Joseph Day of Rehoboth Named Co-Valedictorian at Providence College

At the Academic Awards Ceremony on Saturday, May 16, Joseph Day of Rehoboth will be honored for his academic achievement — a perfect 4.0 grade point average — and he will address fellow graduates. He will talk about opportunities and the innate goodness of the College community.

Day: Matured intellect, faith lead to priesthood

Four years ago, Joe Day was an ideal future Friar — academically gifted, service-focused, and committed to his faith. Four years later, Day is leaving PC with those traits heightened.

“In this community, I have encountered and experienced truth and love,” said Day, a Roman Catholic. “It has made me into the person I am today. This has been my intellectual, my social, and my spiritual home.”

A student in the Liberal Arts Honors Program, Day cherished Development of Western Civilization (DWC) courses and devoured courses connected to his history major and classics and theology minors — earning praise along the way.

“Joe Day's primary scholarly virtue is the deliberately reflective way in which he responds to challenging ideas,” said Dr. Richard J. Grace ’62, professor emeritus of history. “He is intellectually honest in an exemplary way, and he is a model of collegial discourse. His learning is informed by his Christian faith. Indeed, faith and reason work together in Joe with a beautiful complementarity.”

It’s the faith mentioned by Grace that Day said has grown during his time here. Among many activities, he’s been active in Campus Ministry and served as a Father Philip A. Smith, O.P. Student Fellow in South Africa in the summer of 2014. He even had an encounter with Pope Francis.

While a student in the PC in Rome program, Day and his classmates attended a weekly papal audience in St. Peter’s Square. Day explained that leading up to that audience, he had learned about the tradition of exchanging the zucchetto that the pope wears on his head. Arriving at St. Peter’s early in the morning positioned Day perfectly for the exchange — a moment that was caught on camera and one that he’ll never forget.

“It’s hard to describe in words, what it was like to have a personal encounter with the pope,” Day said. “After I sat down, I was out of it for the rest of the audience.”

An “active Catholic” before coming to PC, Day realized midway through his time here that his future was coming into a much clearer focus — he was going to join the priesthood as a member of the Dominican Order. He will enter the novitiate in Cincinnati in July and spend a year as a novice. In August, he will receive his habit and his religious name.

“Part of the reason why I love the Dominicans and why I want to join is because their spirituality is grounded in the study of the truth,” Day said. “Reading Aquinas and Augustine in Civ, those were things that I hadn’t really read before. It made me realize how intellectual Christianity is.”

On top of that intellectual element, Day said the Dominican spirit of service and inspirational preaching helped him cement his decision.
“My faith has really matured intellectually and spiritually,” he explained, noting time he spent volunteering at an orphanage in Ecuador. “I learned that the experience of living your life for others brought more joy than I had ever experienced before.”

He added, “Eventually, I realized that this is what God is calling me to. Part of the reason I want to be a Dominican is to help direct people to God so they can find healing, meaning, and happiness.”
More about Joe Day:

• Recipient of Reverend Thomas Urban Mullaney, O.P. Award for Best Essay on Thomism and the Richard and Robert Deasy Scholarship Award for Excellence in History
• Member of Theta Alpha Kappa (theology) and Phi Alpha Theta (history) honor societies
• Coordinator of PC for Life 
• Three-time Habitat for Humanity Alternative Spring Break participant
• Volunteer at Mustard Seed Jamaica’s Sophie House for Children with special needs and For His Children Orphanage in Quito, Ecuador
• Four-year student employee in the Office of Institutional Advancement