Top Memories from Sophomore Year

To me, it still feels like high school graduation was just yesterday. To think that two years have already gone by goes to show that the saying, "time flies by when you're having fun," is pretty true. I have been having a blast these past two years at Saint Mike's. I've had great professors and great friends along the way who have made this experience so amazing and special. Below are some of the stand out memories that made sophomore year another spectacular year!

• Radio show with Brendan. Around the second week of freshmen year, Brendan asked me if I wanted to co-host a radio show with him. With no prior experience of DJing, I said yes because I figured it would be a good start to getting involved on campus and a fun thing to do with one of my first college friends. Brendan and I have been doing a radio show ever since the first semester of freshmen year. From Lazy Sunday to Crazy Sunday, we've sure had some good times trying to be funny on air and having a fun time behind the scenes with our friends who stop by. 

A typical day at the station

•  Macklemore concert. This year, the Secretaries of Programming were able to get Macklemore for our spring concert. I was really stoked about this because I'm a big fan of his music and I was always unable to go to his concerts in Burlington. Finally, I was able to see him live! He had a ton of energy and made sure to always keep the audience engaged. He also made a special shout out to a student at SMC who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. It showed how much of a stand up guy he really is and just reminded me more why I like him and his music. After the concert, the Student Association got to meet Macklemore and Ryan Lewis since we helped set up the stage for the concert!

• Talent Show. Following the Macklemore concert, the MLK Society hosted their annual talent show, where all students are encouraged to try out and show off their abilities. For the first time, I was actually in a skit in the show. For those regular Jimmy Fallon watchers, you'll probably understand it, but if you're not one, watch the original version here and watch our own rendition of it below!

• Beating our odds of the lottery system and getting to live in Ethan Allen. I have to admit that I was pretty worried about housing while we were waiting in the lottery line. All of those worries went away when me and three other roommates got one of the last apartments in Ethan Allen on North Campus. I'm looking forward to living with all of them next year! 

the lovely Ethan Allen crew

• Going to Montreal. I put "Go to Montreal" on my SMC Bucket list the summer before my freshmen year. I figured since Montreal is only 90 minutes away that it should be something that I should take advantage of while I'm at school. My three friends, who I've been friends with since freshmen year, decided to go to Montreal when we had a three day weekend. 

All of us before we were going out to explore Montreal

• Living in a suite with some great people. It was a unique living situation for me this year. My friend Lhanzi and I decided to live in Ambassador Housing where we lived with other students from around the world. Me, Lhanzi, and Suyeon were the three that were there all year. We went through a series of different roommates: Barbara, Ami, Nikole, and Jinhee. We also had our friend, Sierra, move in our suite second semester and Jenna, a transfer student from UVM. It was different having roommates come in and out, but it was interesting learning about other cultures. I definitely loved living in Ambassador Housing and I'm going to miss it a lot.
  
  

  

  Jenna, Ami, Lhanzi, Suyeon, Nikole, Sierra, and myself

Suyeon, Sierra, Lhanzi, and myself

Me, Lhanzi, and Barbara with Brendan and Adam photobombing the picture

• Bonding more with MJD majors. This year, I took the most challenging, yet most interesting course in my major: Global Communications. We were required to learn the world map, research about particular topics, and create two websites. With all of the website work, most of the people in our class worked in Bergeron, the Journalism Department building. It was one of those things when the moment I walked into Bergeron, I was surrounded by familiar faces who were all going through the same project as I was. It was great to have these familiar faces around for hanging around and goofing off when we were all sick of looking at Dreamweaver code all day. 

• Starting Her Campus SMCVT. Her Campus SMCVT is an online magazine that Alex and I started up earlier this year. Things were pretty successful this year and I'm hoping things continue to get even better. I'm so excited that we started this up together and have such an amazing staff of committed writers. 

the Her Campus staff

Thanks for reading and stay tuned throughout the summer while I post about my internship with the Lowell Spinners!

#Itsallinthevisit

When I was looking at colleges, I didn't realize all of the things that I had to consider. I had to think about the location and the curriculum, but most importantly, I had to see what I wanted and what felt right. I endlessly researched college websites, but what really meant the most to me was the tour. I was able to see the campus and get a feel for what it would be like to be a student there.

The websites provided me with the facts, but my tour guide told their personal experiences with students and faculty. At Saint Mike's, I heard about how students connect with their teachers and other students, meet people through clubs and sports, make funny phrases in the word garden, go rock climbing inside the sports center, study abroad in unique locations, participate in community service, and of course, start the famous cup drop in Alliot. As I was listening about all of these awesome opportunities and walking around the beautiful campus, St Mike's started to feel like the right place for me. I ended up visiting St. Mike's twice because I was still considering other options, but I have to say that immediate vibe you feel when you're on a particular campus isn't one to ignore. It's usually telling you something good. The second visit was when I decided to officially commit to St. Mike's.

I think about how awesome it is being a tour guide and being on the other side of things now.  I love helping out prospective students and seeing them feel the same way I did when I got on campus.

Me, Alex, and Mike excited to give a tour on Accepted Students Day!

I know it's quite crazy to think about tour colleges and making the final decision about where to go. The deadline is approaching quickly for the upcoming class of 2017, so I wish all seniors the best of luck with their decisions!

Update on Classes

After spending almost all semester working on a website (works best to view in Internet Explorer) for Global Communications, I'm glad to say that it is finally complete and it is live on the Internet! Despite the amount of time it took to research and put together the website, it was still a fun and interesting project since I was able to analyze how much access other countries have to media.

For prospective MJD students, you'll find yourself working in Adobe programs such as Flash, Dreamweaver (used to create websites), Photoshop, and Illustrator, and reading intriguing articles related to media. Below, I've posted some videos that we've watched in our Global Communications class so you can get a feel for the topics that we discuss.


            And yes we even analyze the Gangnam Style music video..

   

So as you can tell, we discuss a wide range of topics and relate them to media. It's mostly a discussion based class with some reading and web design projects.

As for next year, I'll be taking two MJD classes, a Psychology class for my minor, and a Biology class to fulfill my scientific requirement. Check out my schedule below!

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

9:45-10:50 Microbes and Human Health

Tuesday, Thursday

8:00-9:35 Magazine Writing

1:15-2:50 Digital TV/Film

3:00-4:35 Sports Psychology 

 

 

I hope all those accepted students yesterday had a great visit at Saint Mike's! If anyone has more questions, e-mail or tweet them away :)

Housing for Next Year

Hello everyone!

As you may already know, I currently live in Ambassador Housing. Ambassador Housing has its own lottery system so there's a smaller pool of people and it is generally less hectic than the rest of housing process.

This year, my friends and I decided to try and get a 4 person townhouse. Townhouses and suites are assigned based on the lowest lottery number and the year of graduation. The ideal situation would be to have 4 seniors because it puts you in the highest priority for housing. Luckily, one of my friends is a senior in credits so that put us into a higher priority with 3 juniors and 1 senior. We ended up getting one of the last apartments in Ethan Allen. Ethan Allen is located on North Campus, just a mile from main campus. While it will be a year full of adjusting to the shuttle schedule, I am excited to be living with my friends in an apartment with a kitchen and living room and with the tennis courts right nearby!

Announcements Regarding Formspring and Knight Chats

As some of you may have already heard, Formspring is shutting down at the end of March. Before it shuts down, I'm posting previous questions that I've answered below.

Would this be a good school to go to if you want to be a teaching and play soccer?
Hey! The education program at Saint Mike's has three options in what you can specifically major in: Art Education (grades Pk-6, 7-12, Pk-12), Elementary Education (grades Pk-6), and Secondary Education (grades 7-12). From what I've heard, the program is hands on and beneficial, even as a first year. Also, the program has some special benefits including a possible 9th semester, where students can engage in student teaching after their four years are completed, and there is an Education study abroad opportunity in Bath, England. To find out more about both of those opportunities, here's the link: http://www.smcvt.edu/academics/education/special.asp
As for soccer, I highly encourage you to check out the SMC Athletics page to click on Varsity sports to find out information about the soccer team ranging from statistics to the roster. Also, the Varsity coach has contact information on the web page so contact him for more details about trying out :) 

How many psych classes have you taken at smcvt so far? Did you sit in on a class or talk to a current psych major or prof before deciding on smcvt?Do you have a track? Sorry for all the questions, just got accepted and want to be really thorough lol! 
I took General Psych for my first semester, and I was unable to get into a psych class for my next semester. I was freaking out a bit that it would affect my overall major schedule, but it turns out that it's common to not have a psych for the spring semester. My advisor told me that if I were to get into a psych class spring semester, that I would actually be ahead in the program. I was aiming to get into Research Methods I, but my advisor told me students usually take that sophomore year so they can take Research Methods I fall semester and Research Methods II spring semester.
As for how I decided on SMC, I went on a tour at first to see the campus. I immediately felt like I could see myself going here, so I applied and continued to research the school more. After finding out that I was accepted, I was soon invited to an Accepted Students Day. The schedule involved breakfast, a tour, a panel with current students, and an opportunity to meet professors in your potential major. Susan Kuntz, a faculty member of the Psych department, was informing us about the major requirements, minor requirements, and the rest of the faculty. Right away, I was impressed with how in depth the courses appeared to be, and also how willing Kuntz was to answer any questions. She seemed passionate about teaching students. Compared to other schools I got accepted to, the course selection was the most thorough. With the course selection, I was also given more of a chance to test out other options in the Psych field such as clinical, social, physiological, developmental, and cognitive to see where I really wanted to go with my degree. As of right now, I'm interested in going on the track of doing something with clinical/social psychology so I'm planning to take courses such as Abnormal Psychology, Sports Psychology, and Social Psychology.
I also was a very active reader of the student blogs when I was looking into Saint Mike's. I read Alex's blog, and noticed that she was a Psych major. It was ironic because at the time, I was deciding between Assumption College and Saint Michael's, the same two schools Alex was stuck between also. I asked her questions about the differences between the colleges and the programs. She did an awesome job at helping me gain a better insight on everything.
Congratulations on your acceptance and feel free to ask questions if you have any more!
 
If I'm not Catholic (or even, say, agnostic) would I still be okay at St. Mike's?
 Coming into Saint Mike's, I had the same concern you had especially since I had the same religious background. The only religious requirements you have to fulfill are a 100 level religion course, a 100 philosophy course, and your choice at a 200 level in either religion and philosophy. Other than that, religion isn't something that is forced at all. Mass isn't required, so it's not something that would make you feel left out if you didn't attend it. Personally, I've found myself fitting in really well here due to other activities and interests. I hope that answers your questions and if you have any more feel free to ask! :)

It’s a sad, sad thing that Formspring is shutting down, but no worries because you can still e-mail me at lmazzoleni@mail.smcvt.edu and ask any questions you may have! Also, there’s a student Knightchat from 7:30-9:00PM this Thursday. Join by clicking on the link provided to talk some current students, including me!

Bermuda Pictures

For my spring break, I spent some time in the lovely island of Bermuda. It was great to get away and experience some nice weather. I must say that the highlight of the trip was getting the chance to swim with dolphins.  Check out the pictures below from my trip to see the dolphin pictures and much more!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I hope everyone is enjoying it and if you aren't busy, tune into me and Brendan's radio show tonight from 7-9 on 88.7 FM or either through iTunes.

Weekend Events: Softball in the Snow?

Sometimes, it's fun to go away for the weekend and do things that you wouldn't normally do. This weekend, I played in a winter softball tournament called Freezing Fun with Families with my two suitemates this weekend. What was great about it was that it was an opportunity for some suitemate bonding time and a chance for me to play softball again. I played travel softball up until my junior year of high school, so playing this weekend brought up some good memories from one of my favorite pastimes.

my travel softball team that I played on for 5+ years

The only difference between playing travel softball and playing winter softball is that well... there's a lot of snow during winter softball. The snow and the cold temperatures were at first hard to get used to, but after a while, it was really fun. At the end of the weekend, our team got eliminated because we lost two games. Winning didn't seem too matter because the tournament was for raising money for two girls battling cancer. This tournament has been very successful in the past years, and it even earned the title "World's Largest Snow Softball Tournament" in the Guinness Book of World Records. It was an awesome event to be apart of and a perfect way to spend the week!

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