Just a few pictures from Commencement 2012

Quaron Pinckney, Frantzy Suffrard, Giselle Regalado with me after Commencement

Marilyn Cormier from the Office of the President and our Commencement speaker Tom Freston '67

Kevin Hunt and his amazing 92 year old Grandfather and Paul Sapia

Mike McKinney gave the student address at Commencement - selected by his classmates, Mike was true to form and gave an amazing address.

Paul Sapia and his family were kind enough to invite me for a celebration of his graduation

Miss Jillian - Jill Monahan from the wonderful Monahan family I have mentioned in previous blogs - Marge and John sure have done an amazing job raising 4 great "kids" - Jill's three older brothers, her sister-in-law Justine, also an SMC alum, her future sister-in-law (congratulations again to Alex and Julie) AND, of course, the love of all their lives, Riley - an amazing little girl who has captured all of our hearts - all were there to continue to share in Jill's success.

Taking some time away to hopefully do some writing BUT, I will be back.....

Take care, be well and please keep all of the members of our military, our veterans and their families in your thoughts and prayers.  I can now be followed on Twitter (yes, I finally gave in and set up an account and will now use that to keep providing my students with articles and challenges that I used to give them in class) - if interested, you can find me @drdavelanders

Peace.

Congratulations and reminders

Commencement begins in an hour and seniors are gathering on the lawn in front of the library for their Class of 2012 picture.  I remember clearly when this group arrived on our campus and marvel at the incredible accomplishments that the Class of 2012 have made over their short four years here.  They have impacted all of us, the SMC community, the greater Burlington community and yes, our world by their compassion, their energy, their ability to understand that THEY have to make a difference in our world.  They WILL BE missed - the emotions were running all over the place yesterday afternoon at Baccalaureate and afterwards at a small dinner for Jill Monahan and her friends at the Doubletree Restaurant.  I got to meet more parents/families and to thank them for sending US their sons and daughters.  WE ARE a better place because of our students and I wish them all of the very best as they leave here and embark on the next phase of their life's journey.  I posted the following on FB as a reminder to them all as they get ready to leave this College on the hill above Winooski, Vermont:

Please remember that you don't have to be Black or Asian or Latino to be concerned about issues of race.  You don't have to be a woman to be concerned about the issues confronting women (including women's health choices) and you don't have to be GAY to be concerned about issues of LGBT folks - you DO have to be human to be concerned for HUMAN RIGHTS.  I also have asked them all to make sure that they are registered to vote this November AND that:  ONCE YOU ARE AWARE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE.  Hopefully, Saint Michael's College has made them much more aware than they have ever been.

God bless our graduates and we are grateful to your families for sending you to us.

Take care, be well, and please remember to keep all of the members of our military, our veterans and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave

Practicum ROCKS and thanks to Mike Samara

Yesterday afternoon I hosted my Practicum class at my home for lunch.  This course is one of the few offered at the College which is two semesters long.  Students spend 8 - 10 hours per week at their internship site (local schools, The Arbors (residential facility for people with Alzheimer's), NFI (Northeast Family Institute), Vermont Children's Hospital, etc.  and two and a half hours one day a week back in class where we process what is happening on their internships.  Last year, 8 of my 15 students had job offers from their sites by the end of the semester and this year 8 of the 16 students have had job offers.  On an interesting note, during lunch, one student's cell phone went off and when he came back in after taking the call outside, he was grinning from ear to ear as he had just been offered (and he accepted) a full-time position working with children with autism which is exactly what he was looking for.  The goal of Practicum is NOT to gain placements BUT it has proven to be a wonderful side benefit for this course.  Because we are one of the very FEW places that offers a year-long experience, OUR students have been receiving graduate school acceptances and full-time employment offers at a much higher rate - schools and employers seem to really appreciate that these students have received a unique experience in their UNDERGRADUATE education.  Very proud of these students.

This afternoon the College comes together for a Retirement Celebration for Mike Samara.  Mike has been our Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students for the past 35 years.  He has been the man mostly responsible for creating such an amazing "learning environment" which supports the IN class learning with many, many OUTSIDE of the class learning opportunities.  Mike is a colleague, has been my boss - mentor - role model and a good friend.  God speed Mike as you leave us and move on to other activities which will be blessed with your active, eager and energetic involvement.  I know that you will be back here in another year in a different capacity - in the meantime take care and be well my friend.


Dave

Mt. Mansfield on a sunny afternoon in April & two friends

I just had to add this picture which I took yesterday afternoon - the snow on the mountain with the bright sun shining on it IS Vermont - WE get views like this all of the time and I, for one, never take it for granted.  It speaks to what WE have here, right in our backyard on any given day.  P-Day was a great celebration and activities on campus were plentiful but this picture shows the contrast that we DO get to have.  This second picture shows two wonderful young women - Jill Monahan and Kaitlin Kaster.  I have known Jill since she was in high school and her three brothers who graduated from SMC used to have her come up and visit and, of course, they told her that she HAD to come here - fortunately for us, she listened to them and the whole Monahan Family is an important part of this College - Thanks Margie and John for sending us all four.  Kaitlin has been in most of my classes and is bright, committed to making a difference in our world and someone who adds so much to every class.  Both of these young women are in my Men & Masculinities class this semester and the class is better for that.

take care and be well

The MLK Talent Show and another P-Day

Last night over 400 students crowded into McCarthy Arts Center for the annual MLK Talent Show.  This has always been one of the most popular events of the spring semester and a great deal of work and effort goes into making it the yearly success that it is.  This year I was asked to be one of the judges for the show and I was happy to oblige.  The talent, for the most part, was exceptional and the student audience clearly was appreciative of the efforts of their peers.  It takes a LOT of courage for students to go up on that stage in front of their friends and perform - the look on one young woman's face when she looked out into the audience was priceless.  I am still so proud of our students - 400+ students on a college campus on a Friday night so thoroughly enjoying themselves for several hours supporting and cheering on their friends - way to go!!

Today is P-Day and I was just over at the Alliot Rotunda to watch the infamous "trike race" which today, even though it is COLD and there WAS snow on the ground this morning drew a couple hundred very energetic and engaged students as they rode tricycles around the rotunda while being hosed with COLD water, splashed with flour, shaving and whipped cream AND the cheers of their friends.  After 30 years of watching this event, you would suspect that I would get tired of this but it is still hysterical.  Well done.....

Home baseball and lacrosse games this afternoon as our seniors are honored on Senior Day.  There will be music, great food, fun and games and a LOT of memories created on the 300's field this afternoon - I will be at the baseball and lax games for a while and then mingling with the students on the 300's field for their festivities. 

Of course, that will all take place after I complete even more grading - the semester comes to a crashing end on Wednesday and with a number of final papers and projects to grade, I better get back to that....

Take care, be well and please keep all of the members of our military and our veterans and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave

41 student-athletes honored for a 3.7+ GPA and a presentation.

As I mentioned earlier this week, it has been a very busy time on campus. Last Friday afternoon as the President of the United States was speaking in Burlington and then driving past the campus on his way back to the airport, the College recognized 41 of our 400+ student-athletes who have achieved a 3.7 + Grade Point Average. This is the first of what we hope will become a yearly recognition through what is known as National Student Athlete Day. OUR President Jack Neuhauser spoke as did Athletic Director Geri Knortz and VP for Academics Karen Talentino. Each student was presented with a framed certificate acknowledging their accomplishment. It is difficult enough for today's students to be taking a full load academically AND to be part of an athletic team which also requires a good portion of their time BUT to do that AND excel in the classroom is worthy of recognition. The President told them how proud he is of their accomplishments as did Geri and Karen. As the FAR (NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative) I recognized the student-athletes AND also spoke of the success being the result of an active collaboration between our students, coaches, faculty and both the Athletic and Academic Administration PLUS the added support of our President. We have 21 varsity teams and each team has a faculty affiliate who volunteers to assist in whatever capacity students need to help them be more successful in the classroom. Well done to all of our community for this accomplishment.

Over last weekend, many of our students and two advisors traveled to Troy, NY and Russell Sage College for the Northeast LGBT Conference. There were 433 students and 73 advisors from all over the Northeast in attendance and we were invited to present a talk on our It Gets Better video which, as of last week had over 8,500 hits on YouTube. This collaborative effort on the part of both our Student Athletic Advisory Council and our Common Ground organization on campus is a unique collaboration in that SMC student-athletes joined with LGBT students AND allies in this project. We spoke to approx. 50 students at the Conference and it was great to see how well-spoken our students who had written the script, filmed the video and who spoke in the video were in front of an audience - as always, I am so proud of our students. We drove down to Troy that morning and returned that afternoon after our workshop. If you have NOT seen our video, I would urge you to go onto You Tube and just put in Saint Michael's College It Gets Better and view it. We also found out this week that Athletic Management Magazine has published an article in their most recent edition on OUR It Gets Better video - this magazine goes out all over the country so we are pleased with getting the word out. Of course, our goal continues to be to help prevent ANY young person from ever taking their own life simply because they are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered........ The responses to our video continue to be positive, both on campus and, obviously, outside of SMC.

Off to spend time with family over this Easter weekend - the grading of papers can wait.

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

Have a peaceful Easter.

Dave

Incredibly busy weeks......

These are very busy times for all of us. Students are completing major projects, speakers have been here on campus challenging us and "dinner at Dave's" continues to be fun. The top picture and the one on the right above are of the last two of five "dinner at Dave's" which I have been hosting at my home for the past five or six years. Students love getting off campus AND getting a home cooked meal. Even with some who are gluten intolerant or lactose intolerant or vegetarians :) we manage to feed everyone and have a relaxing and comfortable time. I usually have to ask them to leave around 11:00 OR those who know me well already know that they HAVE to leave by 11:00 so I can catch the Daily Show........

We also had an amazing speaker on campus last week. LZ Granderson is a well-known reporter for both CNN and ESPN - an openly gay sportscaster, he has been seen a LOT lately, especially on CNN as the coverage of the Trayvon Martin tragedy unfolds. He did two Skype interviews while he was here on campus. Some of us had dinner with him before his 7:00 presentation where he spoke to a packed house for an hour and forty minutes. I have been here for 30 years and while I love our students, their attention span usually is relatively short and they begin to leave after an hour - not this time. He held their attention, answered excellent questions from the students and at the end, the place was STILL packed. What a great opportunity for our students and this community to host someone who is so thoughtful and who has amazing insight into our world. His advice - "it is not always easier to love than to hate but LOVE is better" - his call, both to us and in one of his most recent columns on CNN.com for JUSTICE and NOT revenge was so powerful and the students listened...... he is pictured with Mark Litchfield, advisor to Common Ground and me after a group of us had breakfast with him at Sneakers in Winooski. He met with Journalsim classes, individuals within the Journalsim program, students in Alliot at lunch and anyone else who wanted a chance to talk with him. Thanks LZ - we all learned a LOT. We also may have hooked him on Vermont Maple Syrup too :)

Classes are excellent, registration for the fall semester is well underway (NO seniors, you cannot register for classes for the fall - you ARE graduating) - the long Easter weekend is coming up and the school year is almost over with. Please take care, be well and PLEASE keep all of the members of our military and their families and our veterans in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave