Introducing love of learning as the value of the year

As The College of St. Scholastica opens a new academic year, we’re proud to introduce love of learning as the 2026-27 value of the year. It joins the College’s four other Catholic Benedictine values — community, respect, hospitality, and stewardship — which together reflect our commitment to lifting up others and celebrating a common humanity, as we honor the inherent and inviolable God-given dignity of every human person.

This value invites every Saint to embrace learning as a lifelong pursuit, one that continues to shape how they live, work, and serve. “In the Benedictine tradition, love of learning is deeply connected to the search for God, the search for truth, and a deep hunger to know more, to learn more, and to understand more, so as to connect with the wonders of God’s creation and perhaps the Creator Himself,” said Associate Vice President for Mission Integration Sister Kathleen Del Monte, OSB, PhD.

“For Benedictines, the love of learning has never been about accumulating knowledge for its own sake,” Sister Kathleen continued. “It’s a form of reverence: a way of honoring the gifts of those who came before us and offering something of value to those who come after. This celebrates that God is present in all of His creation.”

Love of learning calls the College community to preserve the intellectual and material heritage entrusted to us by past generations and to transmit the treasures of human culture to new generations. It also calls us to create scholarly, artistic, and scientific works that enrich and enlarge human life.

Beyond the classroom

Throughout the year, Saints are encouraged to bring love of learning to life across campus: in classrooms where questions are welcomed and explored, in research and creative work that reaches beyond the College, and in the everyday habit of staying open to new ideas, to continual growth and transformation.

“When we integrate thought and action, learning becomes more than what happens in the classroom,” Sister Kathleen noted. “It becomes a way of life that shapes students into curious, thoughtful leaders who carry that same love into their careers and communities, transforming the world around them. The more we honor and celebrate God’s creation, the more we become more fully human, more fully alive.” Love of learning and the desire for God are, in the words of theologian Sister Jeanne Knoerle, “mutually necessary.”

“As the second-century bishop and theologian Saint Irenaeus of Lyons has written,” Sister Kathleen points out, “‘Gloria Dei vivens homo,’ the glory of God is the human person fully alive.”

The College of St. Scholastica is committed to providing all undergraduate, graduate, and adult students an exceptional value for a comprehensive educational experience. Learn more about the College’s mission and values.