How to End Four Incredible Years?

Hold on folks, because this is going to be a long one.

Tomorrow is my very last day of classes. I am so close to ending my time here at Saint Mike's & it's exciting, sad, exhilarating, weird, & awesome. I'm excited for graduation day, but it's definitely going to be bittersweet to say goodbye to the people here & to the place that I've called home for four years.

I've been thinking about what to write in this final post for days, but I cant think of anything to really sum up my experience. Instead, I'm going to just review my time at Saint Mike's.

Me & Lhanzi

August 2011. I had just turned 18 & I was shy & was completely terrified to come to school. I didn't know anyone. I came to move-in day, which was exciting & entirely overwhelming. I met my roommate, Lhanzi, & we got along really well. Eventually we became close friends & I'm so happy to say that we're still close today.

Emma, me, Amelia, & Merrill

I joined the church choir & met some awesome people. I started to make more & more friends. I was starting to really fit in at Saint Mike's!

Juliana, me, Lauren K, & Lauren M

I became a blogger & met so many other first years. I saw most of these people every once in a while but became pretty good friends with a lot of them.

Emma, me, Vick, Lauren K, Cait, & Danny

I ended the year with a great crew. I was really feeling like I fit in at Saint Mike's & I was so happy to be here.

Me & Cait

My friends & I planned our first trip to Canada to see Jason Mraz perform in Montreal. We had a crazy fun weekend, just exploring the city & hanging out.

The Her Campus team

I started a Saint Mike's chapter of Her Campus with Lauren M. We had a staff of 20 students & met weekly to plan & write content.

My first business competition

I started joining business competitions & really enjoyed them! At this point I had switched my major four times & was finally set on my business major. I asked Professor Popovich to be my advisor & I started to get to know the awesome business faculty.

Lauren, ma, Merrill, Meaghan, & Devan

I got to be a Teaching Assistant for a first year seminar course, Horses & Healing. I was paid to help the Professor & to volunteer at a therapeutic riding farm each week.

FEE group photo

The summer before junior year I got funding from Saint Mike's to attend an economics seminar in South Carolina. It was such a fun week!

Me, Cara & Lauren

I spent a little more time with friends the fall semester of my junior year. I went hiking with my roommates & met a lot of new people in my classes.

London!

The spring semester of my junior year, I studied abroad! I studied at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland & traveled all over Europe in my time there. It was the most amazing semester.

Congressman Joe Kennedy & me

The summer before my senior year I interned in Congressman Joe Kenendy's office in Massachusetts. It was such an incredible & fun experience!

The Mass Dems intern crew

I also interned last summer at the Massachusetts Democratic Party, where I met so many politically-minded  interns. I made some really smart, funny & awesome friends.

Cait, me, Merrill, & Lauren

Senior year started off great! I live with a great group of girls this year. Fall semester was stressful. I had some difficult classes & was concurrently applying to graduate school.

Jake, Ryan, Meg, Isabelle, & me

In March I competed in my final business competition with a great group of students. We went to SUNY Plattsburgh for a creativity & innovation challenge. We had a great day & we performed really well - we won second place! 

Brian, Erin, me, Bizzy, & Mike

Of course, I also participated in Founders this year. I'm a blogger & tour guide & this year I worked as a coordinator. In September we traveled to Massachusetts for an admissions conference.

Bizzy, Matt, me, Erin, & Brian

We were busy all year! This semester we were busy hiring new tour guides.

Brian, Bizzy, me, & Erin

Our final event together! Yesterday we held our annual Founders Society awards ceremony. It was so much fun but it will be sad leaving this crew!

In these last four years, I've made so many great friends & had so many amazing experiences. However, these things don't compare to the personal growth I've experienced at Saint Mike's. I've really come into my own here. I've met professors & staff members who really care about me & my ambitions.

Saint Mike's has been a sort of holistic retreat. I've explored my spirituality, discovered my passions. I've really, truly become the person that I want to be - confident, educated, kind, engaged, & excited about life.

I am the person that I am today because of my family, my childhood and so much more. But Saint Mike's is and forever will be a large part of me. I'll always know Saint Mike's as the place that allowed me to grow into my best self & I'll always know Saint Mike's as home.

An Awesome End to Senior Year

My final semester is coming to an end - Wednesday is out last day of classes! I have finals, senior week & then I graduate May 10th!

These last few weeks have been busy! I've been finishing up semester-long projects, turning in research papers & giving presentations. I'm looking forward to finishing up all this work & spending time with friends before the end of the semester.

I actually have had some time to see friends recently. I was busy until this past Friday with lots of work & with preparations for the Enterprise Plan Competition. Business majors can enter their senior thesis, a business plan, in a competition, which is sponsored by an awesome alumni, Peter Worrell. I was a finalist in the competition and presented my plan, along with five other teams, to a panel of judges. It was a really exhilarating day! While I didn't place in the end, I had so much fun and I got a lot of great feedback from the judges.

Galya, Cara, me, Merrill, & Ilit

I have gotten to see my friends a little more lately. As people are finishing up their senior theses, we've all had more time to grab lunch or hang out. We had a birthday party last week for one of my roommates, Cait, & I was happy to see a lot of friends then.

Lauren & I on P-Day

I had a great day on Saturday because it was P-Day, or Preparation Day, here at Saint Mike's. Basically our school puts on a mini festival the Saturday before finals every spring semester. There was a food tent & inflatables & the Second City improv group came in the evening to perform. It was a fun day to see friends and relax before finals begin this coming Friday.

Me, Merrill, Lauren, & Cait

A somewhat sad event happened on Monday - our final Founders Society meeting! Every spring, the last Founders meeting is a bit of a party. We have dinner and awards are given out to graduating seniors & to other dedicated members. As the Online Media & Communications Coordinator, it was also a little sad to know that it was the last event I ever had to plan!

Our award - a basket of cheese & other goodies

We had an awesome event. It was fun & I got to see most of my friends & a few of my favorite admissions counselors & marketing staff members. I was also lucky - besides getting two "awards" for being a senior and a Founders coordinator, my entire townhouse won the MVP award!

Usually this award is given to a single member, but this year the four of us were given the award for being so dedicated to tour guiding & blogging these past four years. In addition, we opened our house up for prospective students & families during every open house event, which was really fun. Since it's a known fact that everyone in our house loves cheese, our award was a basket of cheese & snacks, plus some glasses with the Saint Mike's logo.

All around, my last week has been exciting & fun here at Saint Mike's. I plan to post once more in a wrap-up of my last four years here! It may get emotional, so prepare yourselves.

Please feel free to email with any questions!

Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day

One of my favorite days of the year happens every April - it's Free Cone Day, put on by Ben & Jerry's! Basically they offer free ice cream all day to thank all their customers. Free Cone Day happened last week on April 14th.

Free Cone Day really marks the beginning of spring. It's such a fun day because, duh free ice cream, but Ben & Jerry's also puts on a really fun event. The line is always long but moves fast - Ben & Jerry's has a system down. There's always music & spin art. Plus everyone is in a good mood, so it's all very exciting and happy.

 My roomie Lauren & I headed downtown for the afternoon for Free Cone Day. First we got Boloco for lunch & brought it with us to wait in line. We were only in line for about 20 minutes & we had our ice cream!

I tried Americone Dream & it was awesome! Overall, Lauren & I had such a lovely afternoon. The sun was out & ice cream was free! What more do you need?

Feel free to email with any questions.

Easter Weekend

This past weekend Saint Mike's had a long, four day weekend for Easter. We had Friday and Monday off & most students chose to go home to celebrate with their families.

Since I just went home for spring break, I chose to stay at Saint Mike's this weekend. I might have also been feeling a little sad, since my time at Saint Mike's is coming to an end. I had an awesome weekend - & unfortunately I had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures. But no worries, I do have a few photos of my weekend plans to share.

I started the weekend hanging with friends. Last week I lucky enough to finish all my homework by Wednesday, which gave me time to see friends that night. I had so much fun because many of my friends are media studies, journalism, & digital arts majors (MJD for short) & they all had their senior theses due. Since they finished on Wednesday, I got to see friends who I hadn't seen in weeks. Friends who are 21 plus decided to celebrate with trivia night at a local bar - which we won! It was a fun and relaxing start to the weekend.

Trivia winners

For much of the weekend I focused on completing big homework assignments. With the end of a semester comes end of the year presentations, exams & essays. I have a lot coming up so I've been in my room a lot studying.

One surprise of the weekend - it was sunny & warm! Like much of New England, we've has a harsh, cold & long winter. Finally, spring is starting to come! It was a pretty sunny weekend & one day it hit 65 degrees. I recruited a friend to go for a walk through the nature trails on campus & we spent some time wandering around on Church Street.

Celebrating sunshine

On Saturday my friend's parents came up to visit & were nice enough to invite me to dinner! We went to The Farmhouse, off of Church Street, & it was so much fun. The food was amazing & my friend's parents are so fun & incredibly nice.

I've been busy studying & doing laundry for the rest of the weekend. Today though, I took a break to grab brunch with my friend at Sneakers, which is a restaurant just a few minutes from campus. Brunch was so good & we took some time to walk around by the water afterwards. Sneakers is located by an old mill building that's been converted into offices. It was a little chilly today, but it was nice to be outside.

Cute sign by the water

Cloudy & chilly day by the mill

Feel free to email with any questions!

Senior Thesis

Every senior has to create a thesis. Usually this is a research paper but some majors have other requirements. In the business department, we need to create a business plan.

My exciting news of the week - I finished my thesis! I handed in my business plan last week & ended up getting an A on it! I'm so happy to have that big project done.

However, we have an awesome alumni who contributes money every year for the "Enterprise Plan Competition." Every student can choose to submit their business plan to the competition. The finalists present their plans to a panel of judges & the winner get a prize of $5,000.

So, even though my business plan is done for my class, I have a lot of editing to do before the competition deadline on April 1st.

Here's the almost finished copy!

I'm really excited about my business plan. My plan is for an online magazine, named South Station. It's all about celebrating the extraordinaries of everyday life. I want to create a magazine that is less about negative news & celebrity adoration & more about positive, fun, empowering, & funny content.

I've actually wanted to start my own magazine for some time now & plan to start this business after graduation. My mother is a writer and works in advertising & is just as excited about this idea. We plan to start this business together, starting this summer.

I had been planning to go to law school, but I want to eventually work in the district attorney's office, which wouldn't pay enough to pay back the loans required. For now I'm happy - I'm moving home to Boston, finding a job in politics, & starting this magazine. I'm so excited!

Feel free to email with any questions!

Weekend Plans

Every weekend is different at Saint Mike's. Sometimes I have big projects to finish, maybe I'll have work do to as Online Media & Communications Coordinator, usually I'll find time for friends & for going out to dinner.

This weekend was a blast. It's still chilly here, but spring is definitely coming & it is not longer bitterly cold, which is a huge relief. Since it's warm enough to walk around Church Street, my housemates & I decided to finally head to American Flatbread for dinner on Friday.

I've wanted to go here for a while because I've heard amazing things. Let me tell you - they did not disappoint! I would definitely recommend that everyone go try this place. The pizza was just out of this world!

American Flatbread also had an awesome, cool, warm atmosphere

Saturday I was up early for an admissions event for accepted students. These events are always fun because students already love Saint Mike's & are just deciding whether to commit. I got to interact with families all day & I got to be on a student panel, where prospective students could ask us anything about life at Saint Mike's. It was an exhausting but fun day.

Early morning selfie with some of my fellow coordinators

A packed house with about 1,000 people!

Saturday afternoon & relaxed & saw some friends. Now on Sunday, I'm busy with homework! I've got some basic work to do & I have a few big projects coming up that I need to start.

Feel free to email with any questions!

Spring Break

Last week I had my last spring break of college. Lately I've been noticing how close we are to the end of the semester. I'm so close to giving my last tour, blog for the last time, go to my final class. It's crazy to think that college is almost over!

So last week was spring break. I had an awesome time - I got to see my family, relax, & do some adventuring. This is how my week went-

We stayed at Hotel Vermont - a very cool & new hotel!

A very frozen Lake Champlain

A treat at Ben & Jerry's

 My parents visited me in Vermont for the weekend. It was so lovely to show them around Burlington. Usually it's difficult to visit on the weekends because I have so much homework to do for the upcoming week. It was cool to have time to just chill with my parents & not worry about assignments being due on Monday.

Hipster coffee shop in Williamsburg

Lunch at a German-style Brat & Beer Garden

Views of Manhattan from Brooklyn

I drove home on Sunday with my parents & traveled to New York City on Monday to visit my brother. He goes to school in the city so it's always fun to visit him & do some exploring. We also got in to see a taping of Seth Meyers' show, which was so fun!

To end the week, I came home for a few days & relaxed with my family. It also happened to be my grandfather's 89th birthday, so we all celebrated & I got to see my aunts & cousins.

Over all, it was a fun & relaxing spring break. Now it's time to work hard to finish out this semester!

Feel free to email with any questions!

Accepted Student Programs

Every spring we have awesome events for students who were accepted to Saint Mike's but who are still considering whether or not to commit. I love these programs, because they really give students the chance to spend some time at SMC & to understand what we're all about. Furthermore, these accepted students are usually very excited about Saint Mike's & it's fun to have that energy around.

One of the dancers at Arts Riot

Prospective students at Arts Riot

This past weekend we had a big accepted student events, where prospective students spent a night at the college. The event was so fun - students spent time on campus, talking to professors, & seeing dorm rooms. Then students went to arts riot, an art & event space downtown, to eat, talk, & see some live performers, including dancers & some singers from Saint Mike's. The students ended the night with bowling & pizza.

President Neuhauser came to Arts Riot to visit with prospective students

My friends & fellow seniors Mary & Bizzy

I loved this event - it really showed some of the perks of SMC, including our awesome community & our cool location outside of Burlington. It was also cool to see the students who might be coming here next year. As a senior, it made me sentimental & a little emotional.

The founders coordinators, Brian, Bizzy, me, & Erin

Feel free to email with any questions!

Free Enterprise Olympics

One thing that I love about being a business student at Saint Mike's is that we have access to a bunch of business competitions. These competitions vary in style - some require presentations or speeches while others require writing a paper or creating a video. They're always a great way to get involved, hone your business skills, & win some money.

It was a cold morning on the Plattsburgh ferry

Jake, Ryan, Meg, Isabelle, & me

Yesterday I got the chance to go to the Free Enterprise Olympics, a competition put on by SUNY Plattsburgh. I actually went to this event two years ago and I had so much fun. The competition has two parts - a speech portion & a creativity contest. One of our team members, Isabelle, competed in the speech contest. I competed in the creativity contest, along with four other teammates.

The competition was a day-long event. The day started with getting picked up by Professor Letovsky & Professor Popovich at about 7:30am. We drove to Plattsburgh, New York via the ferry & made it to SUNY Plattsburgh by about 9:00am.

Professo Popovich, me, Isabelle, Ryan, Jake, Meg, & Professor Letovsky

At the competition, we checked in, grabbed some breakfast, & waited for the speech contest to begin at 9:30am. Once that ended at around 11:30am, it was time for the creativity contest to begin. The Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York pitched us this year's problem for which we needed to find a creative solution. They wanted us to come up with a new product that would fit with their existing cookie program & would appeal to health-conscious people.

We had a half hour to work on the problem in the morning. Then we had an hour for lunch and two more hours to create a presentation. At 4:00pm we had to pitch our product, then we listened to the rest of the presentations. Finally we had dinner at around 6:00pm, had the awards ceremony, & headed home at 8:30pm.

After our win!

Jake, Meg, Isabelle, me, & Ryan

For our pitch, we came up with a new cookie made from oats, honey, dark chocolate, & raspberry. We called them Bright Bites & pushed the fact that their ingredients were wholesome and healthy. We packaged them in hundred calorie packs inside the existing cookie boxes.

Our pitch went so well. Our team really worked well together & we had a lot of fun throughout the day. We were excited to hear that the judges also liked our idea - we won second place in the team competition!

Overall, I had such a great time. We won a little money & got to spend a day away from school, focusing on solving a fun business problem. Plus, I got to know some other business students outside of class & I got to spend some time with two of my favorite business professors.

The ferry on the way home - those lights are Burlington in the distance

Feel free to email with any questions!