Yesterday afternoon for my Sports Psychology class, I had students show up at the Hall of Fame Room in the Tarrant Recreational Center as I had asked three folks from the Athletic Department to speak with my students about their positions at the College. Ann Dwyer is shown here talking about her responsibilities as Facilities Director and the Supervisor of almost 60 workstudy students. She has to work with each individual student and prides herself in getting to know each of them personally. She expressed how proud of them she is as they have not let her down once and either show up for work assignments, contact her directly, or make sure someone else can take their shift. She made the connections with Psychology as she has to understand student needs, the MANY different personalities and has to take into account that each student is a unique person. She later gave us a tour of the new Varsity Team Weight Room that just opened in September. She also has to work closely with all of the coaches of our 21 varsity teams in order to make things run smoothly in a complex that is used constantly. Josh Kessler is our Director of Athletic Communications and Harrison Antonioni is an intern in his office. Both of these folks were in my Sports Psychology class in the past so could relate what they do (produce press releases for ALL student-athletes' hometown newspapers, publicize results of our athletic contests and put that information up on all of the social media students use, deal with local media to announce our schedules and successes) to the field of Psychology. I asked my students to share THEIR reactions to seeing or hearing about their athletic achievements in their hometown newspapers. A couple of the students shared that it was really nice to hear from folks at home who had read about them and what they were doing up here in Vermont at SMC. It was also nice to give both Josh and Harrison some good feedback. 
You can see my shadow as I took this picture this past week as I got ready to head onto the Indian Brook Reservoir and another quiet and peaceful kayaking adventure. The leaves are just beginning to turn and it looks like foliage will be excellent. Kayaking is such a great way to not only exercise, but also relax. I am fortunate to live in a place where I actually get to do this a LOT. Last year I kayaked into the second week of December and, yes, there was snow on the ground but the Reservoir had not frozen yet and I just added another layer and stayed warm.
Meetings today - the Athletic Advisory Council meets this afternoon and I always look forward to working with that group. As Chair, I get to talk with everyone as we plan the meetings and we really value the input we get from the two other faculty members, the three students and a good variety of administrators on the Council. I will be announcing this afternoon that Saint Michael's College now has a chapter of the National Honor Society for Student-Athletes - Chi Alpha Sigma. We are only the second college/university in the State of Vermont so will be known as the Beta Chapter. Student-athletes must have attained a 3.7 overall grade point average, have completed two years of varsity competition and be nominated by their coaches. This is another way to recognize the ACADEMIC achievement of our student-athletes who make us proud of their achievements both in the classroom and on the playing field. But don't tell anyone yet as I won't announce this until this afternoon :)
As always, take care, be well and please keep all of the members of our military and our veterans in your thoughts and prayers.
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment