They're BACK............

I am in the office on this great Sunday afternoon getting ready for a couple of workshops this coming week for members of the Residence Life staff (Diversity and Inclusion) and then the Orientation Leaders (your role is crucial in helping our new students transition to SMC).  We also have a Cruise on Tuesday night and I get to take a LOT of pictures AND then the ONE thing that Orientation Leaders love more than anything else - RELAXATION exercise.  This is a fun and exciting time as new students arrive on Thursday, RA's returned yesterday and O-Leaders arrive today and tomorrow.

I am excited about classes this semester as I don't know very many of the students who are enrolled BUT it has also been fun communicating via email over the past couple of weeks.  We have secured some new placements for Practicum and since these students are with me all year and not just one semester, we will get to know each other well.  Sports Psych will be fascinating as we talk about the psychological implications of the Olympics and yes, continue discussions about the scandal of Penn State.  Theories of Counseling class will utilize our Developmental Laboratory again as students get to watch themselves "counsel" through the wonders of technology.  All in all, an exciting time of year.

Off to do some kayaking - went yesterday and am going again today as it IS a beautiful Vermont afternoon.  As always, please take good care, be well and please keep all of the members of our military and our veterans AND their families in your thoughts and prayers.  The number of deaths recently in Afghanistan is staggering -

Dave

TC was in the HOUSE :)

Those of you who are fans of the Boston Red Sox know who TC (Tom Caron) is - TC is on NESN for each broadcasted Sox game and is also an alum of SMC.  I was over in Alliot yesterday waiting to meet someone when there was TC standing with Buff Lindau, our Director of Marketing.  I have met Tom on a number of occasions as he has been a loyal fan of Saint Michael's College since his graduation.  I went over and re-introduced myself and as we were standing there talking a tour from Admissions walked past - as the group went down the hall stopping in front ot the MOVE Office and their guide was explaining things, one father, who had noticed Tom kept watching us - Tom and Buff left and headed over the the President's Office (Tom and his family were in Vermont at Smuggs for a family vacation) this one father walked back to me and before he could ask, I simply said "yes, that is Tom Caron" - the father was quite excited as he "thought" that he had recognized TC but wasn't sure - this was just one of those fun moments around here.

We are all getting ready for the new students to arrive and for our upper-class students to return.  With the construction well under way, they are making sure that there will be access to all of the buildings in the Quad for MOVE IN DAY on the 23rd.  We have been working with the Orientation Leaders and the members of the Residence Life Staff for months getting ready for this and I get to do workshops with these students the week of the 20th.  Diversity and Inclusion are strong and important parts of our community and providing these students who VOLUNTEER to be Orientation Leaders or who are employed by the College as members of the Residence Life Staff with a chance to better understand ALL of the issues surrounding acceptance and diversity is both challenging AND rewarding - they are good people.

Speaking of good people, today Allison Sherman and Rich Gardener are getting married - Allison is an alum and works in our Office of Alumni Relations and Rich is an amazing young man who volunteers his time and energies to Camp Ta Kum Ta which is a Camp for kids with cancer.  Rick is also a realtor and builder and as wonderful a person as Allison is.  Everyone here is so excited for both of them - we ALL wish them the very BEST.

Take care, be well and please keep all of the members of our military and all of our veterans and their families in your thoughts and prayers - with the sad news of several deaths in Afghanistan today they all need our prayers AND gratitude for their service to our country,.

Dave

NEW York City here I come AND the Olympics is providing great discussion topics for my Sports Psychology class.

I leave tomorrow morning for a quick down and back trip to NYC.  My wonderful sister/brother-in-law made a contribution to the STAR Program in CT and "won" four tickets to the Daily Show which they gave to me for Christmas.  We are finally getting our schedules together and tomorrow night my sister Sue, my brother-in-law Jim and my wonderful niece Maggie will all show up at the theater at 4:30 for the taping ot the Jon Stewart show - he is an amazingly creative and clever comedian and I am looking forward to this.

This morning I was over in the Student Activities Office and Grace Kelly, our very efficient Director of Student Activities, was meeting with some members of the Orientation Board and the E-Board of the Student Association.  Since I teach Sports Psychology and they all know me, they had a few questions for me - we then had an amazing conversation which ranged from dressage to the size of the suits worn by the women, but not the men, in beach volleyball.  A couple of the women in our discussion were appalled that this IS 2012 and the women are forced to wear skimpy suits but the men aren't - it is so about the marketing.  The men had no clue!!!!  We talked about how someone who has spent their life getting to the Olympics can lose their dream because their foot went outside of the prescribed lines during floor exercizes in the women's gymnastics.  All of these issues and so many more will be great discussion topics for my Sports Psychology class in just a few short weeks.

With less than a month before classes begin again, please enjoy yourselves, take good care, be well and please keep all of the members of our military and all of our veterans and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave

Time IS flying by but at least I am having fun.....

It has been a busy but good summer.  Lots of writing (I am working on my book on Fathers based on my Men & Masculinities course), lots of reading, lots of kayaking, biking and spending time with friends.  A year ago I posted a blog as we were about a month away from classes beginning and so I repeat that message here.  A month from today, on August 27th, the fall semester classes begin.  Much like a year or two ago when many, many former students (Matt Falcone and Meaghan Cormier) were lamenting that in fact they could NOT return for classes, many students are once again remembering their first day of classes here and lamenting that they too cannot return.  Matt is still Matt and Meaghan left Burlington yesterday afternoon for Columbia (the country) where she will live and work teaching English.  I love staying in touch with so many of my former students and have had lunch or dinner with about a dozen over this summer.  I always tell them before they graduate that they WILL survive leaving here and so it is rewarding to see that they are, in fact doing that.  So many of them who chose to live in this area for the summer have found full-time employment and some of them are getting to stay here for their jobs.  Several of my Practicum students have found employment at their Practicum sites and while this is NOT a focus of this course, it sure is nice that half of those students did have job offers at graduation.

This has also been a great summer for weddings.  Last weekend Erik Caron, Lauren Remmes, Rachel Roy/Jamie Gorton (he proposed as part of HIS senior addrsss at Commencement) all got married and this weekend Dave Vorozilchak gets married in PA surrounded by many of his former hockey teammates and his family.  There are several others planned for this summer and fall and I always enjoy seeing pictures of these wonderful events.

Construction on campus has certainly been interesting and provides all of us with challenges as this will continue through this coming academic year.  The Quad Project is an exciting and much needed addition to campus and I know that incoming and returning students will adapt to the challenges that every college faces when they decide to undergo a major construction project.

I have continued doing a LOT of letters of recommendations and several students have recently been accepted into graduate school programs across the country.  Students are often reluctant to ask for these recommendations as they are afraid that they are asking "too much" but I enjoy providing my recommendations for my students.

POW's are complete and two of my long time friends' "kids" are coming here in the fall and both of their "kids" found POW to be "awesome" and they wanted classes to begin NOW.  Nope, not yet - that will come soon enough.

Take care, be well, and please keep all of the members of our military in your thoughts and prayers.  The recent Time Magazine cover story was on suicides in our military and the statistics were staggering.  There is ONE suicide a DAY in our active duty service members and ONE every 80 minutes among our veterans - we all simply MUST do more to stop this.  So, prayers and support can make a difference.

Dave

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