Dear Parents,

The snow has finally melted on campus so I can officially say Happy Spring!

This semester has been a busy one as we’ve been in the midst of celebrating our 100^th anniversary with many cultural and academic events, enjoying Family Weekend last month and looking forward to Commencement this month and a successful completion of our Visions Campaign on June 30.   Also, keep Saturday, June 11 open as you’ll want to come to campus to join in the celebration of our Centennial finale. 

We were blessed with nice weather for Family Weekend ’05.  Approximately 300 families visited and there was standing room only at the study abroad panel session Saturday morning.  The fans at the lacrosse games and tennis matches took advantage of the weather and in between cheering for the Purple Knights worked on their tans.  At the Dean’s Dinner, Renee Senesec ’05 and Allison Lazarz ’05 reflected on their four years and the impact of their professors in their lives.  Thomas Cushman ’81, Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College, was also inducted into the Saint Michael’s Academic Hall of Fame and spoke on the importance of a liberal arts education.  The next morning many of you enjoyed hearing Fr. Brian Cummings, SSE ’86 reminisce about his first Family Weekend as a student.  Next year’s Family Weekend dates – March 31-April 2, 2006.  

In this issue of Parent Talk you’ll find an essay from a colleague, Angela Irvine, on why she enjoys coaching our cycling club.  And speaking of our students, you’ll also hear from Matt Hajdun ’05, on why he feels it is important to take advantage of all that Saint Michael’s has to offer.  I’ve also provided an update on the Parent Fund and the important role parents are playing in our Visions Campaign – only $2.5 million to go by June 30^th! 

As always, I enjoy hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Terri Selby - tselby@smcvt.edu
Director for the Parent Fund
Office of Institutional Advancement
802.654.2462

More Than Just a Hobby
By Angela Irvine
Director of Government, Corporate & Foundation Relations

I was asked to be the advisor to the cycling club four years ago, shortly after I began working at Saint Michael’s, and it has been a wonderful ride. The experience has given me the opportunity to work directly with students doing something that I love…ride my bike!   I really enjoy the students.  They have so much enthusiasm for participating in the club on so many levels.  They actually do most of the work!  I give more advice about life than I do about cycling. We race, we ride, we laugh and we have developed great friendships.  I really couldn’t ask for anything more.  The time I spend with the students has been invaluable to me in my job because it gives me a much greater view of the College which helps immensely with grant writing.

Collegiate cycling is not an NCAA sport. It is sanctioned through USA Cycling.  We compete in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference. The unique aspect of USA Cycling is that anyone can participate. Students only compete against students who are on their same ability level.  It makes participation available to everyone, no matter what their skill level. This has been a great incentive for our students to participate. Our club includes people who are just starting out and people who are licensed to race at the expert and semi-pro levels.

We have won the Eastern Conference title for mountain biking twice in the past three years.  We tend to be more competitive in mountain biking primarily because our spring road racing season is so short for us.  We sent racers to the national mountain biking championships for the first time last fall and had two students finish in the top ten! 

The club has worked very hard to generate sponsorship outside of the funds the club receives from the Student Association.  We have a number of sponsors that help us with everything from free trail usage to bike parts to energy bars.  Our most significant sponsor is an alumnus who works in the bike industry.  His company gives our students a significant discount on purchasing bikes!  This has worked well for our students who need new bikes…and their parents who sometimes foot the bill!

With our seniors graduating this year, the leadership of the club has been transferred to some of our younger riders.  They have welcomed the challenge as evidenced by the club’s new Web site created by Kate Parhaila '07.  Also, Mike Hayes '08 successfully organized and designed a great team hooded sweatshirt and sales of the sweatshirt.  I expect the club to continue to thrive and grow over the next several years.

Personally, I want to thank our seniors—Spencer Powlison, Matt Mollo, David Carney and Kristian Giessler—for making my job as advisor such a great experience.  They are moving on to bigger things but they have left a wonderful legacy at Saint Michael's College. 

Visit the student activities Web page.

A Senior Reflects
By Matt Hajdun '05

It was just four years ago when our gas chugging SUV was filled to the brim with college stuff on the journey to Saint Michael’s (once college loans are paid off, the family will move to borrowing money from the bank for gas).  Peering out the window over a laundry basket (which possibly gets used twice a semester), I began taking in the scenery of the roadways that would bring me to my new home over the next four years.

In hindsight, it is amazing that at one point I considered four years to be an incredibly long time, yet, in a flash, I will soon be marching across the floor in Ross Sports Center accepting a diploma. 

Over these past four years Saint Michaels has given me so many wonderful things: a quality education, incredible memories, countless opportunities to try new things and be successful, the freshman 15 and many unforgettable experiences.  Most importantly, Saint Michael’s has given me a second family.  A family that I am proud to be part of and a place I like to refer to as my second home.

The community here at Saint Michael’s has inspired me, and so many like me, to get involved and be an active part of this family. 

My parents rarely believe me when I tell them what I am up to at Saint Michael’s.  “You’re going on a service trip?  We can’t get you to mow the lawn in the summer and you’re going to help out someone in Kentucky?”

There is a difference between this family at Saint Michael’s and my family at home.  At home it is challenging to be motivated to wash the dishes or make your bed, it seems like such an insignificant task.  After I wash the dishes, I am not proud that I have made the pans shiny once again, or that my fingers are wrinkled and smell like Dawn. But here, at my second home, the opportunities to be involved are life changing and transforming. 

I have been ever so fortunate in my life to have experiences that so many may never be able to experience.  From studying abroad in Costa Rica (where I screamed every time I heard a rustle in the grass in fear of a snake) to whitewater rafting with the Wilderness Program, from serving on our Student Association E-board to a service trip in India with the M.O.V.E. office to work in Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Calcutta; I have learned so much about myself and my perspectives on life have been transformed.   Each one of these experiences opened my eyes and made me more appreciative of something I had taken for granted.

Within this community everything you do has a purpose that is embodied in the mission of our college.  Every opportunity one takes “enhances the human person.”  It is impossible to go on a M.O.V.E. service trip and not be affected.  It is impossible to snowshoe up Mt. Mansfield and not be in awe.  It is impossible to hear a guest lecture and not be inspired. 

All of these wonderful opportunities are available to everyone, right here at home and here, your family will support everything you do, unconditionally (and they won’t even tell you your room is a mess or you need to cut your hair).

I’m sure that my parents must have been nervous sending me off into the college world.  However, I am not sure they realized they were not sending me off to just a college, but to my home.        

Saint Michael’s is home because every day, no matter where you go, there is someone there for you.  Greeting you, caring for you, laughing with you.  Even when you wake up and scoot to class without a shower and in sweats praying no one notices you, there is someone there to pass along a smile in an even grungier pair of sweatpants with a more severe case of bed head.

Saint Michael’s is home because you can be successful in whatever you do.  Even if you falter, someone is here to catch you and get you back on your feet again.  

Saint Michael’s is home because here you can be whoever you want to be and you will be accepted unconditionally.  You could even be a Republican if you wanted, you may be greatly outnumbered, and people may tell you daily the wonders of the liberal lifestyle, but there is a sanctuary for you at Saint Michael’s (the confessional, or the College Republicans which is a Student Association club, your choice).   

Saint Michael’s is home because the community is made up of friends and family who live every day with their heart in service to one another.

With a family and home like this, how can you not try to make everyone proud?  I view service to Saint Michael’s as a small way of showing my gratitude to my family. I’ll never be a big donor to the College because as my parents remind me, teaching is not the most profitable career, however, I feel I can give back to this institution through my volunteerism and small, yet important participation gifts.

As I graduate in May I do not want to be known as a Biologist or a Teacher, I want to be known as a boy who loved, and is forever indebted to, his family and second home at Saint Michael’s College.  

Parent Fund News

Thank you, Jim!  Jim Swiezynski P’05 steps down at the end of this year as chair of the Parent Fund for Current Parents.  Over the past three years, Jim has dedicated himself to increasing our participation rate in honor of the Visions Campaign.  Jim’s son, Eric ’05, was tri-captain of the men’s basketball team this year and after graduation in May, hopes to land a job in finance in the Boston area.

Parent support has a long and strong tradition at Saint Michael’s.  I am continually inspired by the number of parents who make a gift to the Saint Michael’s Fund each year knowing that you are also making a significant investment in your son or daughter’s education.  I am also impressed with the number of parents of alumni who continue to give back to Saint Michael’s long after graduation.

The next two months at Saint Michael’s are critical as we look forward to the successful close of our Visions Campaign. In my conversations with parents about this critical time for the College, I am often asked “what can I do to help?”  This is how you can help:  parent participation in the campaign is very important! This year our current parent participation rate is 26% as of April 30.  Last year, we had a total participation rate of 31% for current parents which was one of the highest ever for the College! Parents of alumni are even stronger – 45% of them have made a gift to the College this year.

So if you have not yet made a gift this year or during the campaign, please consider doing so before June 30.  All gifts count toward the Visions Campaign and no gift is too small to make a difference. Please know that parent support is truly appreciated and helps to make possible the many ways in which Saint Michael’s is a very special community.   

The easiest and most convenient way in which to make a gift is to go to the College’s secure online Web site: www.smcvt.edu/giveback or call toll-free 888.448.7111.  If you have any further questions on how to make a gift, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Terri Selby,
Director for the Parent Fund    

Parent Fund Update for Fiscal Year 2005
   (As of 04/30/05, fiscal year ends June 30, 2005)

Participation:

Support the parent fund today!

This is an exciting time to be associated with Saint Michael’s College! Not only is the College celebrating its 100^th anniversary, but it is also the final year of our campaign focused on building endowment and scholarship – Visions: A Campaign for the Saint Michael’s Student.  The success of this campaign will ensure that Saint Michael’s will continue to provide a quality, liberal arts, Catholic, residential education for another 100 years and beyond.  The students who will benefit from this are your sons and daughters – a very special group of people who will be the founders of the second century at Saint Michael’s.

I am happy to report that over the past 6.5 years $49.5 million has been raised in gifts and pledges toward a $52 million goal. We are almost there! These funds will help the College provide much needed financial aid and scholarship assistance to worthy students.  If you would like more information on Visions or how you can support this important campaign during this pivotal time in the College’s history, please click here. The deadline to make a gift that will count toward Visions is June 30, 2005.

Saint Michael's News

Colleges of Distinction Study
Saint Michael's makes the top 10%
Sixth Annual Enterprise Plan Competition
Student and Professor give paper at conference
Saint Michael's Chorale in Washington D.C.
Commencement Information

Important Dates/Events for Spring Semester 2005

•  May 18, 2005 – Baccalaureate
•  May 19, 2005 – Commencement
•  June 11 – Centennial Gala
•  July 28-31 – Centennial College
•  August 28 – upper-level student move-in day

2005/2006 Academic Calendar

Parent Program Volunteer Opportunities

Who says the students should have all the fun? The Parent Program offers volunteer opportunities for parents both on and off campus. Parents who volunteer help further the mission of Saint Michael’s College through their efforts. It is a great way to meet new people, make new friends and foster bonds that may last a lifetime!

For more information on these programs, visit our Parent Page or contact Terri Selby, Director for the Parent Fund, at 802.654.2462 or tselby@smcvt.edu.

Helpful Links

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