Why I'm Totally, Completely, Head-Over-Heels in Love with Saint Mike's

Happy Sunday!

Went for a run this morning & it is a little chilly but absolutely gorgeous and sunny and Autumn-y feeling outside. I love it!

So whenever I give a tour I usually end by saying why I love Saint Michael's. The short answer is: The community is awesome. The problem is, this answer doesn't really do SMC & the campus community justice. In reality, the community is so much more than just nice students & people holding doors open for each other.

Really, Saint Mike's is awesome because you matter here as an individual. Yes, classes are small and students are friendly. But also, there is so much support from everyone on campus.

Professor Popovich, my advisor, is the bomb and is so helpful in finding opportunities and competitions for me. Last year she recommended me for a speech contest put on by SUNY Plattsburgh. I never would have heard about it had she not told me. I competed in a preliminary speech contest at Saint Mike's, won (!) & then joined a team of seniors to go to SUNY Plattsburgh. There I had the speech contest finals (I got third overall!) and competed in a creativity contest with the team of seniors (we won that contest!). It was an incredible experience & I never would have been a part of it had it not been for my advisor. She also worked with me & my partner to help us compete in the Saint Michael's Ethics Case Competition last spring. While we didn't win overall, we did get the top paper at Saint Mike's & I plan to compete again!

I'm friends with Abid & Rosemary & Joe in dining hall & I love seeing them during meals. At the beginning of the year, the first time I saw Abid, he came over and gave me a huge hug & asked all about my summer. They're all wonderful & I miss them since I cook most of my own meals now in my town house.

My career counselor totally understands my life & career goals & could not have more awesome advice! Chris Clary is the Director of Career Development & I've been meeting with her since freshman year. She's helped me with my resume, with internship applications, with grad school research, and with connecting with alumni. She has helped me so much & she's given me so many names of alumni whom she knows personally and who really want to help me.

My professors are so dedicated, it still amazes me. They all really care & they always have great office hours & are willing to talk about any problems in class. The thing that amazes me most is when professors set up study groups before exams. I have a finance professor who comes in Sunday night at 6pm the week we have an exam just to go over questions with us. I've also had an accounting professor come study with us on Sunday and Monday nights before a Tuesday exam or bring in donuts to our 8am class as an apology for the early time slot.

This semester I have an awesome negotiations professor who used to teach MBA students at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. He knows that I want to work in politics & that I'm interested in both business & law. He suggested I apply for a summer research grant from Saint Michael's to work with him and research an area of interest to me that involves business, politics, & law. I am so excited to start this research, even though I can tell that it will be an incredible amount of work. I can't believe my professor asked me to do research with him in order to allow me to research something that I love, try to get published, & help me get into graduate school. I definitely would not have applied to do research had he not suggested it, & i can already tell that (if I get it) the research will be so fun and really helpful in the long run.

The business department head has also been so helpful allowing me to study & share my experiences. I met Professor Letovsky last year during the SUNY Plattsburgh speech contest &, since then, he's sent me numerous links to internship and summer lectures that might interest me. I ended up applying & being accepted to a seminar on economics in South Carolina. I was able to talk with Professor Letovsky & Vice President of Academic Affairs, Karen Talentino, in order to get a travel grant so I could fly to the seminar. The seminar was awesome, & while I did not agree with most of the theories presented, I would definitely recommend the seminar to others. I'll be presenting everything that I learned from the econ seminar in one of Professor Letovsky's class later this semester.

I love Dragan & Jim, the shuttle drivers. When I lived on North Campus last year I saw them everyday, but now I only see them once every week or so. They're both so sweet & they really care about the students. Last year, Jim knew everyone's name by the second week  of school and Dragan will wait for you to get into your building at night before he drives off. I just talked to Dragan last week & he said he missed seeing me every day. I definitely miss talking to him everyday too!


So, really what I love most about Saint Mike's is that you truly matter here! It's scary coming to college & not knowing anyone, but at SMC I found that people get to know you & care about you pretty quickly. It's awesome to know that, if I'm sick, my professor will email me to make sure I'm okay or Rosemary will ask about me if she doesn't see me in a while. You might not know anyone at SMC right away, but you definitely are not all alone.


Feel free to email with any questions! Also, a reminder that we have a KnightChat for students this Wednesday at 7:30pm - 9:00pm. If you have questions about SMC, this is a great way to talk to student bloggers & hear their perspectives & advice! Hope to see you there!

Long Weekend & a Visit From My Parents

Happy Sunday!

My apologies for not blogging for a bit. I've been swamped (homework, study abroad planning, looking at grad school, various clubs, etc.) and I didn't realize how long it's been until this weekend.

So a couple weeks ago we had a long, four day weekend. My parents decided to come up and visit for the weekend, which was awesome because:

1) I love my parents
2) I got to show them around my school / the new student center
3) They took me out for delicious meals in Burlington
4) I didn't have to do homework until Monday after they left

We had a lot of fun! I got to show them my favorite spots on Church Street, they saw my townhouse, they bought me groceries and good stuff, & we walked along an awesome bike path by Lake Champlain.

Hopefully I'll be blogging again this week! Until then, email me with any questions!

Camel's Hump Hike

Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

 

Although my classes have been keeping me crazy busy, I took some time last weekend to go hiking with two of my roommates, Lauren and Cara. We signed up through the Wilderness Program, a group on campus that trains interested students to be wilderness leaders. All students can then sign up to go hiking, learn how to kayak, ski, or do other fun outdoor activities. Usually a day hike costs about $5 and extended trainings or overnight hikes cost around $15.

 

This was my first trip with the Wilderness Program and it was amazing! You can actually see Camel's Hump from campus, so it was cool to climb the mountain then come back to Saint Mike's and see how high we climbed.

We met our wilderness leaders at 8:00am then drove for about a half hour to the mountain. The climb entire climb and descent took a few hours and we also hung out at the summit for about a half hour. We ended up coming home at around 3:00pm.

It was a great way to hang out with my roommates and it was amazing to get outside for the day. It was also really cool to meet some new people. I'm hoping to sign up for another hike soon and I definitely recommend getting involved in the wilderness program!

 

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email! Also, for all prospective students, we'll be having a Knightchat this Thursday at 7:30pm. It's a great place to ask any questions and to hear about a student's experience at Saint Mike's. Hope to see you there!

Loving Classes - Negotiations, Marketing, Finance, & Entrepreneurship

Happy Sunday!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I had fun hanging out with my friends and getting some homework done.

Just kidding, but I do love that show!

I thought I'd blog this week about the classes I'm taking this semester. Although I'm a business major, I usually take a range of classes to try and fulfill my LSR's (liberal studies requirements - classes like history, math, foreign language, etc.). This semester, though, I'm taking four business classes and I love it!


Negotiations:
This classes meets Monday & Wednesday at 8am, which is a little early for me. However, this is the BEST CLASS EVER so I don't even mind the early start time!

This course is taught by Professor Brosh Teucher, whom I met last year when he judged a speech contest that I competed in. I've loved his class so far; he always gets a good discussion going and I love learning how to become an effective negotiator. Professor Teucher is also very accomplished; he's taught at several colleges, but most recently taught at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

In this class, we receive "roles" which we need to review over the weekend in order to negotiate with a classmate on Monday. Then, on Wednesday the negotiation results go up on the board and we discuss our negotiation tactics and how to improve. It's been such a fun class so far and I feel like I'm learning a ton.


Entrepreneurship:
This class meets every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday at 9:45am. It's a cool class because it takes everything I've learned in other business classes and applies it to real problems. For example, lately we've been using different ratios (which measure liquidity, profitability, efficiency, etc.) to measure the financial health of a business. It's fun seeing how everything I'm learning is actually applicable.

This course it taught by Professor Birger Benson, who's also quite accomplished. He got his MBA at Harvard Business School and then owned his own business for several years before teaching at Saint Mike's.


Advanced Topics in Marketing:
This class meets every Monday & Wednesday at 1:30pm. So far this is a cool class; although I'm interested in working in politics, I'd also love to work in marketing. I love learning some some advanced marketing strategies.

This class is taught by Professor Robert Letovsky. I met Professor Letovsky last year when I went to SUNY Plattsburgh for the Free Enterprise Olympics. He also helped me get funding to attend a summer economics seminar at Clemson University. Professor Letovsky is a very fun teacher and I've heard great things about his classes.

In this class, we have a couple long-term projects. For one of them we'll be using an online marketing simulation. We'll be put into a team of students and together we'll need to decide on a marketing strategy for our company. Then, our company will earn or lose money, our stock price will increase or decrease, etc. depending on our marketing moves. For second project we'll be analyzing an actual company. For this, my group is analyzing Apple and their launch of the iPhone 5C & 5S. Both these projects sound really fun and I'm excited to get started!

Finance:
This class meets Tuesday & Thursday at 11:30am. I wasn't thrilled that I had to take finance, but so far I really like this class. It's fun using what I've learned in accounting and then branching off to learn more complex things.

This class is taught by Professor Diane Lander. She makes class fun and she's awesome about having office hours. I've already stopped by for help on a few homework problems, and she's encouraged me to keep coming by. I've heard good things about her classes, so I'm excited for the semester.


That's all for now! I'm also busy gearing up for study abroad next semester & I'm starting to look at grad schools. Besides that, I'm a weekly tour guide this semester, I'm still a mentor through MOVE, and I'm still running Her Campus with my friend & fellow blogger Lauren Mazzoleni. I've also been volunteering for Massachusetts State Senator Karen Spilka and her Campaign for Congress. I've been making phone calls to constituents, which has been fun but time-consuming! I've just been so busy this semester!


Just a reminder that we have a Knight Chat this Wednesday at 7:30pm! I definitely encourage prospective students to attend; it's a great way to ask questions about SMC and learn about our experiences here!

If you have any questions, feel free to email!

Moving in - 100's townhouse!

Hey everyone!

Just some pictures of my townhouse this semester! I live in the 100's (a series of townhouses reserved for juniors & senior) with three awesome girls and our house is adorable. I couldn't take any pictures of my bedroom because it's a mess, but here's the downstairs!

The living room!

Living room again

Dinner table & where we do most of our studying

Our kitchen! Now we cook most of our own meals

I'll be blogging again soon about some of my classes, but in the meantime, feel free to find me on Facebook or shoot me an email!

Back at Saint Mike's & Better Than Ever!

Hi everyone!

I am back at school & ready to blog again!

First, a giant apology for not blogging in so so so long! I had an awesome, busy summer and then I moved in at SMC and immediately had tons of schoolwork. Right now I'm working on figuring out a good study schedule, but at least I'm finally blogging!

So a quick review of my summer:

1. Internship - This was probably the coolest part of my entire summer! I got to intern for State Senator Richard Ross in Boston, Mass. I worked all last year applying to internships and chatting with alumni for advice. Actually getting to go to Boston and work in the State House was amazing. Also, I'm so inspired now to work in politics in some capacity in the future. I loved seeing all the hard work the State Senators are doing.

The State House is gorgeous!

2. Vacation - My family went to St. Thomas this year and took a day to visit St. John. It was incredible & absolutely gorgeous!

  

Incredible beach on St. John

3. Economic Seminar - I was accepted to a Foundation for Economic Education seminar last semester and actually got funding for travel from Saint Mike's! I got to fly to Clemson University in South Caroline for a week to hear lectures and have discussions. It was really fun to learn more about economics and to interact with other students who are as passionate about learning as I am!

4. Friends - Of course, it was awesome to see my friends. I definitely didn't see them as much as I would've liked, but it was still cool to catch up with everyone.

Some of my friends from high school & Girl Scouts

5. Camp - I also worked as a camp counselor this year, which is super fun. Since I worked at camp last year I had a bunch of friends there and the kids were just so adorable.

6. Music Festival - In early August I went to the Nines Music Festival in Devens, Mass. They had some really good bands and it was the first year they've ever held the festival, so it was fun to be a part of that.

Picture by the band Walk off the Earth

(I'm in the baseball hat on the right)

All in all, I had an awesome summer, but I'm really happy to be back at Saint Mike's. I have some really cool classes & professors this semester and I love seeing my friends. I also live in a townhouse this year and it's so cute!

I'll share more about my first few weeks at SMC soon. If you have any questions, feel free to email me or send me a question on Ask.fm!

Interning at the Massachusetts State House

Happy Thursday!

The MA State House with a banner for Father's Day

At Saint Mike's, I'm a business major with a concentration in marketing, but I'm also interested in working in politics. To explore my options & to find out what it would be like to work in politics, I got a summer internship with a State Senator Richard Ross at the Massachusetts State House.

This internship is part-time, which is perfect for me because it allows me to also work as a camp counselor, like I did last year. While it's not as helpful career-wise as an internship, I love working at camp because it's so much fun and I have a bunch of friends there. It's also great because my internship is unpaid but working at camp allows me to save up some money for the school year.


I first decided that I wanted to work at the State House last summer when my brother and I took a tour of the building. It's a gorgeous building that's filled with so much history. I knew I wanted to explore politics as a career option, and I thought that an internship at the State House would be a good place to start. Soon after I found that one of my friends had interned at the State House a few years ago. She connected me with the Deputy Chief Council at the State House, who was nice enough to explain all my internship options.

I ended up emailing several MA senators and representatives and later set up a phone call to talk with the Senator Ross' Communications Director. I interviewed with her over winter break and was offered the internship! I started interning in May after coming home from Vermont.


At my internship I mainly work on constituent services, so when a person from Senator Ross' district writes in with questions or concerns, I find the correct information and write back. I've also done some research and have written up some resolutions. I've only been interning for a few weeks now, but so far it's been so much fun. I love researching to assist Senator Ross in making informed decisions and it's great to help constituents. I also love the people I work with; they've all been super nice and helpful.


On an unrelated note, I'm getting excited for all the first-years to start at Saint Mike's in just a few months! I'm hoping you all will love SMC as much as I do!

If anyone has questions, please reach out! Shoot me an email or ask me on Ask.fm. I'd love to help!