Very busy times on campus as the semester comes to a close.

As our semester and academic year come to a quick ending there are so many student activities that it is sometimes difficult to find the time to attend all of them. In the pictures above, you will see a group of students in Eddie's Lounge on campus enjoying a concert put on by Adam Reczek, who is seen above reading out information about prostate cancer awareness. Adam is in my Men & Masculinities class and when I told them (30 second semester seniors - 15 women and 15 men) that I wanted their final projects to be creative Adam took me at my word and asked his friend Matt to join him for a set of amazing guitar music and singing and then he asked Mike Check, our campus Acappella group to join him on stage. The coffee pot on the table served as a container for donations and they raised $85 AND provided some excellent information to everyone gathered there about the very serious issues surrounding prostate cancer - this is one of the most unique final projects I have received from a student and I am proud of Adam and his friends for doing this.

Yesterday afternoon, before heading over to the Duffy Field and Senior Day for our men's lacrosse game I joined my friend and colleague Ingrid Peterson from the Career Development Office for two panel presentations to accepted students who were visiting the campus. We responded to their excellent questions about everything from "what do I do if I suck at languages" to "how can I figure out what I want to major in" - it is always fun to see our prospective students before they make that difficult decision - there were great questions and, as always, it was fun to work with Ingrid.

There is a concert this afternoon over in Ross Sport Center which is a benefit as part of the College's Earth Day celebration. It was planned for the green outside of the library but as I look out my window and see the continuing rain outside, it is a wise decision to move it indoors. The group presenting the concert is BAREFOOT TRUTH, which, if you have ever followed my blog you know IS my favorite group - with two former SMC students performing it has become a favorite of many more than just myself.

Three weeks of classes left AND an Easter weekend break- students are completing their work, WE are all busy grading that work and with the sun making an appearance every now and then, life on campus goes on at a hectic pace. Many of my seniors have been successful in their job hunt and have been hearing from either graduate schools OR places they have been seeking employment from and therefore needing recommendations. It looks like a good end of another great year.

As always, please take good care, be well and keep all of the members of our military and our veterans AND their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave

Dinner at Dave's - GRACE Potter and Barefoot Truth

Each spring semester I invite students from my Men & Masculinities course to my home for dinner. I cook, they eat and then we sit around and talk until I have to throw them out - this past Monday I asked someone what time it was and they said 11:15 and I just said they all had to leave as it WAS late for me and I had to get up in the morning :) Each group consists of 4, 5 or 6 students - here are pictures of the first two groups - we have a great time and they are so appreciative of having dinner at a "professor's" home that it is worth all of the effort in planning and feeding young college students.........

Last night the Student Association held their Spring Concert. There was a great deal of discussion on who the performers could/should be and they settled with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals AND my all-time favorite group, Barefoot Truth. Running a concert on any college campus is a challenge - there is the set-up, the management of tickets and security, the advertising and marketing, the "management" of the venue and the overriding fear that any concert MAY NOT be a success. Grace Kelly is our Director of Student Activities and in that capacity, she works closely with all of the students involved in the concert activities. Mark Litchfield is our Special Events man and he has the experience and skills to work with performers, physical plant AND most importantly, with our students. The collaboration between Grace (Kelly) and Mark is amazing to watch. They arranged for student-workers to handle all of the needed tasks and rather than DOING the work themselves, Grace and Mark have taught our students by example how to get things done. Matt Seklecki and Claire McQuillen are the two students from the Student Association who are co-chairs of Programming and it is their responsibility to make sure that things run smoothly from a student perspective - their responsibilities run the gamut from marketing to enlisting student volunteers to work the event.

Well, the concert was amazing. There were several, several hundred people in the Ross Sport Center gym last night for a great time. Barefoot Truth first became MY favorite during the senior year of two of the band members who were SMC students. Garrett and Will have worked tirelessly to make this band what it is today - they travel all over the East Coast performing and their sound has grown over the years - you can check them out at their website at BarefootTruth.com - it is well worth a listen. I spoke with both Garrett and Will last night before they performed and they were just so happy to be back on campus and performing before an SMC crowd. Their sound in that gym was the best....... They have a solid following on and off campus in the Burlington area and their fans were NOT disappointed. Both Dean Jeff Trumbower and I have been avid fans for several years and it was great to have our Academic Dean at the concert too.

Grace Potter - what can I say about her? She has recently been on the Letterman Show as well as the Leno Show and she was completely on fire last night. Early on in the evening after she finished her sound check and before the doors were open to fans, she walked past Grace Kelly, Mark Litchfield and a couple of students and waved to us, said hello and was just amazingly friendly and welcoming. A Vermonter herself, she clearly appreciated being on OUR campus and she put on a fantastic show. Unlike so many "performers" today, both Grace Potter and the guys from Barefoot Truth were approachable (Grace Potter even offered to sign autographs for folks and was so unassuming that you would wonder who she was if you ran into her on the street) and clearly appreciate their fans. The smile on Grace Potter's face lit up the entire gym... So, congratulations to Grace Kelly and Mark Litchfield for once again setting the stage and enabling our students to actively work at making a concert a success. Congratulations to Matt and Claire for the success and to all of the many, many student workers who all combined to have a very successful concert..... Well done!!!!

We only have a few weeks of class left in the semester so all of my students are busy completing major assignments, readings, journals and projects - it has been a great semester and once again I am able to say that I have not had even one bad class the entire semester...... They WERE a bit upset last week with the prediction of another 8 0 10 inches of snow for Friday BUT in the end that did turn out to be an April Fool's Day joke as we barely had a dusting. While winter isn't over yet, warmer days are coming and hopefully they all see the end in sight. Our seniors are looking back on their four years and ahead for when they leave - an interesting mixture of emotions. The next few weeks will go faster than they realize.

Please take good care and, as always, please keep all of the members of our military and all of our veterans in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave

Student music, talking with parents, a sad goodbye to a colleague

Yesterday was a sad day for our College (more on that later) so I decided to head to downtown Burlington last night to Parima to take in the music of two of our students. Matt Wolfe ('11) had invited me to his show and told me that Adam Reczek ('11) would be joining him on stage for some guitar and some vocals. I am glad that I did. They are both talented young people and their music was excellent. My colleagues Paul Olson and Karen Popovich also joined us as we not only supported our students, but enjoyed some good music.

On April 2nd I will be traveling to Castleton College for the second of three presentations I do for VSAC - the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation. I did one a week ago yesterday at SMC and spoke to 600 parents of high school juniors/sophomores about the transition from high school to college. College Pathways is just one of the many services that VSAC provides to students and families in Vermont and they are an amazing organization. The week after the that I will do the final one at Lyndon State. I present the reality about the transition that most parents are unaware of. This is the third year that I have presented these workshops and I hope that parents are better informed AND that they have more educated conversations with their son/daughter prior to the actual time that the leave for school. The feedback I get is very valuable so this year I provided the parents with Conversation Starters which are merely suggestions on how they can broach difficult topics with their sons/daughters.

Yesterday afternoon the College came together in our chapel to celebrate the life of Doug Green. Doug and his wife Prof. Donna Bozzone have taught at SMC since 1987 and they have both been an integral part of this community and their home community in Huntington, VT. Doug has been battling cancer for some time and he died a week ago leaving all of us saddened and at the same time, grateful - grateful that he WAS a part of our lives for so long and grateful that Doug and Donna understood that life is simply too short so we HAVE to make the most of every day. Donna's eulogy, delivered in her usual manner, had us all laughing as she recounted their friendship and their abiding love for each other AND their two wonderful daughters. Donna reminded us that we best remember people when they are gone through stories so she told of THEIR first date and then of their conversations leading up to his death as they knew that his time was short. She reminded us that "there are no guarantees of 70 or 80 years of life" and let us know that she and Doug fully understood that. Doug's impact on all of us is still palpable but his impact on his students is something that we can all take pride in. Declan McCabe, one of Doug's colleagues in the biology department set up a FaceBook page and the tributes that flooded that site speak of Doug's constant willingness to take HIS time for his students - it didn't matter what Doug was dealing with, if a student needed a minute or an hour of his time, he gave it.

A brilliant yet very unassuming man with a heart so big is gone BUT he will be remembered forever in the lives of those he leaves behind. Rest in Peace Doug............... Our thoughts and prayers, of course go out to Donna and their two daughters Samantha and Allison........

Take care, be well, and as always please keep this community AND all of the members of our armed forces and their families in YOUR thoughts and prayers.

Dave

Prayers for Japan - Spring Break for our students

As the news continues to come in about the devastation caused by the earthquake and resulting Tsunami in Japan our thoughts and prayers continue for the people of Japan. Ryan Layman graduated from SMC a couple of years ago and he has been living in Japan for a number of years. He visited campus two weeks ago and was excited to return to Japan and a new job. Thankfully, he is alright and let his friends know through Facebook that while he is alright, he cannot get to his home there. We have many students from Japan studying at SMC and their friends have been so supportive as their fears for families back in Japan prevented them from being able to do much more than watch the unfolding tragedy in their home country - again, our thoughts and prayers go out to all of them.

Our students began their Spring Break after the last class yesterday afternoon. Many will travel to warmer climates and some will remain here working on senior projects or continuing to spend time on their academic internships. Several of our students have traveled to Boston with Ari and Molly for the Eastern Psychological Association's annual conference - a number of our students are doing poster presentations either by themselves, or with their faculty.

I will be on campus grading papers most of this week and then next Saturday I will once again be speaking to over 500 parents of high school sophomores and juniors on the transition from high school to college. This is part of the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation's annual College Pathways. While the students learn about a variety of topics they need to know, I have the opportunity to address the parents on issues that THEY need to understand. I will be presenting what we are calling "Conversation Starters" for the parents with what will hopefully be helpful suggestions on how to deal with topics that "scare" most parents. This is the third year I have done this presentation and I also will be doing it at Lyndon State and Castleton over the next few weeks. VSAC is an amazing organization which provides valuable assistance to families and students as they weave their way through the oftentimes confusing and complicated process of college selection and college finance.

Please take care and as always please keep all of the members of our military and their families and all of our veterans in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave

Incline Village, Nevada is located high above Lake Tahoe and is a place I visit twice a year. I have former students who live there and while Davis is the IT person for the Hyatt Regency, his wife Ann is an art teacher in their local high school. It is truly a beautiful place and a complement to my love for Vermont and the area around Saint Michael's College. Yesterday completed my 29th year here so today begins my 30th - I doubt that I ever suspected back then that I would come to love this area so much nor that Saint Michael's College would become my home. I have met so many wonderful people over the years and my colleagues at the College have become MY family. All of my students over the years have taught me perhaps more than I have taught them and staying in touch with so many people I have worked with over the years is one of those great joys of working somewhere that you love - Thank you Saint Michael's College for 29 amazing years and I hope for many, many more.

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

Dave

More great skiing and student papers ARE good so far this semester.

I got up early this morning and headed to Smuggler's Notch Ski Resort for a few runs down the mountain before returning to campus to grade more papers. The skiing was great, as usual and we are so lucky to have Smuggs as part of SMC. Since I had graded most of the newly submitted papers Saturday, I only had a few more to do. I have been impressed with the quality of my students' writing so far and if this is any indication of the rest of the semester, it is going to be an excellent one. Sports Psychology and Men & Masculinities are both writing intensive courses and I have high expectations for student writing and hold my students accountable for such things as spelling, grammar and punctuation. Since society holds them accountable once they leave our campuses, I think it is part of our responsibility to make sure that they DO learn now so that they don't make common mistakes later on.

This past Thursday my friend/colleague Pat Standen (adjunct professor of Philosophy) came into my Sports Psychology class to talk with my students. Pat was in an automobile accident when he was just 16 and has been in a wheel chair ever since. I have been inviting him in for some time and when his schedule works with mine, it is an eye-opener for my students. Pat kayaks, sails a sailboat, handcycles, participates in sled hockey, water skis, downhill and XC skis and probably engages in several other athletic endeavors that I don't even know about. He is the founder and President of NDAA - Northeast Disabled Athletes Association and we brought up their website disabledathletes.org in class and my students were amazed at the variety of options open to "differently abled" athletes. Pat and I have a great banter back and forth and students quickly become comfortable with his presence in my class. Many of my students have already had Pat for one of his Philosophy classes so they already know what a great teacher he is. Because we examine the psychological implications of sport injuries, it was really important for my students to see what the newest options are - wheelchair soccer and wheelchair lacrosse and even rugby are just some of the new things that people who have been injured and who may have thought finished with athletic competition can participate in. My gratitude to Pat for his willingness to give of his time to educate my students. Pat also serves at the faculty mentor for our men's ice hockey team and they have come to admire and respect him as much as I do.

Yesterday afternoon we had our final home women's and men's basketball games. Our women won and our men lost a great and close battle. We have been working on getting more and more people to appreciate all of the hard work that our student-athletes put into their sports so it was nice to see a good sized crowd at the women's game and an even larger crowd there for the men's game. President Jack Neuhauser, VP for Enrollment Management Jerry Flanagan, VP for Academics Karen Talentino, VP for Student Affairs Mike Samara, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Edmunds, Fr. Mike Cronogue, Academic Dean Jeff Trumbower, Assistant Academic Dean Joan Wry along with three business/accounting faculty, an Economist, three psychology professors, a science professor, a religion professor (Ray Patterson attends most of our athletic contests and is faculty mentor for two of our teams) and Fr. Brian(Director of Campus Ministry) plus a couple of folks from Institutional Advancement, personal counseling and many alumni all cheered out student-athletes on. It was great to see such a strong showing of support. Each semester I give an update on the academic achievement of our student-athletes to the faculty. A week ago Friday I addressed the Faculty Assembly and provided them with the NCAA Academic Success Rate and announced that SMC was number 1 in the NE-10 (our conference) and number 2 in all of Division II (made up of almost 300 schools and with over 100,000 student-athletes). I also gave them the standings of all of our teams and was happy to share that OUR student-athletes have an overall grade point average of 3.12 which gives them a higher overall grade point average than the rest of the student body. The faculty appreciated this and applauded this information. The collaboration between our student-athletes and the rest of our educational community makes for a very strong bond which is reflected in how well our student-athletes perform in our classrooms. Go KNIGHTS.....

I showed my Men & Masculinities class the Academy Award nominated documentary Restrepo last Monday to accompany their reading of the book War by Sebastian Junger. It was a very powerful class and their response papers after viewing the documentary will be the subject of our class tomorrow evening. Their papers aren't due until tomorrow but several of them have already submitted them to me and their reactions are very powerful. I continue to feel that it is important that those of us who are NOT in the military need to better understand those who ARE and the impact that war can and does have on so many of our men and women. As our soldiers return home and transition from the military to civilian life, it is imperative that we all better understand what they have gone through.

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

Dave

Snowshoeing, new classes and a local high school student death.

I just returned to my house after some snowshoeing this morning. It is, as usual in wintertime, beautiful here and all I have to do is strap the snowshoes on and walk around my neighborhood to enjoy all of our new snow. Any of you in NY, CT or MA who don't like YOUR snow can feel free to send it our way as we LOVE it here. Classes began on Monday for the semester and already many of our students have been to the mountains for skiing or snowboarding and I hope to be at Smuggs this week too. I was just in San Antonio, Texas last week for the NCAA National Convention and their temperatures were in the low 40's which dismayed not only the convention organizers but also the residents. As they were all complaining about their weather, I just laughed and many of them asked HOW I can possibly live in Vermont where it REALLY is cold and where we get so much snow - my response was to simply say that I just add another layer on and get outside and enjoy all of the amazing seasons we have here in Vermont. It was a good convention and as always, I enjoy talking with friends and colleagues from across the country about what we are doing at Saint Mike's. Geri Knortz is our Athletic Director and I also enjoy having the chance to talk with her at these conventions as we have an excellent working relationship and enjoy working with our student-athletes. On a very good note, Chris Kenny, Assistant Athletic Director compiles data on the academic performance of our student-athletes and he informed us right before we left for Texas that for the first time, our student-athletes overall grade point average was higher than the non student-athletes grade point average. Fifteen of our twenty one varsity teams had a grade point average for first semester of over a 3.0. Given all that the students have to deal with, between a full load of academic classes and a rigorous athletic schedule, I am very, very proud of not only our athletes, but also our faculty and staff who work so hard to accommodate game schedules, practices and who continue to push our student-athletes to perform at the highest level academically and athletically. It was also good to be able to "brag" about our student-athletes in Texas when others mentioned the ASR (academic success rate) which is such an important component of Division II athletics. Saint Mike's ASR was the highest in our conference (Northeast 10) and the second highest in the nation - not bad when we are talking about approximately 100,000 student athletes in D-II.

My classes so far are great - my first impressions are often pretty accurate and if the first few classes are any indication, it is going to be another great semester. I continue to work with my seniors on their post-graduation plans and will once again be utilizing the fine staff in Career Services to help students update resumes and finalize plans for graduate school or employment. In Sports Psychology yesterday we discussed whether or not Tom Brady's no pass interceptions record being broken early on in their game against the Jets played a role in the Patriots losing the playoff game - we also looked at something called "base jumping with wingsuits" on YouTube - check it out - it is pretty amazing and for me, pretty frightening but for some of my students, it was a rush - I enjoy this particular class the most when students tell me that they have NEVER thought about some of the connections between sports and psychology.

Yesterday morning Mount Mansfield Union High School, located just up Rte. 15 from the College in Jericho, VT had a young man die from what is described as self-inflicted gunshot wounds. What a horrible experience for his family, his friends, everyone in the school and that community. When a 15 year old dies we all want answers to the question WHY? I was interviewed on TV by our local Fox channel and asked what parents and others can do to try to understand and/or prevent something like this and all I could say is that we ALL have to become better LISTENERS to and for our young people - their lives are very difficult today with incredible pressures and we also have to become better OBSERVERS so that we all notice changes in mood, attitude, dress, academic/athletic performance/interest and IF/WHEN we see something that makes us nervous we HAVE to TALK about it with them - we cannot be afraid of the S word which today is not sex, but which is SUICIDE. I suggested that parents and everyone use this tragedy at MMU and the Tucson shootings as what our Dean of Students Mike Samara likes to refer to as "teachable moments" where we ask the young people in our lives how THEY felt when they heard that a 22 year old shoot those people in Arizona and how THEY felt when they heard yesterday during the day that a 15 year old had died at a local high school. Somehow WE have to get the message across that no matter what the problem is today, IT GETS BETTER and that there isn't anything that you can't learn to deal with - young people need to hear that they are loved, that they are valued and that WE are here for them, no matter what they are experiencing. If parents don't know how to help, then ask others who do. At St. Mike's we have four very wonderful counselors who are easy to talk with. We have faculty, staff, nurses, residence life folks, priests, security, administrators, coaches and people who are committed to making this a safe place for students to learn - LISTEN, OBSERVE and TALK with an not AT young people - a good formula.

As Fr. Mike and Mike Samara are fond of saying "God Bless" and as I say, please take good care and as always, please keep all of the members of our military and our veterans and their families in your thoughts and prayers - I do.....

Dave