a guest speaker and the New England Psychological Association is at SMC

A shot taken from my kayak this morning at Indian Brook Reservoir about 5 miles from SMC.

This past Monday afternoon my friend, former student and colleague Kim Quinn-Smith ('88) visited my Practicum class. Kim graduated from SMC with a degree in biology and stayed for an additional year to pick up her Psychology credits. She married Tom Smith ('89) and they have five children. After receiving her Master's degree from Boston College she began her therapy work in Washington, DC working with chronically mentally ill homeless people - she then moved with her family to New York and practiced there for a while before she and Tommy returned to Vermont where she was a wife, mother, counselor and then author (three books, three DVD's, two CD's) and now is a consultant and soon to be college professor. Kim came to my Practicum class last year and was such a hit that I asked her back for another visit. She basically talked with the students about how anyone can "reinvent" themselves and that initial career paths can and often do change. Kim is a gifted therapist and author and a very humorous presenter. My students, once again, loved her honesty, the hope that she presents that one CAN reinvent themselves and the stories she told of her experiences and how she got from being a bio major at SMC to doing all of the things she does today. She is truly a great role model.

This morning I was on campus (students left yesterday for their first LONG weekend of the semester as we have no classes Monday and Tuesday so lots of them went home) working in my office and I was able to attend one of the many presentations which were part of the NEPA (New England Psychological Association)'s 50th Annual Meeting. Dr. David Boynton of our Psychology Department and a wonderful colleague and friend was the Chair of the conference which brought over 250 participants from all over New England to our campus for a series of meetings, workshops, presentation and posters. It was great that so many of our students did stay in town just for this and they volunteered to assist Dr. B in making sure that everything went along smoothly. Dr. Ron Miller, also from our department here at SMC did his presentation this morning and I heard that this was excellent, as usual. Dr. B commented that many of the participants had commented to him that OUR students were "freakishly friendly" which both David and I found hilarious as WE are just so used to OUR students being friendly that we found it quite interesting that others found that friendliness unusual - I am glad that I am on this campus and not somewhere else.......

A beautiful day so before heading to campus and the NEPA workshop I managed to head out for some early morning kayaking - foliage isn't peak here yet but it still was pretty nice out there.

Take care, be well, and as always, please keep all of the members of our military in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave