Looking Ahead to Post-Grad Life

Every time I introduce myself as a tour guide I say the same thing - "My name is Alex Brenock and I'm from Medway, Mass. At Saint Mike's I am, sadly, a senior and I am a business major."

I am, sadly, a senior. Seriously, sometimes it's seriously upsetting!

In May, after graduating, I am going to be so sad to leave my friends, professors, and so many other SMC staff members. But I'm also pretty excited to take a big jump forward in my life & to really get started in my career path.

I've been spending a lot of time at 

Klein, where career development is located

Right now I plan to go to graduate school & then to work in politics and eventually run for office. The end goal is to become a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts. I know, I've got some big plans. This semester I'm busy applying to graduate school. I'm looking to go to school in Boston or in D.C. & I am interested in a joint JD & MBA program. In four years I'll earn both my law degree & my masters in business.

That means that this semester has been crazy busy for me! A few weeks ago I took the LSATs and I'll be taking the GMATs next month. Besides that, I have applications, essays, and letters of recommendation to compile! I'm hoping to be done with the entire process by the end of November.

So what else have I been doing to plan for my future? Well recently I've been working to figure out how to pay for grad school. I entered a scholarship contest a few weeks ago that's put on by Dr. Pepper. I've gotten enough votes to make it to the next round, & now I need more votes in order to possibly win!

Please shoot over to the Dr. Pepper contest page, where you can see my profile & check out a video, coming soon. On the bottom left of the screen, just click vote! Really, every vote helps me in this competition & every bit of money I can get for grad school helps too!

Please email me questions!

October 4 - Admissions Open House

Saturday, October 4 was our first open house!

Every fall we have two admissions open houses, during which prospective students can tour Saint Mike's, meet our mascot Mike the Knight, and hear from the President of the college, the VP of enrollment, and a whole bunch of admissions counselors.

The campus store decked out for open house
"Welcome to the #SMCVT family!"

I love, love, love open houses because there is so much excitement & energy! So many prospective students attend & almost all of our tour guides are out giving tours. The day gives prospective students a great feel for the college - they can hear from clubs at our activities fair, eat lunch, hear from professors, & feel the awesome the Saint Mike's community.

Since I'm one of the coordinators for Founders Society - the group on campus that organizes tour guides & bloggers & rallies students for phone-a-thons & for alumni appreciation week - I had to be at the open house at 8:45am. It was early for a Saturday!

Founders coordinators - Bizzy, Brian, me, & Erin

When I arrived I helped Mike the Knight get set up, snapped a picture with my other coordinators, & started greeting prospective students & parents.

My apologies for the awkward camera

movement - my computer wouldn't let me edit!

I got to listen in to some welcome remarks, including one of my senior friends, and listened to the Acabellas, the female acapella group on campus. Next I attended the business & accounting panel to listen & share. Two of my very favorite professors - Professor Doyon & Professor Popovich - were there to present about the curriculum for business & accounting students.

Professor Doyon was my accounting professor & literally made the class easy to understand & even fun! Professor Popovich is my advisor & I am currently in one of her classes. We're learning about how to use excel for business purposes & let me just say - I never knew how little I knew about excel. Next Friday I'll actually be going to dinner at Professor Popovich's house with some other students & I can't wait!

A rainy open house - but campus was still gorgeous!

After the panel was done, most prospective students went on tours. I went to the activities fair to visit friends & I had some lunch. Finally, I went home!

Open houses are exhausting - they're early, busy, & long days! But they're one of my favorite parts of being a tour guide & Founders coordinator. They really allow us to share our love of Saint Mike's, which is the whole reason why we're involved!

If you're interested in attending the next open house on November 9th, register here! And if you have any questions, please email me!

Founders Society Coordinators Take On NEACAC

This weekend all four Founders Society coordinators had the chance to join admissions counselors Mike Stefanowicz & Matt Seklecki at the Students in Admissions Forum held by the New England Association for College Admission Counseling (also known as NEACAC).

As a coordinator for Founders Society, I got to attend the Forum!

Founders Society as Saint Mike's is essentially a program run by & for student ambassadors. It's the group that allows students to get involved in promoting Saint Mike's to prospective students & families. Founders Society is broken into four sections - tour guiding, blogging, alumni, and special events. The group has four student leaders:

-The Online Media & Communications Coordinator in charge of the blog program - my position!
-The Tour Guide Coordinator in charge of hiring and organizing tour guides
-The Open House & Yield Events Coordinator in charge of accepted student days, & overnights
-The Alumni Relations Coordinator - in charge of involving alumni in admissions events

As student leaders essentially working in admissions, the four coordinators (myself, Erin, Brian, & Bizzy) got to attend the NEACAC Forum. Basically we got to take a super fun road trip on Saturday night to Massachusetts where we stayed the night and attended the NEACAC Forum on Sunday at Holy Cross. It was SO FUN!

Quick pre-road trip selfie!

Brian, Erin, me, Bizzy & Mike

Starting our drive through beautiful Vermont

Stop in Manchester, NH for a delicious dinner!

The mac & cheese pizza was a hit!

Made it to Holy Cross!

SMC, keeping it classy

Our post-presentation picture

Driving home, McDonald's in hand

Sunday we got to attend panels & hear from admissions counselors & students from around New England. Brian, Erin, Bizzy & I even presented! We talked about how Saint Mike's has a unique admissions set up, with students staying involved through their time at school as bloggers or tour guides & continuing to stay involved after graduating. We called our talk "Full Circle Community."

It was also awesome to spend time with Matt, Mike, Erin, Brian, & Bizzy. While I've known them all for a few years now, it's been really fun to get to know them more this semester while working with them all!

Don't be afraid to email with any questions!

Fall at Saint Mike's

One of my favorite parts of going to school in Vermont is the changing of the leaves!

Fall is my favorite season & luckily, the fall weather is starting to move in! It's changed form hot, 90-degree sunny days to slightly chilly days with leaves starting to fall. I love it! I can't wait for it to be cold enough to wear sweaters & boots!

This (very busy) week I've taken some photos of autumn at Saint Mike's. Leaves haven't completely changed yet, but they're certainly starting to turn!

Taken from my favorite study spot!

Sunset from North campus!

Gorgeous leaves falling in the 100's townhouses.

Changing tree by Bergeron!

Sunset from campus.

Academic quad!

Even the ivy is changing!

In a few weeks I'll be going on an evening hike with the wilderness club & I can't wait. I'm also excited to do some hiking with friends after the leaves start to change a bit more!

Email with any questions!

Starting Senior Year at Saint Mike's

I can't believe that it's already the third week of school! We've just started back but I can already tell that this whole year is going to fly by.

I am beyond excited for senior year and, though I've been busy with grad school applications, I know that the year is going to be so much fun. It's been so nice seeing my friends after being abroad last semester.

It's also been incredible seeing my favorite Saint Mike's staff & professors. Rosemary & Abid in Alliot, Dragan the shuttle driver, Professor Popovich, my advisor, Tara, my old work-study boss and secretary to President Neuhauser, Professor Letovsky, the business department-head, and Professors Landry, Doyon, Teucher, Nelson. It's been so great to be back on campus.

My roommates!

First day of school shenanigans

My housemates are also awesome & I'm so excited to be living with them.I live with fellow bloggers Merrill & Lauren & with my friend Cait. We've all been friends for a few years now & Cait, Lauren, & I all lived together last year.

I love my housemates because they're awesome friends, easy to live with, and we're all super goofy. I love that we're all really involved at Saint Mike's, but we do all different things. Cait is Vice President of the Student Association, our student government on campus, & she's also a tour guide & a coordinator through MOVE, our community service group. Lauren does a lot of media stuff through her MJD (media studies, jorunalism, & digital arts) major & is involved as a tour guide & blogger. Merrill volunteers through MOVE as a mentor & is a blogger & tour guide. I'm in charge of the blog program this year as online media & communications coordinator & I'm a tour guide & a mentor through MOVE. Also, all four of us studied abroad last semester & both Merrill & Lauren have internships on top of their school work. My friends are really the coolest.

We live in the 200's townhouses, which are located farthest away from the academic buildings on campus, sort of by the suites. It's still just a ten minute walk to class, and it's nice & secluded in the 200's. There's less hustle & bustle so it's a good separation between school & home. I stole some pictures from Lauren of our house:

We posted a hashtag for our townhouse on our door so our friends will use it

Our downstairs!

Our cozy living room!

Me, cooking in the kitchen!

Upstairs we all have single rooms and a nice big bathroom. Honestly, our house couldn't be cozier, I totally love it.

Until next time, email with any questions!

Summer in Review

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I last blogged, during which I finished up my study abroad experience, worked in Massachusetts for the summer, & started my senior year at Saint Mike's. What a year!

Study abroad was an amazing experience, and honestly it was a little bit of a rough transition to come home. I missed (and still do miss) Dublin & Ireland & Europe, but it has also been so nice to see friends and family again.

This summer I was so busy, working two internships and starting a research project with a professor. I interned for U.S. Congressman Joe Kennedy III and for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, both of which were amazing experiences. I'm interested in one day working in politics, so it was really cool to learn some of what goes on behind the scenes. I also met some really awesome students my age who are interested in politics, which is kind of rare. It was awesome to make some friends who are really passionate about politics, just like me.

Meeting Congressman Kennedy at an intern breakfast

Some of my Mass Dem Party friends at the state convention

Picture with U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi at a political rally

In my downtime I mainly saw friends and family. I was also busy studying for the LSATs this summer & I've been researching grad schools. Right now I'm planning on attending a joint MBA-JD program to earn my masters in business administration and a law degree. I'm taking the LSATs soon & will be applying to schools in November, so cross your fingers for me!

Seeing old friends from high school

Celebrating my 21st birthday with my twin brother & parents

Email with any questions!

Study Abroad - Week 20: Packing Up & Going Home

Well, I have three more days left in my study abroad experience.

While I am so ready to get home to see my family, see my friends, be back in my super comfy bed, & start my summer plans, I definitely do not want to leave Dublin or Ireland or Europe.

Trinity College & downtown Dublin

I sort of regret not blogging much while abroad but only because I wish I had kept better track of every little thing I've done while abroad. I don't want to forget any coffee shop or any budget airline flight or any wait in line through immigration. I just don't want to forget any bit of the last five months. It's also been really nice to relax this semester & just experience each moment trying to write all about it.

New friends in Dublin - Kat, Caroline, Kate & I

Exploring London

The last five months in Europe have been amazing. Dublin is a wonderful, friendly city but I've also fallen in love with traveling during my time abroad. I can now say that I've been to 12 countries (including Canada & the Vatican). It's been amazing to experience so many different cultures in such a short amount of time.

  

The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen

While abroad I've been to Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Spain, France, Denmark, Poland, Italy, the Vatican, the Netherlands, and England. I enjoyed my time studying at Trinity too. The school is just huge compared to Saint Mike's and the campus is really beautiful. It was really fun to spend a semester at one of the best & most well-known universities in the world.

One of the  many pretzel stands in Krakow

This summer I have some exciting things to look forward to. Although I was not awarded research funding I will be completing a summer research project with one of my professors. I also have two summer internships - one with U.S. Congressman Joe Kennedy and one with the Massachusetts Democratic Party. I can't wait to start with work in early June.

Van Gogh's house in Monmarte, Paris - the second window from the top on the right

I am worried about experiencing some reverse culture shock upon returning home. I've done so much in my few months abroad and I'm going to miss Europe so much. I feel like I've actually lived now, like I've done things that are noteworthy. I've seen paintings by Cezanne, Picasso, Monet, Pissarro, & Van Gogh. I climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris, had churros in Madrid, took pictures with Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, saw the Pope & experienced Easter Mass at the Vatican. I had authentic Italian food in Cinque Terre, walked the cute town of Bergamo, walked where Julius Caesar walked in Rome, saw the Anne Frank House & toured the canals in Amsterdam, visited Auschwitz in Krakow, & I saw Buckingham Palace in London.

Enjoying sangria in Madrid

It's been an absolutely incredible & eye-opening experience. Of course I've made some wonderful new friends in my time abroad, but I've also met some amazing & kind people through my travels. A bus driver in Krakow helping me find my way, my taxi driver in Bergamo walked with me to find my hostel, a woman on my bus to Milan helped me find the metro station. A waiter in Rome, some girls in my hostel in Paris, an Australian student and a fellow American in Amsterdam. People have been friendly & chatty & helpful.

The Trevi Fountain

     
         

Vernazza in Cinque Terre

I've learned a couple things in my time abroad:
- People are truly good. So many people helped me throughout my travels & have been willing & excited to chat.
- Saint Mike's is an awesome community. As I traveled through Europe I met up with friends from Saint Mike's who were also studying abroad. In the end I met up with about 10 friends from Saint Mike's, some that I know really well & some that I hardly know at all. It was awesome to experience some of the Saint Mike's community all the way in Europe.
- There are huge differences in culture between countries & cities, which has been so interesting to experience. Just traveling throughout Italy I saw such changes in the people, the style of dress, & the food.
- I feel much more confident in my ability to do everything. I really can't believe that I've traveled all over Europe & survived a semester at Trinity College all on my own. I feel much more able to really tackle whatever obstacles come.

The Pope at Easter Mass at the Vatican

I'm going to so miss my time abroad & I will certainly be sad to board my plane home! But I'm also excited to see my family & friends. I'm starting to get excited for my senior year at Saint Mike's & to see all my favorite people & professors in the August!

 Amsterdam

Feel free to email with questions!

Manarola in Cinque Terre