in each student to touch the world for good. You will have hundreds of thousands of students enrolled for the sheer joy of learning in a spiritual community of faith and practice. You will play Fantasy Football and Garage Band. You will have a secured firewall.