'How can I become a blogger?'

Happy Tuesday!


I got this question on Formspring, but I accidentally deleted it and have no way of answering it. Whoops! So sorry about that anonymous-mystery-curious-question-asking-person!


So to answer your question...

First, I'm so happy that you're interested in blogging! Like you, I became interested in becoming a blogger the summer before my first year at Saint Mike's, just one short year ago!


Officially, blogger try-outs are held about once a semester. Usually an email is sent around to all students & any interested students can create a blog & basically practice blogging for a few weeks. Afterwards, bloggers are picked to become paid bloggers & any other interested bloggers are encouraged to stay on as volunteer bloggers.


Unofficially, you can email  our Blogger Coordinator, senior Gabbi Hall, or our Assistant Director of Marketing for Social Media, Christian Camerota. This is the path that I took last summer, however this may not be an option this year - it's all up to Gabbi and Christian.


On a side note, last year in my pursuit to become a student blogger I emailed Alexandra, a student blogger whose blog I read religiously all last summer, and I actually still read now. I emailed Alexandra to ask how to become a blogger, and then met her shortly after school started. I'm so very happy to say that I'm not only great friends with Alexandra, but we're also both team leaders of LINK, one of the campus ministry groups on campus. (My friend Merrill had a similar experience of meeting Alexandra, being inspired to become a blogger, and being a new team leader of LINK just like me!), Here's an adorable Facebook status that Alexandra put up a few weeks ago:

So anonymous-question-asker, I wish you the best of luck! Blogging is a lot of fun & a great way to make friends! I'm glad you're so interested in getting involved at Saint Mike's! If you have any questions, send me an email or find me on Twitter!

New Vlog Post!

Yet another beautiful picture they chose here...

I apologize again for not blogging recently, but be on the look out for more blog posts soon!

If you have any questions, send me a message on Facebook!

Saint Mike's Bucket List

Hi everyone!

As the end of my first year in college is drawing to a close, I thought I'd make up a sort of bucket list of everything that I want to complete (at SMC & anywhere else) before I graduate three years from now in May, 2015. I've already completed a few things, but here goes:


-Become a tour guide
-Live in a Townhouse
-Get an internship
-Join a mentoring program
-Go swimming in Lake Champlain
-Attend an SMC sporting event
-Study abroad
-Road trip to Canada
-Go on a school trip
-Go to the Burlington farmers' market
-Go skiing at Smuggs
-Go on a Wilderness Club trip/hike
-Learn to snowboard
-Go to the Ben & Jerry's Factory
-Take a social media class
-Go climbing on the rock-climbing wall in the Tarrant gym
-Be in a flash mob
-Sing a solo in Liturgial Choir
-Make the Dean's List
-Graduate


Of course these tasks are of varying degrees of difficulty, but I love having goals for the three years I have left here. There's so much to do in Vermont, I need to make sure I get everything done! I'll be adding to this list in the future, and make sure to check out the links to to activities I've already completed.

I have about one week left here at Saint Mike's before I'm home for the summer. Before I leave I still have a bunch of school work (some homework, two final papers, and a final exam) as well as some fun things, like going to a Cristina Perri concert on Saturday & going out to Burlington to celebrate (or I guess 'mourn' would be a more appropriate word?) our friend Vick transferring at the end of the semester.

Congrats to everyone who officially committed to Saint Mike's for next year - I can't wait to see you all in the Fall! Ask me any questions on Formspring or by email. Happy Tuesday!

Fall Class Schedule

Three weeks and the semester is over! Ahh, craziness! Right now I'm a bit swamped with work, but it's all okay since summer vacation officially starts May 10!

A few weeks ago we all picked our classes for the upcoming fall semester and I GOT INTO ALL MY CLASSES! This is truly a miracle because it's the first time I've gotten all four classes that I tried for. And so my next semester's schedule is:

-Managerial Accounting:
 Tues/Thurs, 3:00 - 4:35 with Professor Doyon

This semester my learning style didn't match too well with my accounting professor and I ended up dropping the class. I've heard great things about this professor and he seems energetic and  hilariously passionate about accounting. This class will count towards my business minor.

-Introduction to Accounting:
 Mon/Wed/Fri, 8:30 - 9:35 with Professor L'Hote

I have work study in the Academic Affairs office, so I work in some of the deans' offices. My work study boss and one of the deans helped me pick my classes for next semester and assured me that this professor is absolutely amazing! This class will fulfill an LSR, a liberal studies requirement.

-General Psychology:
 Mon/Wed/Fri, 9:45 - 10:50 with Professor Adams

This introductory class is taught by the psychology department head. I didn't get into this class during registration, but the professor was great about helping me petition into his class. I was able to get in the day after registration. This class will count towards my psychology major.

-Research Methods I:
 Mon/Wed/Fri, 11:00 - 12:05 with Professor Boynton

This is a statistics class and is another class that I didn't get into during registration. Since General Psychology is a pre-requisite, I had to wait until after registration to see if there were any open spots for me in the class. The professor was incredibly accommodating and let me take the class even though I didn't have the pre-requisite and the class was full. The professor helped me get into the class the day after registration. This class will count towards my psychology major.



I couldn't be more thrilled with all of my classes! All of my professors seem amazing and the classes themselves are really interesting to me.


 Also, I've blogged before about 'Horses and Healing', my First Year Seminar class last semester in which my class volunteered at a therapeutic horseback riding farm once a week. For next semester's 'Horses and Healing' class, my friend Merrill and I were chosen to be Teaching Assistants, meaning we'll help out once a week during trips to the farm. I'm so happy!


So many amazing things have been happening to me lately! Despite all the stress of finals, I can't help but feel so blessed! I have so much more to share; be on the look out for many more blog posts coming soon!

Ask me anything on Twitter! Please!

Wonderful Burlington!

Hello!

As many of you know, the local downtown hang out for us Saint Mike's kids is Church Street in Burlington. Church Street is about 10 minutes away (we take the CCTA city bus system for free with our Knightcards!) & has tons of delicious restaurants, adorable shops, & entertaining street performers. My friend Lauren also blogged about this a bit - check it out!


Last weekend a bunch of us headed into Burlington on Friday to go out to eat & watch the sunset over Lake Champlain!

First we ate at Sky Burger - pretty cheap and SO good!

Then we all walked down to Lake Champlain - the sunset was gorgeous

A bit hard to see, but this is one of my favorite street performers.

Here he's doing a hand stand on top of five precariously balanced chairs.

The rest of my weekend was amazing too! As I'm mentioned before, I'm a 'big sister' in LBLS (Little Brother, Little Sister) Mentoring through the Saint Mike's community service group, called MOVE. On Saturday I went to Pizza Putt with my 'little sister' and we had so much fun! Pizza Putt has arcade games, pizza, a playground, bumper cars, and mini golf...and we did everything! She had a blast and it's sad that I can't see her all summer.




THEN on Sunday, Saint Mike's had Earth Fest! It was held in the gym because it was supposed to rain and there was so much to do - free burgers with all local ingredients, bike-powered smoothies, an amazing band called Mission South (which I'm not obsessed with), tie-dye, a chance to plant some flowers, and free Ben & Jerry's!

My friends Cait & Vick after planting some seeds in Ben & Jerry's containers.

Overall I had an amazing weekend - with all that Burlington & Saint Mike's has to offer, how can you go wrong? This weekend is sure to be amazing too - like I said in my last post, it's parents weekend so I get to show my parents all around SMC & Burlington!

Be on the look out for more lovely posts, coming soon! Email me with any questions!

Video Blog

Ahhh my very first Vlog post!


Inspiration struck...after I saw my friend Lauren's vlog post (it's pretty funny, so check it out here!). I know that technically I'm stealing this idea, but vlogging is so much fun!

Attractive freeze-frame photo they chose, huh?

As you can tell, life is just grand! It's been extremely busy and slightly stressful, but I've just been especially happy lately - it must be all of the warm, sunny weather!

Like I said, find me on Twitter, Formspring, or Facebook (so many ways to contact me...) OR Email me with any questions! If it's not obvious, I LOVE helping prospective students & talking about Saint Mike's so ask away! Look for some more info-packed blog posts coming soon!

'I Love Reading your Blog'

Hi Alex!

My name is Victoria and I am about 30 minutes from Boston. I have been reading all of the SMC Blogs since being accepted and I really enjoy reading your blog. This may be because I also research everything like crazy and am not the most outgoing person. It was also interesting to read that your are not the typical college student, which is another way I am similar to you. I am coming to visit for accepted students’ day this weekend and now I am not as nervous about college life. I have never seen St. Mike’s so I’m hoping I love it.

Keep it Up!

Hey Victoria!

Thanks so much for your email - it totally made my day! It's so refreshing to hear that my blog is actually helping prospective students like it's meant to!

How did you like your visit to Saint Mike's? I'd love to hear whatcha think & of course feel free to ask me any questions. In fact, find me on facebook, twitter, or formspring!

Also, I definitely recommend attending one of our 'Knight Chats' if you have questions about SMC. Have you heard about them before? It's basically like an IM chatroom sesh with a bunch of the current student bloggers. We're having one today from 7:30 - 9 pm & I'll be on it. Here's the link!

Again, let me know if you have any questions. Thanks so much for your feedback & positive words!