This paper is a revised version of the presidential address delivered by James Ruebel on November 8, 2014, at the annual National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference in Denver, Colorado. James Ruebel speaks of the problem of permanence and change, of continuing heritage and progress, as NCHC's problem in a new millennium. The author uses the process of Rome's restoration and preservation as an example of how the confluence of present and past is the product not of accident but of centuries of argumentation and planning. Examining this process is useful because it emblemizes the process of valuing both tradition and progress, of keeping NCHC's vision focused on the future while maintaining its center. In order for progress to make sense, the value of specific changes must be questioned, a shared vision of the end goal must be achieved, and an understanding of what the "center" is must be reached. Precisely this process has been dominating discussion, argumentation, and planning for the NCHC. Confronting these disparate issues in their totality indicates the maturation of the organization's identity: trying to sustain and continue its strengths, its center, while adapting to a new era, new challenges, new responsibilities, and new expectations both in the United States and abroad.