Saint Michael's College Magazine Spr/Sum 2024

Saint Michael’s

Welcome President Plumb!

Rev.

Josh

Isabella

Lauren

Stephanie

Letter from the President

Greetings!

Over my past four months as president of Saint Michael’s College, I have witnessed firsthand what makes this college truly special. It’s not just the successes of our students—top national producers of Fulbright scholars, 16 Freeman Foundation

recipients, Participants in the East Region of the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball tournament for the first time since 1960. There’s a certain charisma on campus that I have never encountered before in my 30+-year career as a professor, dean, provost, and president at colleges throughout the country. The sense of community

and concern Saint Michael’s people have for each other is unique and one of the secret ingredients that makes the College exceptional.

You see it in the way our students hold the door open for others on campus, how our professors greet students by name and check in on them, how our alumni offer internships and career advice, and how our staff celebrate one another’s successes. It must stem from our 120year Edmundite tradition of hospitality, service, and education.

As Saint Michael’s College envisions the future and navigates the changes necessary to prepare students for a global market with environmental, equity, and justice challenges, its core sense of community and belonging will never alter.

In this issue, you’ll read about what change looks like from the perspectives of our students, faculty, and staff. And you’ll see the many ways that change

and wellness are fundamentally linked. Our ability to be flexible, to pivot, to learn continuously, and to fail and get back up is central to creating the future.

Sincerely,

Richard Plumb, Ph.D. President

To read more about President Richard Plumb, go to page 7

WHAT’S NEW?

DEEP BEAUTY

Yamuna Turco ’25, who was crowned Miss Vermont 2023, competed for the Miss America 2024 title in Orlando, Florida. The competition began in January. “It’s huge. I’m kind of in disbelief,” Turco said, marveling at her one-in-50 chance of being Miss America. Turco hails from Keeseville, New York, and is a double major in Psychology and Political Science at Saint Michael’s College. She sings in St. Mike’s a cappella group the AcaBellas, is a student leader for the College’s community service organization MOVE, and is a member of the Drama Club. Competitors in the pageant must have a service project they participate in and advocate

for. Turco’s service initiative is called “One Book, One Child,” and it focuses on increasing access to diverse books and stories. As part of the initiative, she visits schools across the state and talks about literacy and reading. Since taking the title of Miss Vermont in April 2023, she’s made more than 60 appearances and has donated more than 300 books.

EXTRA CREDIT

Many people fly a flag at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to celebrate climbing their way to 19,341 feet, but Jackson Sargent ’24 might be the very first person to fly his Saint Michael’s College sweatshirt on the peak of Africa’s highest mountain. The St. Mike’s senior completed a semester-long study abroad program in Tanzania in fall 2023 delving into

wildlife conservation and political ecology. After four months of studying in Tanzania, he stayed a bit longer to conquer one final goal: Mount Kilimanjaro. After the climb, Sargent emailed the picture of himself at the summit with his St. Mike’s sweatshirt to Saint Michael’s Biology Professor Declan McCabe and asked if “this qualified for extra credit.” Sargent said McCabe had helped him spearhead the study abroad program and he wanted to surprise him with the photo. Sargent said the study abroad experience in Tanzania alone brought him to new heights. Thinking about his time in Tanzania and conquering Kilimanjaro, he added, “If you really want to do something you’re passionate about, go and do it.”

Yamuna Turco ’25 collecting donated books for her service initiative “One Book, One Child.”

Jackson Sargent ’24 stands proud with his St. Mike’s sweatshirt atop Mount Kilimanjaro.

MIND AND BODY, BODY AND MIND

Saint Michael’s College alumna Beth Connolly ’04, Ph.D., believes in treating the mind and the body at the same time. She has built a running psychotherapy private practice in Hampton, New Hampshire, called “This is My Happy Pace,” which combines movement with talk therapy.

Despite the cold temperatures, she sees an uptick in clients during December and January. Connolly explains this has less to do with folks trying to kick-start their New Year’s resolutions, and more to do with the holidays, a season that can stir

Dr. Ansel Augustine spoke on campus in February.

RADICALLY BLACK AND AUTHENTICALLY CATHOLIC

Bishops April 2. The event was sponsored by the Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice.

FOUR SKIERS ATTEND NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP

This year, four Saint Michael’s College skiers qualified to compete in the NCAA National Collegiate Championship in Steamboat Springs, Colorado—a four-day event that involved student-athletes from Divisions I, II, and III. Three of the skiers represented Saint Michael’s Alpine team: senior and captain

up “emotional turmoil and unresolved conflict rooted in families of origin.” Connolly is from a St. Mike’s legacy family. Her older sister and her two younger sisters all went to Saint Michael’s. Connolly played on the women’s basketball team her first year. She also did work at the Arbors retirement and assisted living facilities in Shelburne, and at the Howard Center in Burlington, where she received work practicum experience. “There was so much access to experiences in the community,” Connolly said of her time at Saint Michael’s. “I do feel really grateful for the path that it put me on.”

On February 20, the Saint Michael’s College community participated in a passionate discussion titled “Radically Black and Authentically Catholic—A Journey of Faith.” The event was presented by Dr. Ansel Augustine, then-director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministries for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Augustine shared many of his personal experiences in the church with the audience in the Farrell Room. Students and religious studies faculty attended, along with students from Rev. David Theroux’s course Black Catholicism. Augustine is the newest member of the Saint Michael’s College Board of Trustees. He joined the U.S. Conference of Catholic

Simen Strand ’24, of Nedre Høvik, Norway; Gray Flanagan ’26 of West Burke, Vermont; and Helene Kristoffersen ’25 of Rælingen, Norway.

Strand received All-America honors in two events during the championship, bringing his career total to five All-America honors—the most by any student-athlete across all sports in College history. Henrik Wist ’27 from Trondheim, Norway, represented the Saint Michael’s Nordic team. Wist was the first Purple Knight Nordic skier to compete at the NCAA Championship in 25 years.

CHANGE MAKERS

Sixteen Saint Michael’s College students visited Washington, D.C., in early March to explore careers in government and policy and learn

Simen Strand ’24, Helene Kristoffersen ’25, Gray Flanagan ’26, and Henrik Wist ’27 represented St. Mike’s in the NCAA National Collegiate Championship.

Sign up to receive the campus newsletter at smcvt.edu/magazine.

Beth Connolly ’04 showcasing her running psychotherapy.

from alumni about their own career paths. The students were joined by Boucher Career Education Center team members Ingrid Peterson and Joe Speidel, Center for Global Engagement Director Jeffrey Ayres, and Institutional Development Officer Annie Rosello ’94. They met with staff at the Supreme Court, the State Department, and the offices of Senators Peter Welch and Bernie Sanders, as well as alumni Major General Greg Gagnon ’94, Erica Chabot Dempsey ’02, and Chelsea Dixon ’13. This is the second year in a row that there has been cross-campus collaboration to take students on this four-day excursion, which was funded from an appropriation through the U.S. Department of Education from retired Senator Patrick Leahy.

Sixteen students along with faculty and staff headed to Washington, D.C.

THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW

This year, Saint Michael’s College devoted an entire week to Martin Luther King Jr. and his vision of a Beloved Community during its 32nd

Saint Michael’s College physics professor and astrophysicist Alain Brizard, Ph.D., spoke to a number of local media outlets in the lead-up to a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.

One outlet, NBC5, featured segments with Brizard for a week straight as part of a “Countdown to the Eclipse,” during which the professor described different aspects of the eclipse and how to view it safely.

annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation and Celebration. The celebration was filled with speakers, workshops, and a community art mural letter-blocked with King’s

On Eclipse Day, students, faculty, and staff gathered outside at St. Mike’s to watch the moon move across the sun before eclipsing it completely at 3:26 p.m. for three minutes. Gasps and applause emanated through campus as darkness fell and then retreated again just before 3:30 p.m. Professor Brizard provided guidance and education throughout the eclipse, and the Colchester Sun chronicled the experience for its readers.

View the local news stories and learn more about the solar eclipse activities on campus at smcvt.edu/ solareclipse2024.

Above: Alain Brizard being interviewed by NBC5 in late February for a “Countdown to the Eclipse” feature. Photo by Elizabeth Murray ’13

IN THE

message “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” which was this year’s theme. Students from Winooski High School and Rock Point School in Burlington attended events on January 15, which ran all day long. The events continued throughout the week.

Keynote speaker Traci Griffith, J.D.—a lawyer, journalist, academic, and advocate who taught at Saint Michael’s for more than 20 years—was greeted with a standing ovation from a packed room on January 15. Griffith currently serves as the racial justice program director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Massachusetts. Griffith’s talk, titled “Promised on Paper, Pathetic in Practice: Race and the U.S. Constitution Through the Eyes of Dr. King,” began with a discussion of the U.S. Constitution of 1787. “The urgency of now requires us to demand justice in our own spheres of influence,” Griffith said. “Martin Luther King Jr. said ‘Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step for the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle, the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.’ Do you feel the urgency of now?”

ENDING BAD-WEATHER BLUES

The weather at last year’s Williams College Carnival (NCAA ski competition) at Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vermont, was terrible. For much of the weekend, it was pouring rain (and it was not a warm rain; instead, it was a very, very cold rain).

Ten of the 11 Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) teams were dry and warm in their wax trailers as they prepared their athletes’ skis. But the 11th team’s head coach, Molly Peters, from Saint Michael’s College, was neither warm nor dry.

“I’m fairly certain I was mildly hypothermic by the end of the race,” Peters said. Instead of a wax trailer, Peters had only a small tent to shield her from the rain and wind, and the tent did not provide much protection. This made for a miserable day. Luckily, Peters’s bad-weather blues have come to an end this year, thanks to a new wax trailer donated to the Saint Michael’s Nordic ski team by Michael Spain ’79 and his wife, Trish. Spain was a member of the Alpine team at Saint Michael’s. Not only is the trailer a great opportunity for the ski team to be more comfortable, but it is an opportunity for the school as well.

Peters says, “It has really upped our game. It just makes a statement when we pull up with our beautiful purple princess.”

Thank you Michael ’79 and Trish Spain for the donation of the Nordic Wax Trailer (see page 21). Molly Peters no longer will be hypothermic prepping skis while exposed to sideways rain, sleet, and hail.

Last fall, six students began working on a new opportunity for St. Mike’s undergraduates: The Saint Michael’s College Student Investment Fund (SMCSIF). Their dream has since become a reality. Throughout the year, the students worked with College administration to properly establish the fund with a constitution outlining the mission, structure, membership, procedures, fiduciary responsibilities, and more. SMCSIF was also approved by the Saint Michael’s College Board of Trustees, and this summer, the club will begin managing a portfolio with some trades. By next fall, SMCSIF plans to offer students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in investment management. To learn more about how to join the club, how to get involved as alumni, and more, visit:

smcsif.netlify.app

www.linkedin.com/company/ saint-michael-s-college-studentinvestment-fund

www.instagram.com/smcsif Sign up to receive the campus newsletter at smcvt.edu/magazine.

Traci Griffith presented the MLK Keynote address on campus.

“I’ve enjoyed engaging with faculty and staff, learning about their various areas of expertise.”

President Plumb: Engaging Our Community

During the eclipse, physics professor and astrophysicist Alain Brizard, Ph.D., demonstrates for President Richard Plumb how a Sunspotter works.

Photos by Jerry Swope

“Almost every day that I am on campus, I make it a priority to get out of the office and walk with students and faculty. I learn so much just listening to their challenges and successes. It helps me prioritize what matters most.”

“I feel privileged to be among the first to congratulate you on your accomplishment. And it is no small feat. You are a remarkable and resilient class. Many of you came to Saint Michael’s at an unusual time, when our country was hit with the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020. Amid uncertainty around the globe, you completed your college search and chose Saint Michael’s for your education.”

At Commencement on May 12, President Plumb congratulated the Class of 2024 for their resilience.

“There are so many wonderful things happening at St. Mike’s. We are a Phi Beta Kappa campus and have led the entire nation in Division II Athletics academic success rates for the last three years in a row. We are a top producer of Fulbright and Freeman scholars, a remarkable achievement for a school of our size.”

“It’s been a pleasure getting to know alumni, parents, and friends. Mary and I are humbled and grateful for their generosity.”

President Plumb provides an update on the successes of the College to nearly 100 alumni and friends at a reception at Hotel Vermont in Burlington in March.

At a dinner in Florida hosted by Cathy and Don Dion ’76, President Plumb and his wife Mary welcomed Larry and Lynn Blanford into the Society of Mont-Saint-Michel, the College’s lifetime giving society. Also pictured is Rev. Brian Cummings, SSE ’86.

“As an engineer by education, I like to build and create things. I find the woodshop on campus provides that outlet to relax, clear my mind, and create something useful or beautiful with my hands. In turn, I think it is important that we provide our students with access to the tools so they can use their gifts to create a better and more beautiful future.”

President Plumb can often be found early in the morning in the campus woodshop.

“The Saint Michael’s community is both tight-knit and expansive, a strong combination on which to forge deeper connections for the betterment of our students.”

At the Block M lunch, President Plumb enjoyed hearing from keynote speaker Katie Healey Farrow ’04, whose husband’s best friend is Jeff Favreau, director of public safety for the College.

President Plumb joined Tom Kelley ’69 and other alumni in Naples, Florida, to march in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, one of the largest in the country.

Change Navigating

BY SUSAN SALTER REYNOLDS

A campus is a complex ecosystem, a microcosm, offering a beautiful, brief period of time to grow, stabilize, strengthen, fail, and learn how to learn.

Illustration by Robert Selby

by

Kathy Butts ’89, director of counseling, reflects on change and wellness.

Awe, worry, pressure, stress, excitement— these are all ingredients of, and reactions to, change.

PRESIDENT PLUMB holds up his iPhone, still awed, after decades of a life in technology and education, that he can talk with his grandchildren all over the world. And yet, he worries about how these tools can threaten human connection, and about the ethical guardrails on technology that we, as a society, have thus far failed to create.

PARENTS worry, as they always have, about their children’s inner lives—will they develop a soul that is strong enough to weather the changes the future will fling at them?

STUDENTS experience increasing pressure, post-pandemic, to develop a tool kit of skills that they can use to pivot gracefully through an economy that generates warning signals with increasing regularity.

FACULTY feel the need to to both mentor and teach, to weave these demands together while staying true to the liberal arts and current in their fields, which are also changing.

COACHES witness the physical and mental stress firsthand, preparing athletes to balance their drive toward competition and performance with selfawareness, civility, and teamwork.

STAFF help anchor the campus in a larger community, while supporting the entire endeavor with empathy and expertise.

A campus is a complex ecosystem, a microcosm, offering a beautiful, brief period of time to grow, stabilize, strengthen, fail, and learn to learn. Students flow through and look back, drawing on their experience in college throughout their lives. They learn, while they are learning, how to develop a self, how to take care of that self, and how to care for others in their campus community.

Change, as Rev. Michael Carter ’12 reminds us on page 36, is inevitable. Since change is a given—we cannot know what changes the future will bring in careers, mortgages, health, etc.—doesn’t it make sense to champion a liberal arts education that reaches back into the past to recognize patterns in human behavior while building the ability to forge new paths in unfamiliar landscapes?

Yes.

Photo

Jerry Swope

On page 24, you’ll learn about how these paths are forged through faculty-student research. On page 46, you’ll follow the exciting growth in opportunities for global engagement, and the tremendous increase in Fulbright and Freeman awards won by St. Mike’s students for postgraduate study and international internships.

The opportunities offered by the Boucher Career Education Center, and the many ways career education is woven into academic programming, give students tools for lifelong economic wellness. Every first-year takes a and some of the themes of purposeful learning continue on into the Junior Seminar course. These are forums for both soul- and careerbuilding.

Kathy Butts ’89, director of counseling at St. Mike’s, works at the intersection of change and wellness. Thinking about change and wellness, she evokes the Buddhist belief that suffering comes from resistance to change. Much of her work with students involves helping them o notice, accept, embrace, find, and create change in their lives, rather than resisting it.

take back control of time. Once this is mastered, it’s easier to make conscious choices.

It’s a great source of pleasure for Butts to watch St. Mike’s students develop these skills, increasing their resilience over their college years. “There are so many faculty and staff here to support them.

Since change is a given, we cannot know what changes the future will bring in careers, mortgages, health, etc.

not here to protect them from their lives but rather to guide them in developing the skills they need to navigate whatever is going on in their lives.” Butts notes the changes in parenting from generation to generation: the “benign neglect” of parents when her generation were kids, with its pros and cons, and the much written about present-day over-parenting that can prevent students from navigating change and making decisions. The small size of St. Mike’s gives parents the opportunity to step back and let go, knowing that their young adults are in a caring community that can share the joys and challenges of guiding young adults in an increasingly unpredictable world.

“These students,” she says, “are learning how to be really good thinkers.”

But technology, for all its many benefits, can make change come at a faster pace. It’s important to learn how to breathe and slow down, to

We notice how they are doing on so many levels—it is truly an extension of the family.” But, she assures a listener, “we’re not trying to save them. The goal is to help students face the reality of their lives.”

One way this is done is through the campus CARE Team, a group of faculty and staff who meet weekly to collaborate on the best ways to support individual students who are struggling in one way or another. Again, she emphasizes “we are

We’ve stopped regarding thinking as a foundational skill, because so many of our devices do it for us. But in the first universities practicing the liberal arts in Europe in 1200, students had to learn how to think independently before they could accumulate intellectual information or learn specific skills. Thinking independently allowed students to develop values and goals and a vision for the future that would help them stay steady, true to themselves, in the midst of inevitable changes.

BY ISABELLA PAREDES

MENDOZA ‘24

Our Journey Toward W

hen I was doing research for my senior seminar project on language access and justice last fall, the name Omara RiveraVázquez came up often. I would hear about her efforts

But what is DEI? DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. These three words represent a set of beliefs but also an organizational framework that acknowledges several disparities in our society when it comes to opportunities. They express a willingness to work toward an environment that is more welcoming and embracing of all, creating a space where everyone can thrive.

When I asked Rivera-Vázquez what DEI meant to her in the context of the Center for Equity and Justice, she explained that “in keeping with the mission of Saint Michael’s College, the center organizes conferences, seminars, lectures, and community convenings that bring together experts, staff, faculty, students, and community members with diverse interests and backgrounds.” For Rivera-Vázquez, the center acts as a bridge between students, faculty, and staff, recognizing the dignity of all persons and welcoming and affirming people’s efforts to be their whole selves.

Rivera-Vázquez’s work has an intersectional focus on equity and justice, with special prominence given to racial equity. During the 32nd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation in January, she conducted a listening session. Her goal was to ensure that she heard a diverse pool of voices from Saint Michael’s. “This session helped me understand both the strengths and the growth opportunities when it comes

Omara Rivera-Vázquez

Photos by Jerry Swope

Collective Liberation

to centering the experiences and needs of historically underrepresented and marginalized identities at our college,” Rivera-Vázquez said.

Rivera-Vázquez has a strong vision for the future of Saint Michael’s and DEI. In listening to a wide range of students, faculty, and staff, Rivera-Vázquez noticed that the most prevalent theme in her conversations was the desire to develop a clear call to action on naming and pursuing solutions to equity issues. “The center now has a steering committee, and we are working to form a student advisory,” Rivera-Vázquez said. The next step for the center is to co-create a strategic plan from the listening session findings. For DEI work to be powerful, we need the whole community to be active participants. “We will continue working hard toward advancing this vision while elevating our work toward collective liberation!” Rivera-Vázquez said.

“The importance of inclusion, treating all people equally and with dignity … these are elements DEI stands for, and so do Catholic values.”

Although the terms might be new and unfamiliar to some, the values of DEI have always been part of Saint Michael’s. At the core of the Edmundite Catholic mission lies the belief that experiencing new perspectives, cultures, traditions, and ideas helps us become fuller and more compassionate people. Rev. David Theroux, SSE, instructor in the religious studies department, director of the Edmundite Center for Faith and Culture, and director of the Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, sees how the principles involved in DEI reflect the social justice principles the Society of St. Edmund follows. “The importance of inclusion, treating all people equally and with dignity … these are elements DEI stands for, and so do Catholic values.” For Fr. Theroux, efforts need to go beyond the spaces on campus dedicated to students of diverse identities and instead involve the whole Saint Michael’s community. We need everyone to participate.

As I prepare to leave Saint Michael’s, I look back on my years on campus and reflect on the progress made. As a Latin American student leader, I am grateful to all the people working to make this community a more embracing place for all. I leave hopeful and eager to see more of Rivera-Vázquez’s work with the Center of Equity and Justice, leading us toward a true “beloved

Isabella Paredes Mendoza ’24

community.” Most importantly, I leave hoping for every single person in our Saint Michael’s community, whether student, faculty, or staff member, to play a role in our journey toward collective liberation.

Building Community

IN THE FACE OF CHANGE

BY ARIEL WISH ‘20

Photos: Contributed

Griffin-Carty ’09, Project Manager of Global Events for the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, France.

Saint Michael’s College is known for its close-knit community, which not only draws prospective students to campus, but allows current students and graduates to understand the value of connecting with their environment and the people around them. St. Mike’s alumni are often found taking risks and forming vibrant communities despite the uncertainties of post-graduate life. Alumna Julie Griffin-Carty ’09, who currently lives in Paris, France, and Ryan Woods ’06 of Boston have both found themselves at home within their communities, though they faced some challenges to get there.

“There’s a limited amount of time on this earth, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to live somewhere completely different,” says Griffin-Carty, who arrived in Paris in July 2022 with little knowledge of the language, no job, no apartment, and a slew of Airbnb reservations lined up. Although it took a while to settle into her surroundings, she knew that it wouldn’t be long before things fell into place.

Griffin-Carty is no stranger to the impact of community involvement. During her years at St. Mike’s, she was a cofounder of the Celtic Knights, an Orientation leader, a member of LEAP, a student council vice president, and more. She drew

on these same principles of leadership and engagement to jump-start her life abroad, and soon secured a job at the International Chamber of Commerce through a friend she made at a volunteer opportunity. She’s currently the organization’s project manager, and organizes and hosts the International Mediation Competition, an annual event for college students studying mediation and advocacy.

Griffin-Carty still faces challenges as a foreigner, but she’s taking it all in stride. “Every day I look around and I’m still shocked that I’m in another country!” She reflects that the life she has abroad is all thanks to connections she’s formed.

“You never know who you’re going to meet,” she says.

Much closer to the Saint Michael’s campus, Ryan Woods proudly serves as the parks commissioner for the City of Boston, where he oversees 300+ parks, playgrounds, cemeteries, and golf courses, with a staff of approximately 275. Although his career at the Parks Department began at age 15 teaching young children how to play baseball, he assumed his current position in 2019. “Within nine months of my appointment COVID-19 hit, which made things interesting—I quickly learned how to adapt to ever-changing public health guidance,” Woods says.

Julie

He adapted very well to the circumstances and continues to make lasting changes to benefit his community. “Some of my proudest moments in this position were and are unveiling the MLK Embrace statue on Boston Common, cochairing the restoration of the Robert Gould Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial, working with a team to create action plans for Boston Common and Franklin Park, expanding our urban forestry division, cutting ribbons on over 30 newly renovated parks, and creating fun experiences in parks for all Boston’s residents and visitors,” says Woods.

Both Woods and Griffin-Carty believe that learning the importance of community during their time at St. Mike’s was an integral part of their success, and they invite current students and fellow alumni to draw on their Saint Michael’s roots as they navigate life post

graduation. “Just because we may not have all graduated at the same time doesn’t mean we’re not family,” says Griffin-Carty.

“Just because we may not have all graduated at the same time doesn’t mean we’re not family.”

Ryan Woods ’06, Boston’s Parks and Recreation Commissioner.

The Best Job in

ST. MIKE’S ALUMNA TINA FRIML ’16 TALKS ABOUT HER DEBUT ON THE TONIGHT SHOW

BY CAT CUTILLO

Photo courtesy Jim McCambridge

Tina Friml ’16 just reached another pinnacle. Last fall, the comedian performed on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, unleashing six minutes of standup that captured her life as a disabled person, her Vermont roots, and her childhood love of the rapper Drake’s role on the television show Degrassi

“You never feel 100 percent ready,” Friml said in a phone interview about the milestone. “It was one of

those moments where you climb over a mountain, and you look back and say ‘I just did that. Somehow, I made it.’

“I always call it the Olympic Moment. You’ve prepared many, many hours for these five minutes,” Friml said.

In the moments before she appeared on the Tonight Show, Friml said, “I kept on thinking ‘I’ve done this before.’… even though it feels like I haven’t.”

As Friml retraced her steps to explain how she landed on that stage, there was still disbelief in her voice.

“It’s a story that I’ll be telling for the rest of my life,” she said.

Friml’s parents were visiting her in Manhattan to cheer her up after a rough week. Friml treated them to a show at the Comedy Cellar, where she was performing, when Jimmy Fallon just happened to sit down next to her before she went on stage. Friml and Fallon had a lot in common, she learned.

“It’s pretty wild having to say to Jimmy Fallon, ‘I’m so sorry. I have to go up on stage now’ and he [says], ‘go kill it!’” Friml recalled.

After her set, Fallon gave her a big hug. Later that night, she watched as Fallon and Chris Rock got on stage too. The next day, Fallon name-dropped Friml on his show, and two weeks later, she was standing on his stage delivering her act.

From the Tonight Show stage, she deadpanned, “I get that I’m unconventional. I’m disabled, but I’m not totally committed to the lifestyle. A lot of people, when they see me, they

think I suffer from cerebral palsy, which I don’t. I have cerebral palsy. I suffer from people.”

The Tonight Show audience erupted with laughter and applause. Backstage, Friml had her entourage, which included her mom and dad and her Saint Michael’s first-year college roommate, Madeleine Caron ’16, with whom Friml is still close.

Growing up in New Haven, Vermont, Friml said she lived in theater rehearsals as a kid “sitting on a blanket in the corner eating pizza” while both her parents worked in the theater industry. Her mom was the box office manager for the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, and both her parents have been active in the Opera Company of Middlebury designing their sets.

But, Friml said, “Comedy was never on my radar. Until it was.”

At Saint Michael’s, she was a Media Studies, Journalism, and Digital Arts major (the program is now called Digital Media and Communications).

Jimmy Fallon and Tina Friml share a laugh during her appearance on the Tonight Show.

Photo by Todd Owyoung/NBC

the World

“I value the education that I got at St. Mike’s in journalism and in media,” Friml said. “I talk about how in journalism the economy of words is such a big aspect, and that’s the same for jokes. How can you get a big point across in minimal words and make it clear?”

Friml said the seeds to her comedic success were planted during her senior year, when she developed a love for British comedy.

“I remember watching it and thinking that making people laugh and getting paid for it is the best job in the world,” Friml said.

Friml came back to Saint Michael’s last September to perform on campus for students during Pride Week, which included disability pride. Taylor Galgay ’24 said watching Friml perform was an unforgettable moment. Galgay said she

grew up with severe scoliosis, hearing impairment, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

“When Tina was performing, her bits deeply resonated with me. It felt like I was being seen, and like my experiences were being heard,” Galgay wrote in an email.

Friml said before trying comedy, she tried other avenues like writing to share her stories, but they didn’t sit right with her.

“It was received as tragedy, and I always say, I’m not a tragedy. I’m just me,” Friml said. “Comedy really was the outlet to be able to speak some of my experience out loud and have people actually listen.”

To read full story go to smcvt.edu/magazine

“It’s a story that I’ll be telling for the rest of my life.”

Kate

BY SUSAN SALTER REYNOLDS

“I’m purple and gold inside and out,” says Kate Soons, whose father, son, and husband are also Saint Michael’s alumni.

This is a woman you want close by in a crisis: Saint Michael’s College Fire and Rescue Alumna of the Year 2013 and 2023, Vermont EMS Educator of the Year 2016, Vermont EMS for Children Champion 2019 and 2021, University of Vermont Medical Center Trauma Service Community Champion 2019, Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society inductee 2019, Colchester Rescue Squad Life Member 2020. But even this fiercely committed, ferociously capable person has had her share of change and what Soons calls “refocusing.”

“I’m naturally positive,” she admits, “but I choose joy.” In the last five years, Soons has faced brain surgery and breast cancer. And these challenges have only made her stronger. Values that she shares with the Edmundites, including service to others and commitment to educating others, are an integral source of that strength.

Soons has come a long way since she began helping out in her father’s eyecare office when she was 15 years old. After getting her B.A. in Psychology at St. Mike’s, Soons earned an M.S. in nursing education from Excelsior College in Albany; critical care certifications for adults and children; emergency medical services certificates for areas as varied as emergency vehicle operation, advanced cardiac life support, and pediatric advanced life support; and certification for intraoperative neurophysiologic

Photo by Jerry Swope

Soons ’92

DIRECTOR, HEALTH SCIENCES; INSTRUCTOR, BIOLOGY; PEOPLE PERSON

monitoring, to name a few. In other words, she has not stopped learning, volunteering, and sharing her expertise.

Her early “aha” moment came when, as a first-year student, second semester, she took an advanced first aid class at Fire and Rescue. “I was hooked,” she says. Soons stayed over that summer, volunteering hundreds of hours to learn how to provide emergency medical care for the sick and injured. Saint Michael’s College Fire and Rescue launched a decadeslong career in EMS for Soons. She has served as both an educator and leader for the Vermont EMS system since the early 1990s. She regularly travels around the state to teach at local services and work on pediatric emergency preparedness.

“I’m a people person,” she says. Soons has long been fascinated with psychology, physiology, and the brain. She began working at the University of Vermont Medical Center in 1992 in the Vermont Poison Center and moved on to the clinical neurophysiology lab. Her tool kit of skills grew, including managing poison exposures, doing orthopedic splinting, practicing electroencephalography, and on and on. She wants current St. Mike’s students to have opportunities to experience the same kind of growth and curiosity.

And the need is there for them to do so. There is increasing demand for professionals with training in emergency management and disaster preparedness. Demand for healthcare has increased with life span and chronic disease, and healthcare workers are aging out—or burning out. How best to prepare students for all these changes?

This year, on July 1, Soons will become the director of the Health Sciences program at Saint Michael’s College. There are many opportunities in healthcare, and Soons hopes to give St. Mike’s students a full range of options by exposing them to different settings through internships and job shadowing. The courses Soons currently teaches lead to many forms of licensure, including the emergency medical technician (EMT), advanced EMT, and licensed nursing assistant (LNA) licenses. These practical skills, when combined with the

fundamental critical problem-solving skills embedded throughout the liberal arts curriculum, give students many choices. Collaborating across campus, she’s working with departments and centers to inspire students to become agents of change.

“Our community extends way beyond campus,” she says proudly. “We’d all like to see an increased accessibility to healthcare, and we can become a leader in our region.” On campus, Soons hopes to strengthen the alumni healthcare network and develop an Emergency Services minor. “We have a fantastic Health Sciences major. I am looking forward to building out more opportunities for students,” she adds.

And she’s not done learning, either. On the horizon: an M.A. in Public Health. “It’s my liberal arts background,” she says, “that gives me a sense of awareness of the world I work in.”

“Our community extends way beyond campus. We’d all like to see an increased accessibility to healthcare, and we can become a leader in our region.”

Learning by Doing

BY CAT CUTILLO

Photos by Cat Cutillo

Faculty–student collaboration is at the heart of a Saint Michael’s College education. All across campus, grantfunded research projects take on big issues and provide win–win experiences for faculty and students. Angela Irvine has been the director of sponsored programs and foundation relations at Saint Michael’s for more than two decades. Irvine serves as the conduit for all grant applications that range from research to projects. The funding Irvine helps secure includes federal and private grants as well as collaborative proposals. Irvine said helping to secure funding for research at Saint Michael’s is personally rewarding for her.

“They’re teaching cuttingedge information to undergraduate students,” Irvine said. “Their research has been funded and recognized. They’re bringing that into the classrooms because our faculty are professors first.”

Clay Williams ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE

Clay Williams has been working with Saint Michael’s students for several years to help them design their own low-cost algal and cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae) water quality sensors alongside two teams at the University of Vermont. The group has created something they call the Clarity sensor system. In March, the assistant professor of environmental science helped secure funding for a $25,000 one-year grant from the Vermont-based Lintilhac Foundation. “We’re finally at the point where we have our sensors performing really well in the laboratory. The idea behind it is that we can set these out on swimming beaches,” Williams said.

Williams is collaborating with Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront to deploy five sensors into the water in May and monitor for algae blooms along Burlington’s

shoreline through November. The sensors will be deployed at Leddy Beach, North Beach, Blodgett Beach near the Burlington Surf Club, Oakledge’s Blanchard Beach, and in the waters near the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. Williams said algae and cyanobacteria overgrowth and blooms have increased in intensity and frequency since the industrial and agricultural revolutions, and they have substantial negative economic, recreational, public health, and environmental impacts.

Commercial sensors could cost up to $20,000, whereas the sensors the Saint Michael’s and UVM teams are creating cost $375. Currently, beaches in Burlington are being monitored for cyanobacteria by City employees and volunteers who watch the beaches for visible signs of blooms that would trigger a beach closure. Williams is hoping the new sensors will help collect data before the algae blooms are visible and during off-times, such as at night.

The ultimate aim is to reduce public exposure. “The sensor has a better sensitivity than our eyes do looking for these things. We’re hoping it might give us an earlier detection, or at least more information about what’s causing the blooms, so there could be better ways to stop the blooms in the future,” Williams said.

The recent funding follows prior research and grant funding Williams and his collaborators at UVM received from the United States Geological Survey through the Vermont Water Resources and Lake Studies Center. The earlier funding allowed Saint Michael’s and UVM to pilot the creation of the sensors in the lab and test functionality. This new funding allows Williams and his students to use the sensors in the field. “The students are contributing to a long-term research program for me here. They’re doing things that set up the next opportunity,” Williams said. “Eventually, we can put that material together to tell a better story, to really use it as smaller pieces of a larger vision.”

Lyndsay Avery ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY

Lyndsay Avery is credited with bringing tissue culture to campus by creating a facility that is present at only at three other institutes of higher learning in Vermont. Avery is investigating the human immune system with her students and was awarded a one-year exploratory grant from the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN) in 2023 for $10,000 to generate pilot data. “It’s a [stepping-stone] to bigger grants,” Avery said. “Hopefully, we’ll get some preliminary data that we can use to apply for more funding.”

The assistant professor of biology is an immunologist and a cell biologist who joined St. Mike’s in 2021 and works primarily on T cells. Avery explained that immune cells must be able to migrate all over our body to cure infection. “We saw a single mutation from patients that were having a severe immunodeficiency, and those T cells didn’t seem to be able to migrate well,” Avery said. She explained the mutation is in one protein called Moesin. “My students all have a piece of this project. They are trying to understand how this mutation is affecting some cell biological process,” Avery said.

Avery and her students are investigating whether the mutation affects the development and function of these T cells in the patients with the single mutation. She is working with six research students this semester. Half of the students worked with Avery during the fall semester too, and half are new this spring. She’s paired them together

so they can train each other. Avery said the peer mentoring model “breaks down some of the barriers that students have in science” to ask questions.

Lily Sabol ’24 is one of Avery’s lead research students and has been accepted to multiple Ph.D. programs. Sabol will be presenting the group’s work at the Academic Symposium at Saint Michael’s, and in June Avery and Sabol will travel to Washington, D.C., to present at the National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence (NISBRE). “Getting research experience for students is critical, I think, in undergraduate [education]. It absolutely changed my life and what I ended up doing for a career,” Avery said. “If they can get involved early … really dive deep into something, explore and learn, and see something for the first time. … This isn’t in textbooks because we don’t know the answer. We have to find the answer.”

Avery estimated that since she began in 2021, with the help of grants, alumni donors, and the College, Saint Michael’s has added $300,000 to $400,000 worth of new equipment, including incubators and centrifuges. She noted that the department even got a brand-new flow cytometer recently. “The students are the center of this work,” Avery said. “They have new ideas all the time, and I just love to harness their thoughts. I enjoy this so much.”

Mark Lubkowitz PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY

Professor of Biology Mark Lubkowitz was awarded the 2024 Maize Genetics Leadership Award at March’s Maize Genetics Meeting in North Carolina for his collaboration with students to conduct grant-funded research about leaf angle in corn.

Six hundred scientists from all over the world participate in the conference each year. Most of the colleges and universities in attendance are R1 (meaning they have a very high level of research activity) doctoral universities or land-grant institutions. Saint Michael’s is one of very few small liberal arts colleges in attendance each year. Lubkowitz said he can recall only one other person from a small liberal arts college “speaking at this meeting this century.”

Lubkowitz started attending the conference in 1998 and has taken students 75 percent of the time, totaling 30 students over three decades.

This year, Lubkowitz brought Brandon Boris ’24, Emilie Hoffmann ’24, and Kaitlyn Koutsoufis ’24. The trio presented a poster that illustrated the research they had conducted about leaf angle over the summer and how

they had identified four switches that contribute to controlling leaf angle.

“Their work was validated by global scientists,” Lubkowitz said. “My students were definitely in the limelight. Out of 600 people, there were probably 12 undergraduates there.”

In 2022, Lubkowitz and Valerie Bang-Jensen of the Education Department were awarded a four-year grant for “Genome-Wide Dissection of Leaf Angle Variation Across the Canopy in Maize,” funded through the National Science Foundation as part of the Plant Genome Research Program. The grant runs through 2026 and is a collaborative effort between scientists at Iowa State University, the University of Missouri, Cornell University, and Saint Michael’s College. A total of $2.5 million was awarded for the grant, with $284,000 going to Saint Michael’s.

Lubkowitz and his students have been working on research to manipulate leaf angle so that growers can maximize photosynthesis and minimize competition between plants. The first step is to identify the genes that control leaf angle. “The leaves shade each other,” Lubkowitz explained. “If you change the leaf angle, you’ll get more photosynthesis. If you get more photosynthesis, you get more yield. You get more crop per unit acre. That lowers the cost of food. That lowers the environmental cost of growing food.”

Lubkowitz spoke at the conference and shared his research. He also highlighted how he’s integrated part of his research into his classroom by appointing some students to be researchers in his lab, where he works with them four days a week. “If you learn science by doing science, we’ve created this mechanism by which two-thirds of our students in a given

semester are doing a research-based curriculum. They’re working on a faculty member’s research project and, hence, learning science by doing science,” Lubkowitz explained.

Boris, who attended the Maize Genetics Meeting this year, has been working in what students affectionately call “The Lub Lab” since last summer. “I believe I played a critical role with my participation in the lab and truly am blessed to be able to be a part of something so amazing,” Boris said. He said being able to work closely with Lubkowitz on his faculty-led research project has been life changing. “I could go on about that man for hours. He makes it fun. I don’t think I would have fallen in love with lab and corn if it wasn’t for him,” Boris said. “He’s one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met.”

Nicole L. Podnecky

Nicole Podnecky never would have guessed working on her high school science fair project would be one of the most formative points in her life. Her project on antibiotic resistance was so convincing, however, that her aunt stopped using antibacterial soap. What’s more, it led Podnecky into an entire career studying antibiotic resistance, which she calls “one of the biggest pressing health issues in the world today.” Podnecky has been an assistant professor of biology in the Public Health Department at Saint Michael’s since 2020. She was awarded $10,000 last year in grant funding from the VBRN to support research on pseudomonas work. Pseudomonas can cause a variety of infections including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and wound infections.

Some of the grant funding has enabled Podnecky to collaborate with student researchers, with the intent of publishing scientific journals that the students will be coauthors on. “A lot of people don’t leave undergraduate [education] with opportunities to publish,” Podnecky said. She explained that larger universities have graduate students and post-doctoral students already filling research positions that allow for opportunities to publish in scientific journals. At a smaller school like St. Mike’s, there are more opportunities for undergraduates. “We work side by side and train the

students to be significant contributors to the research,” Podnecky said. “It’s huge for an undergraduate.”

Last fall, Podnecky began teaching a Biology Communication course, which is required for sophomore Biology majors. In the class, the students learn how to read, write, and organize scientific writing. Podnecky helped them design an experiment testing different fruit juices to see if they had benefits in treating urinary tract infections. The 12 students explored whether the different juices would kill E. coli on a petri plate. They found that cranberry juice has good enhancing effects when it is consumed by a person also taking antibiotics. “When we start doing research, we don’t know what to expect. There’s this excitement,” Podnecky said of her students. “I think sharing that excitement early in their careers is so important to set the stage.”

Podnecky is hoping to publish her class’s findings in a scientific journal this summer that all 12 students will be coauthors on. Podnecky said she hopes the experience of being research assistants and coauthors might inspire some of her undergraduate students to consider careers on the research side. “Now we can get all these students involved in research early in their careers,” Podnecky said. “I hope they find it fun to become experts in this tiny piece of the puzzle.”

Wellness: Spreading the Word

BRIDGETTE AKINS, COORDINATOR OF WELLNESS OUTREACH AND EDUCATION

BY SUSAN SALTER REYNOLDS

Photo by Jerry Swope

“I am a woman who takes pride in her southern roots and northern boots.”

So begins my conversation with Bridgette Akins. If wellness is contagious (and it probably is), then Akins is actively spreading it. From Tennessee to North Carolina, to New York, to Vermont, she has worked with families, children, students, faculty, and staff in a wide variety of contexts, campuses, and institutions. At Saint

Michael’s, Bridgette started with a wellness survey in 2021, then built an outreach structure around the results and her experiences. She’s created a web of student wellness ambassadors, and, with colleagues across campus and in the Bergeron Wellness Center, a slate of activities, workshops, events, speakers, programs, and opportunities for students to “check in.”

“It all begins with a question,” Akins explains. “Do you want to make any changes?” And, she reminds me, “the only constant is change.” But you have to feel ready. Giving students agency, a feeling of control to make

wellness workshop.

decisions without judgment, is key in this process. Because out there beyond campus, they are steering the ship. “How do we learn from the past and lay the groundwork for the future?” she asks. “How can we support each other in times of change?”

Preparing students for the inevitable pivots is critical. Akins speaks from her own experiences that have fostered personal reflection and growth. Some personal pivot points:

• In 2007, Akins married her husband and moved to North Carolina.

• In 2017, she, her husband, and their two kids moved to New York.

• In 2019, Akins ran a half marathon.

• In 2020, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. (“I used a lot of my own coaching strategies” to deal with it.)

• In 2021, she came to St. Mike’s.

How does she measure the success of her programs? Throughout this academic year, 270 students completed the wellness survey, with 116 engaging in reflection and brief intervention. In the past three years, over 1200 students have completed the survey. The data is also promising; more than 800 students, some repeats, took part in wellness activities this year. But it’s not just about numbers, she reminds us.

The goal? A community that is engaged, reflective, supported, supportive, and confident enough to create change.

Bridgette Akins leading a

Rosemary Beaupre

BY SUSAN SALTER REYNOLDS

“HiRosemary,” “Hi,” “Hi Rose,” students greet Rosemary Beaupre as they file into the cafeteria for lunch. One tall athlete waits, tapping his knight card against his wrist, while she talks with a visitor. “It’s OK,” she says, “Max isn’t starving.” A young woman confesses she has only two meals left on her card. “Don’t worry,” Beaupre assures her, “that’ll get you through exams this week.” In order to talk a bit during her break, Beaupre has to leave the cafeteria. “Otherwise,” she explains, “they’d all want to talk to me!”

For the past 21 years, Beaupre has worked in the cafeteria. She knows most of the students’ names, and even remembers the names of returning alumni. Even when she tries to look fierce, she has kind eyes, a constant smile, and a neat, nononsense appearance.

The last of six children, Beaupre was born in Burlington in 1960 and grew up in Milton, Vermont, with an older sister and four brothers. Her father’s mother’s name was Rose, and her mother’s mother’s name was Mary. “My mother kept us warm and clothed and she never let us go hungry. Visitors were always welcome, even if it meant [serving] toast and peanut butter, or adding a little extra water to the soup.” Her father would fish, the family had a garden and chickens, and Beaupre’s grandmother lived next door.

After many years working in retail, she answered an ad to work at St. Mike’s. First impression? “So many kids, so many personalities,” she laughs. “I never wanted to work during graduation because I didn’t

want to say goodbye.” She has many fond memories, of students, the Edmundites, faculty, and coaches. Former hockey coach Lou DiMasi is a favorite—“When I first started I was a bit overwhelmed,” she recalls. “Lou kept telling me it would get better.”

Beaupre has a son, two grandchildren, and a cat named Shadow, with a white spot in the shape of a heart.

“I’m old school,” she admits, and it’s clear she can be tough if she has to be (you might get through with a forgotten knight card one day, but she won’t let you through a second time). What’s changed in her 21 years working breakfast and lunch five days a week? Beaupre feels the students are hungrier for connection. They seem to want to talk more than in the past. “I’m not here to be your second mother,” she’ll say, but she smiles when she says it.

Photo by Jerry Swope

Mission in

BY TERRI SELBY, ASSSOCIATE V.P. FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT

Photos by Jerry Swope

RUGBY CHALLENGE IS A SUCCESS!

$13,514 was gifted by 117 donors in response to the annual Rugby Challenge. This was a 43% increase in donor participation and a 52% increase in support compared to last year—congratulations to the Rugby Club and many thanks to all who contributed. The club plans to use the gifts for hiring assistant coaches, updating equipment, and offsetting travel costs.

PRESIDENT’S MEDALLION SOCIETY SEES AN INCREASE

As of March 31, Saint Michael’s College has seen a 9% increase in gifts at the Medallion Society level. The Medallion Society is the College’s annual leadership giving

society that welcomes donors at the $500 gift level for alumni less than 10 years out and at the $1,000 gift level for alumni 10 or more years out, plus parents and friends. Medallion Society gifts have an outsized impact at Saint Michael’s and benefit all areas of the College. Recent impacts include new equipment in the athletic training room, new Apple computers in the Digital Media Lab, stipends for faculty/student summer research, sponsorships for guest lecturers, scholarships, and more.

RECORD NUMBER OF PEOPLE WELCOMED INTO PRESTIGIOUS GIFT SOCIETY

Eleven people were welcomed into the prestigious Society of MontSaint-Michel. This is the highest number of people welcomed into the society since its inception in 1996. The Society of Mont-Saint-Michel recognizes individuals, companies, and foundations that have gifted $250,000 or more in support of the College. Donors are recognized for all gifts to the College, whether to the Saint Michael’s Fund, endowed or term scholarships, endowed funds, temporarily restricted funds, or capital projects. This giving society is named in honor of the famed abbey in Mont-Saint-Michel, France. The Society of Saint Edmund served as caretakers for the abbey from 1867 to

1886. Just as the Edmundites served as caretakers of the abbey, Saint Michael’s College considers members of the Society of Mont-Saint-Michel caretakers of the College.

SAINT MICHAEL’S PARENTS ARE SPECIAL

To date, 26% of current parents have made a gift to Saint Michael’s— an increase of four percentage points over last year. Thank you so much, parents of students! That you support St. Mike’s in addition to your other financial obligations is truly appreciated. The national average of parent participation for colleges and universities is 16%.

RENOVATIONS STARTED ON KELLEY SKI CENTER

Thanks to a successful campaign last summer and fall, renovations have begun to transform historic Senior Hall into the new home for the Alpine and Nordic ski teams. The grand opening is planned for Alumni and Family weekend, September 19-21st. Further details will be posted on the college website.

A fall 2023 rendering of the new Kelley Ski Center, where Alpine and Nordic ski team members can prepare for practice and competition.

Dear Saint Michael’s Community,

I am thrilled to join the Saint Michael’s College leadership team during this exciting time of transition as President Plumb lays out a new vision for the future, as enrollment is increasing, and as the school is being recognized nationally for excellence in academics and athletics.

Nothing can eclipse my first day, April 8, on the quad cheering with students and faculty while witnessing the full solar eclipse in one of the best places to view this celestial event that will not occur again in the country until 2044.

I have been fortunate to encounter many Saint Michael’s alumni in my

20-year career in Vermont. Whether I was working at the COTS Walk, volunteering at the food shelf, or serving on the board of the United Way, there was always a Saint Michael’s graduate lending a hand. I think it is the Edmundite tradition of service leadership that alumni embody in the workplace and in the community that makes the school so special.

Recently, a parent of a student told me, “I have three children who all went to different colleges, and I can tell you that Saint Michael’s really cares about each student—it’s not just a slogan. Professors actually know my child’s name and ask how he’s doing. I was so relieved, especially during the pandemic, to know that people were looking out for him. That was not the case for my other children.”

I think it is that sense of belonging, that sense of community, that makes all the difference in the lives of students who attend Saint Michael’s and why so many still feel connected to the College many years later.

In my most recent role as executive director of the Vermont Catholic Community Foundation, I helped establish the first Catholic community foundation in the state and raised $23 million to create funds that support school scholarships, charitable causes, and ministries. I understand how important it is to build a strong foundation for the future by growing endowments that allow individuals to leave a legacy that will support students today and tomorrow. I am eager to help Saint Michael’s increase endowments as well as engage more alumni in the annual

appeal, which is vital for the daily operations of the College’s academic, athletic, and community service programs.

I have learned that people support what they love, and it is obvious to me that there is great love for Saint Michael’s College from staff, students, parents, and alumni. I look forward to getting to know you and learning why you love Saint Michael’s College.

With gratitude,

Ellen Kane V.P., Institutional Advancement

The Nation Needs More Saint Michael’s Graduates

Along and loyal donor, Gary Farrell ‘63 recently reflected on his lifetime connection with Saint Michael’s and philanthropy.

“I attended Cathedral grammar and high schools in Burlington. I used to follow the Saint Michael’s basketball team’s success; it was my favorite sport in high school. And so, Saint Michael’s was the natural choice for me. I was a ‘townie’ living at home in Burlington but really enjoyed the welcoming attitude of my classmates. I became involved in campus activities by joining the ‘Crown & Sword’ Society, which was a service group for many activities on campus and enabled me to meet many classmates who became lifelong friends.”

Gary recalls his time as a St. Michael’s student to be very comfortable, with respect for each other at the forefront.

“Egos, if there were any, were left at home, even among our sports ‘stars.’ There was no rancor or disrupted activities on campus. The Edmundite DNA of respect and kindness to all was ever present, even though not explicitly promoted.”

Gary fondly remembered several professors, George Fortune and Joseph Amrhein in the Business Department, to be among his two favorites while a student. “My fondest memories of my St. Mike’s education are focused around the many new friends I met, in addition to the open and friendly relationships with our teachers.”

The supportive and warm environment at St. Mike’s has changed very little since Gary’s time as a student.

“I have several friends who attended larger colleges and universities but did not seem to develop many lifelong friendships as I did and still are centered on their high school friends. Also, St. Mike’s feels more like a community environment, which really supports the process of developing new relationships. Further, the significant volunteering initiatives at St. Mike’s prepare a student for becoming a good citizen with good values post-graduation. I am still close to my St. Mike’s friends and classmates because they and their spouses have become friends of my wife Jane as well.”

Gary and Jane still stay engaged and involved with St. Mike’s, they say, because of all the relationships they’ve developed with the community.

“It’s apparent to us that St. Mike’s provides a healthy environment for a student to learn academics, good principles, and moral values for life. It seems obvious that our society needs more graduates possessing these attributes. Jane and I want to help provide the opportunity for more applicants to attend St. Mike’s to become our new leaders. We think the nation needs more graduates from schools like St. Mike’s that nurture good moral values and principles and provide the liberal arts education that develops the mind to think independently and provide sorely needed leadership.”

Terri Selby Associate V.P. for Institutional Advancement

tselby@smcvt.edu 802.654.2462 smcvt.edu/leadership

Major gift donors like Gary ’63 and Jane Farrell help provide students opportunities to do well and do good after graduation. Please reach out to learn more on how you can join them and other Medallion Society members who make impactful gifts to Saint Michael’s College.

Gary Farrell ’63 with his wife Jane.

Helping Students Imagine Life After Graduation

ALUMNI PAY IT FORWARD AT THE ANNUAL CAREER SYMPOSIUM

BY STEPHANIE SNELL, DIRECTOR FOR ALUMNI AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT Photos by

Burt ’26

ince its start in 2009, the Saint Michael’s College Career Symposium has been a signature annual event at the College, cohosted by the St. Mike’s Alumni Board of Directors (ABOD) and the Institutional Advancement and Henry “Bud” Boucher Career Education Center (BCEC) teams. Traditionally held in the fall, the symposium this year was moved to the spring—on March 22—to better match students’ mindsets as they start thinking about life after college, summer internships, first jobs, and their future.

The year’s March symposium welcomed all students—even first-year—to join the conversation, in hopes of engaging students in career conversations early on in their college career.

The symposium featured expanded panel topics, moving away from discussions organized by major to broader, more inclusive areas of discussion. Panels included:

DOING WELL & DOING GOOD

How do you find a job that gives personal and professional purpose?

Meghan Feenan ’19, M’20

Juana Lopez ’22

Benjamin Mitchell ’12

Jody Vaillancourt ’89

Emma Woodruff ’18

ALTERNATIVE, ENTREPRENEURIAL & FREELANCE

Not all career paths are “typical” or linear. Discuss entrepreneurial or gig career, and discover alternative paths to success.

Brenda Kelley Kim ’86

Bill Langlands ’74

Matt Rogers ’07

Maggie Whittemore ’17

GETTING YOUR FIRST JOB

How do you navigate finding interesting job postings?

Interviewing? Taking advantage of alumni connections? And ultimately succeeding at the job you pick?

Michael Ewan (BCEC)

Colleen Conway-Nobert ’95

Bridget McElroy ’17

Emma Salvatore ’23

EXPLORING THE LIBERAL ARTS

Learn from humanity majors about their career paths.

Kevin Harutunian ’06

Mickey O’Neill ’14

Drew Russo ’03

Sophie

GRADUATE SCHOOL: A Guide to Getting More Letters After Your Name: Need more schooling to pursue your dream career? Learn about your options after obtaining a bachelor’s, whether you’re considering master’s, law, medical, or doctorate degrees.

Richie Bernache ’16

Brian Donahue ’88

Joshua Sumner ’19

David Weiss ’15

TECHNOLOGY HORIZONS

Curious about the evolving landscape of technology? Meet with professionals in various roles within the technology sector to discuss navigating career strategies and get advice on your future.

John Costigan ’91

Julie Ho ’15

Rob Mealey ’05

Tony Rock ’15

GOING GREEN

From law, to marketing, to hands-on opportunities, explore environmentally focused career opportunities with this panel of alumni.

Maeve Power ’17

Sarah Main ’13

Andie Gemme ’16

The day began with a keynote speech from Dan “Sully” Sullivan ’87, director of sales at Rome Snowboards in Vermont. Sullivan engaged students in a fireside chat on stage in McCarthy with ABOD Vice President

Jillian Charest ’04, offering critical career insights and anecdotes.

Students then attended one of the seven panel discussions, each of which ran twice. In total, 27 alumni returned to campus to share their time and talents with students. Each panel had at least three panelists, showcasing a diversity of thought, backgrounds, and career paths among the College’s most successful Purple Knights. The number of registered students doubled from last year, and students gained a deeper appreciation for the Saint Michael’s alumni network and received valuable insights, knowledge, and connections to help launch their careers after graduation.

St. Mike’s gives its heartfelt thanks to all members of the Alumni Board of Directors for their partnership in developing panel topics and soliciting panelists. Special thanks go to ABOD symposium leaders Trevor Brown ’15 and Caitlyn Burke ’14 for spearheading this successful event. And thank you to the alumni panelists for spending the day with students.

To see more information about the Career Symposium and our alumni panelists visit smcvt.edu/careersymposium

Inner Renewal

BY REV. MICHAEL CARTER, SSE ’12

by Jerry Swope

An enduring paradox is that one of the few constants in life is change. Philosophers and poets throughout history and across cultures have meditated on the transient and unpredictable nature of life. The Judeo-Christian Biblical tradition has pondered the same paradox. The words of Psalm 90 come to mind, in which the scribe states that the years “are like a dream, like grass

that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.” Our lived experiences might follow similar patterns: periods of growth and renewal become periods of difficulty and fading, only for us to rebound and grow again. In contemporary times, these changes that people have always perceived may feel even more acute and pressing. The pace of communication, the constant development of new technology, and the ready availability of information, while making our lives and world more dynamic, can also serve to make things feel unmoored and unbalanced, and our places within the world anxious and uncertain. Finding the space and peace to ground oneself and maintain one’s own wellness in the midst of this constant change is a balance we all must strive for.

Photo

Olivier Niyonshuti ’25, leads the Responsorial Psalm from the ambo during the Palm Sunday Mass at the Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel in March.

Such pressures are even harder on young people, who are already experiencing a natural period of growth and change in their lives. Entering college has long been viewed as a major step toward maturity and independence, a crucial moment in the development from adolescence to adulthood. The change that results from the newfound freedom and the responsibility of campus life can be both liberating and frightening, and resources that help a student find purpose in the midst of upheaval can be the factors that make all the difference in their capacity to persevere and succeed throughout a time of transition.

Some students at Saint Michael’s College are able to find that grounding through wellness in the midst of change by becoming involved in the spiritual opportunities that Saint Michael’s offers as a missiondriven institution, rooted in the values of Edmundite spirituality. Saint Paul writes in the Christian scriptures that “we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is changing, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

Activities of spiritual practice that Saint Michael’s sponsors through its office of Edmundite Campus Ministry

help students find that inner renewal within the changes of college life. Kathleen Dean ’26 says that her involvement with Campus Ministry provides a foundation for her day-to-day activities and perspective on life. “This was particularly true my first semester at St. Mike’s,” Dean continues. “I was thrown into an array of unknowns. I quickly discovered that Campus Ministry offers a positive connective thread for my experiences.” Through the community and spiritual opportunities offered by Saint Michael’s, Dean has found a deeper purpose that helps her attain wellness during a time of change. “Amid the chaos, Campus Ministry offers a constant reminder that I am here for a greater purpose than getting good grades and playing well on the field—I am here to joyfully live my best life in the light of God’s love.”

about my experience is that I found community specifically in Campus Ministry at Saint Michael’s. I immediately felt welcomed. I am eternally grateful for the ways in which this community has impacted my faith and sense of well-being.”

In a period of intense change, Reed found wellness through the spiritual opportunities offered by Saint Michael’s: “In times of turbulence, which are inevitable, especially during the academic year, I am able to turn to God through prayer and through the people in the Campus Ministry community.”

Dean’s experience is not exclusive. Sophomore Victoria Reed, a native of Alburgh, Vermont, recalls that “coming into college as a first-year student in the fall of 2022, I knew no one and was having a difficult time adjusting to college life. … What is unique

Grounded in the spiritual dimension of things, St. Mike’s campus atmosphere has a special quality not shared by all schools. The ethos that stems from them permeates our school, help-ing to provide continuity in a world where upheaval can reign supreme. This rootedness in something larger gives our students the tools that help them understand the bigger picture, and allows them to step forward with a sense of integrity into a constantly changing world.

Nick Wracker ’26, leads the procession at the start of Palm Sunday Mass followed by Trevor Johnson ’24, at the Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel in March.

The Rev. Brian Cummings ’86, prepares to hand out palm branches during the Palm Sunday Mass at the Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel in March.

SECRETS OF SUCCESS

BY IZZY QUAM ‘25

Photos by Jim Laskarzewski ’86

“I think the secret to success is to not compare yourself to others. Seeing someone training more than you doesn’t mean you need to do the same; you have to listen to your body. Everyone’s different and is going to need to train differently to perform their best. Also, someone else’s success doesn’t take away from your own.”

TESS DRURY ’27

Cross-country.

Drury qualified for NCAAs.

“I put a lot of thought and research into the habits I practice daily, especially the ones that I am going about around the rink and in preparation to perform on the ice. These habits have allowed me to develop a consistency that is an important presence for my teammates and myself throughout the course of a season. The habits also remove potentially harmful conversations with myself that I used to battle in the past. Instead of asking myself ‘how am I feeling today?’ I can bypass that question and focus on performing well, since I already know my habits give me the best opportunity to feel 100 percent ready.”

This year, the fall and winter athletic programs at Saint Michael’s College had unprecedented success. Five athletes across the two seasons have qualified for the NCAAs, the men’s basketball team played in the NCAA D-II tournament for the first time since the 2000–01 season, and the swimming and diving teams broke numerous school records. With the teams doing well, more and more students attended games and meets, culminating in a packed gym at some of the final men’s basketball games of the regular season and even into the postseason. What’s different about this year, and what led to these accomplishments?

We reached out to athletes with this question: What is the secret to your success?

DAVID CIANCIO ’25

Men’s ice hockey. Ciancio was NE10 Defensive Player of the Year one year after earning the NE10 Elite 24 Award as the top scholar playing in the championship game.

“Personally, I don’t really think there is any ‘secret’ to success, at least in endurance sports. As long as you put in the hours with decent quality you can do well on race day. You pretty much get out of it what you put into it. However, it does get pretty monotonous after a while, so it doesn’t hurt to just make sure you have fun when training.”

HENRIK WIST ’27

Nordic skiing. Wist qualified for NCAAs.

“I would say the secret to athletic success is consistency. Consistency in putting in effort at practice, consistency in sleep and recovering, and consistent nutrition. Along with consistency is a positivity mindset, understanding that there will be bad swims at meets and bad practices but understanding that it’s part of the process. Being positive and using these as learning opportunities to become better is critical to athletic success.”

RAFAEL KOWAL ’27

Swimming. Kowal was NE10 All-Conference and set six school records.

“The secret to my success is putting in the extra work when no one is watching. Holding myself accountable is a very big part of it, since the only person that can make me better is myself. That can be taking care of my body, getting enough hours of sleep, or just fueling my body properly. The trust that I have in my teammates and coaches, and vice versa, has helped me and the team just play better because we know that we can trust each other no matter what happens.”

ALEXANDRA BÁEZ RENTAS ’25

Volleyball. NE10 All-Conference after helping her team make its first playoff appearance in 28 years.

“In my experience, the secret to success has simply been trusting the process. Believing in what our coach envisions as well as what our goals look like at the start of the season has been the biggest benefactor toward my success. During my first year, my times improved, but I certainly did not see the results that I had wanted to see at the season’s start. I did not entirely understand what practices were focusing on, nor did I believe it would be the ticket to success. Flash-forward to this year, though; I trusted my coach and exceeded my expectations for the year. It took a lot of work, practice, and mental fortitude to do this, but it certainly did pay off!”

THOMAS KANE ‘25

‘26,

“The secret to our success as the Saint Michael’s men’s basketball team is preparation. In the past years, nobody has seen such a winning team. It all started with preparation.”

DARREL YEPDO ’26

Basketball. Yepdo was NE10 AllConference and played a key role in the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance in 23 years.

“I’m not sure if I do anything secretly, but to me, it always seems that it comes down to the little things. Every outcome is based on the margins defining it. If I put in marginally better work in athletics, I will also become a little better. When you do this daily, it starts to compound, and over time this extra effort cultivates [success]. I guess what I am getting at is that you must be intentional in everything you do, and the difference lies in the small daily margins.”

SIMEN STRAND ’24

Swimming. Kane, along with Connor Quirbach

played a hand in four school records.

Alpine skiing. Strand was All-American in both slalom and giant slalom.

THE BEST PATH

BY LAUREN READ, WEBSITE CONTENT STRATEGIST JOSH WEISS ’23

Ahealthcare scare in high school could have set Josh Weiss ’23 on many different paths.

Weiss was battling health problems in high school that were affecting him both mentally and physically. A diagnosis of celiac disease—an illness caused by an immune reaction to eating gluten—when he was 16 altered his life. After studying genetics in high school, around the same time he was diagnosed, the Rochester, New York, native became fascinated with the science of his disease and how he could study it. “In that genetics class, the teacher had very passionately talked about all sorts of genetic engineering technologies that could potentially be used to cure people with genetic disorders,” Weiss said. At the same time, the standout tennis player realized that his dreams of playing college tennis would be made real at the Division II level.

Enter Saint Michael’s College. “I wasn’t originally considering St. Mike’s,” Weiss said. But men’s tennis coach Jason Hammel reached

out and immediately developed a rapport with Weiss, offering the support that he needed to manage his health while also getting to play high-level tennis. In order to stay healthy, Weiss maintains a strict gluten-free diet. St. Mike’s offered him a chance to work with the staff at Sodexo to figure out the best way to get the food he needed. “During our recruiting, I talked to all the chefs and people in the dining services trying to figure out if I could get together some type of plan,” Weiss said. They decided that Saint Michael’s would prepare his food in a separate part of the kitchen for every meal. “They are basically the reason I was able to eat a somewhat normal diet,” he said.

Weiss thrived on the court for the Purple Knights, earning Northeast 10 All-Conference First Team honors and serving as the team’s captain. He helped lead the men’s tennis program to some of its best seasons in his time at St. Mike’s, including the second semifinal appearance in program history during his senior year. “I really have to credit my coach and my teammates for just supporting me through everything,” Weiss said.

In biochemistry, he also excelled academically, winning the Roger F. Keleher ’15 Award as the top male scholar-athlete in his graduating class after earning a 3.92 GPA. He also participated in CRISPR-Cas9 research projects funded by the National Science Foundation, and interned at the University of Georgia (UGA)—all helping him earn a spot in the Ph.D. program for Integrated Life Sciences at UGA. Weiss was also able to get involved in research opportunities at the College, keeping him on the path he discovered in high school.

Weiss will continue to push his knowledge forward as he pursues his Ph.D. program in Georgia, where he is joining the biochemistry and molecular biology department to study synthetic biology and selenoproteins and how they can affect living organisms. “I was always interested in science, but I had no clue what a career in science really looked like,” Weiss said. “My advisors helped me … I really owe them everything for that.”

Unity+Resilience+S

BY JOSH KESSLER ’04, DIRECTOR OF ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

The 2023–24 season wasn’t unlike the season of 2000–01 for the Saint Michael’s College men’s basketball team. Capacity crowds in a raucous Ross Sports Center saw the Purple Knights capture a Northeast-10 (NE-10) Conference regular-season championship and qualify for the NCAA Division II Tournament both years, with their favorite team advancing as far as the Sweet 16.

However, a balanced group of talented players achieved something this March not seen in these parts since 1960: participating in an NCAA regional championship tournament on their home floor.

Photos by Cat Cutillo

upport=Big Success

during the regional semifinals on March 17.

The Saint Michael’s crowd was a sea of purple

“Playing in front of a soldout crowd and feeling the overwhelming love and support from both the St. Mike’s community and our neighbors was an unforgettable experience,” said Jacob Duniver ’25, whose Purple Knights amassed a 14-5 record in the Ross Sports Center, which didn’t exist in 1960. (The Purple and Gold played in Downtown Burlington’s Memorial Auditorium in those days.)

“We wanted to make the tournament and have success, not only for ourselves, but for the winning generations that came before us,” said Darrel Yepdo ’26. “I personally could not tell you that I would have envisioned it to be this great.”

The beginning of the 2023–24 season echoed the early stages of 2022–23, when Saint Michael’s started 6-1 before suffering

a second-half slide. As the No. 11 seed in the NE10 Championship, the Purple Knights nearly sprung a first-round upset before falling at No. 6 Le Moyne College, 77-74. “I think that loss and the last couple of games leading up to that helped to set the tone for this season,” said Duniver. “It was around that time when our team really started to understand how to play together.”

After a season-opening 60-56 loss to Bloomfield College—a fellow NCAA regionals qualifier—the Purple Knights rattled off seven straight wins. They captured their first eight NE10 affairs too, leading that competition wire to wire after placing last in a preseason coaches’ poll. Unlike the situation in the prior year, Saint Michael’s never wavered down the stretch, going 24-9 overall and 17-5 in league play.

“Playing in front of a sold-out crowd and feeling the overwhelming love and support from both the St. Mike’s community and our neighbors was an unforgettable experience.”

Nolan Marold ’27 goes up for a basket during the regional semifinals.

Fifth-year head coach Eric Eaton noticed a difference between teams early on.

“Actually, after game one, we showed a toughness to bounce back from adversity,” said Eaton, who was named the 2023–24 National Association of Basketball Coaches All-East District Coach of the Year and NE10 Coach of the Year. “There was a resilience, a belief in each other that was stronger than the year before. I think the guys carried that all season, and it was something we leaned on when we needed it.”

Duniver also felt a special team coming together when the Purple Knights won three consecutive games by a single point—an achievement unmatched in program history—between late November and early December. “What struck me most was the resilience and, most importantly, the unity required to achieve such a feat—a hallmark of

exceptional teams,” he said. “All we needed to do was maintain consistency, and I knew we had the ingredients for a truly remarkable season.”

The effect the fan support had on the team during the second-semester push will not soon be forgotten.

“Once our students got

back from the winter break, things got loud in Ross,” said Eaton. “Our students, and specifically our other student athletes, were unreal in February and March. They created a tremendous college basketball atmosphere that was electric.”

“This community is small, and I feel like that is the beauty of it,” said Yepdo. “As a player, I have a relationship with many people on this campus, and being able to see faces that I recognize while playing the game makes me enjoy the moment even more.”

Head Coach Eric Eaton reacts during the regional quarterfinals on March 16.

Right: Romar Reid ’24 has his eyes set on making a shot in the semifinals.

The Saint Michael’s men’s swimming and diving team shows up repeatedly during the men’s basketball season to support them.

Photo by Jim Laskarzewski ’86

Growing

BY CAT CUTILLO

The Freeman Foundation International Internship and the Fulbright Program are two of the most defining opportunities students can participate in through the Center for Global Engagement at Saint Michael’s College. These flagship programs are preparing students to be global change makers. Students can apply for a Freeman Intern Fellowship during college and a Fulbright Scholarship upon graduation.

“My dream is for every student at the College, regardless of major, to have experienced and taken advantage of some type of global opportunity during their time here,” says Jeffrey Ayres, director of the Center for Global Engagement and chair and professor of international relations.

Saint Michael’s is one of only 30 colleges and universities in the United States that receive a Freeman Foundation grant annually to support international internships in Asia. This spring and summer, 16 students will be interning for eight weeks in either Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, or Seoul, South Korea. The students will be placed in internships across a wide variety of organizations, institutions, and educational facilities to match their skills and interests.

Left: A collage of Freeman and Fulbright Scholars from 2023–24.

Photos: Contributed

Global Change Makers

“The Freeman International Internship program is a critical way that we’re helping students. I see it as a double high-impact opportunity,” Ayres said, adding that Freeman International Internships provide students with a deeper learning experience outside the classroom, allowing them to build both workplace skills and global competency as they intern in the private or public sector in Asia. “It’s an amazing combo of both a traditional internship and a study abroad experience.”

In addition, Saint Michael’s graduates and alumni can apply for the Fulbright Program upon graduation. The Fulbright opportunities can include working as English teaching assistants or researchers in locations around the globe. “The Fulbright Program is the most prestigious and preeminent international educational exchange program in the world,” Ayres said.

This year, Saint Michael’s was designated by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as a top-producing Fulbright institution, recognizing it as one of the colleges and universities with the highest number of students selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. This is the second time Saint Michael’s has received this recognition. For the 2023–24 academic year, four students from Saint Michael’s were selected for a Fulbright award; they are currently in programs in Mexico, Spain, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Hayley Jensen ’22 and Alexyah Dethvongsa ’22 were two of the Fulbright scholars this academic year, and they are working as English teaching assistants in Vietnam and Thailand, respectively. The duo reconnected for a weekend in Thailand earlier this year. “We talked a lot about being abroad and how much you learn about where and who you are,” Dethvongsa wrote in an email.

Patricia Siplon, professor of political science and international relations, director of public health, and director for undergraduate fellowships at Saint Michael’s, supports students and alumni who want to apply for a Fulbright award and said there is often a correlation between Freeman and Fulbright for globally minded students at the College. “The Freeman awards are becoming feeders for the Fulbright awards. At least half of our students who are semifinalists and finalists for a Fulbright award were Freemans first,” Siplon said.

Siplon herself was a Fulbright recipient twice, in Tanzania and Jordan. “They were probably the most impactful years of my life,” she said. “They deepened my understanding about some crucial, pivotal things. … It opens people’s eyes to things in a way that merely traveling doesn’t.”

Siplon is part of a five-member faculty committee at Saint Michael’s— former Fulbright scholars who help students during the application process. The other members of the committee are Ayres, Candas Pinar

(assistant professor of sociology), and Kimberly Sultze and Jon Hyde (both professors of digital media and communications).

In addition, Saint Michael’s invites graduate students on Fulbright Fellowships to come study on campus. Currently, three graduate students are studying at Saint Michael’s from Algeria, Mali, and Iraq. “Fulbright really transforms your life completely,” Chayma Bouzenag of Algeria said of the experience earning a Master of Arts Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL) at Saint Michael’s through Fulbright. “I know that once I go back home, I can be of a greater service and use to my community.”

Three Saint Michael’s students have won Fulbright awards for the 2024–25 academic year. Siplon said she believes Saint Michael’s is marching in the direction of creating a “Fulbright culture.” “I think that Fulbrighters come back with a knowledge of what they’re capable of and a knowledge of just how wide open the world is. And also an urgency to do things that they hope will have positive impacts on the world,” Siplon said. “I think being a Fulbrighter broadens who you care about. It becomes less about your role as a U.S. citizen and more about your role as a global citizen.”

The Lady of Elche

By Amanda Berenguer

Translated by Kristin Dykstra (Veliz Books)

The Lady of Elche is Kristin Dykstra’s translation of one of Amanda Berenguer’s most acclaimed collections. Berenguer descends in search of images silenced by the neofascist Uruguayan dictatorship of 1973–85, whose exercises in annihilation and complicity still impact public life today. Presented here in its first bilingual edition, the 1987 book drips with prophecy relevant to our own time.

Recovery from an Alcoholic’s Collateral Damage

By Mike Sanborn ’74 (Readers’ Magnet)

The author writes: “This is an accounting of the life my siblings and I endured at the loving hands of our alcoholic mother. We descended from being a very typical, middle class 1950s family to living in poverty as our mother’s alcoholism overpowered her and profoundly affected us. I hope so very much that I can positively influence alcoholics to understand, accept, and seek assistance to help their families.”

The Good Humor Man: Tales of Life, Laughter and, for Dessert, Ice Cream

By Jerry Zezima ’75 (Amazon Publishing Direct)

When the going gets tough, the tough eat ice cream. They also keep their sense of humor because laughter is the best medicine in a world gone mad. In this, his seventh book, nationally syndicated humorist Jerry Zezima writes about family foibles and the funny little things of everyday life. It’s the kind of stuff that millions of people can relate to. And it’s a welcome respite from all the bad things going on these days. So sit back with The Good Humor Man, open a carton of ice cream, grab a spoon, and dig in. And don’t forget the rainbow sprinkles.

FACULTY AND ALUMNI

Breathing Lessons (A Collection of Poetry)

By Susan Jefts ’84 (Barnes and Noble)

These poems journey through diverse landscapes full of their own language, music, and agency. A Japanese garden, an Adirondack peak, the view from a train along the Hudson River—in all of these places are distinct images and sensations, but also something else: a presence that feels deep and endless. Some of these poems enter that realm of true meeting and possibility, while others stay at the threshold looking in, and both are compelling places to be.

General Grant and the Verdict of History: Memoir, Memory, and the Civil War

By Frank Varney (Savas Beatie publishers)

Professor Frank Varney examines Ulysses S. Grant’s relationship with three noted Civil War generals: the brash and uncompromising “Fighting Joe” Hooker; George H. Thomas, the stellar commander who earned the sobriquet “Rock of Chickamauga”; and Gouverneur Kemble Warren, who served honorably and well in every major action of the Army of the Potomac before being relieved less than two weeks before Appomattox, and only after he had played a prominent part in the major Union victory at Five Forks.

Reflections on British Royalty: Mass-Observation and the Monarchy, 1937–2022

Edited by Jennifer J. Purcell and Fiona Courage (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Mass-Observation: Text, Context, and Analysis of the Pioneering Pamphlet and Movement

Edited by Jennifer J. Purcell (Bloomsbury Publishing)

In Reflections, Purcell and Courage curate and contextualize the rich archival materials of social research organization Mass-Observation on the British popular imagination of the monarchy and the royal family between 1937 and 2022. MassObservation reproduces the original 1937 founding pamphlet of Mass-Observation—the compelling social research project that ran for decades in the mid-20th century—with expert commentary throughout.

Speakers at the 117th Commencement of Saint Michael’s College urged the Class of 2024 to shine their light on the world around them as they leave campus and navigate what’s next. Approximately 380 students received bachelor’s and master’s degrees on May 12 from President Richard Plumb during his first ceremony as the College’s leader. Commencement speaker Dr. Ansel Augustine, D.Min., a Saint Michael’s trustee who serves with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, referenced the story of David and Goliath and implored graduates to find their own metaphorical slingshots to take on the ills of the world. “You have to remember that you are someone of importance, someone of value, someone of worth,” he said. “If God took time to make you, you have a purpose.”

See more Commencement photos at smcvt.edu/magazine

A Foundation of Service, a Legacy of Generosity

DAVE ’77 AND JEANNINE SHIVELEY

BY ANNIE ROSELLO ’94

etired Navy captain and flight surgeon Dave Shiveley ’77 spent more than 30 years caring for Naval aviators and their families. But his decades of military service were prefaced by years of community service and volunteerism, which Shiveley says started at Saint Michael’s and inspired him and his wife Jeannine to make a generous legacy gift to the College.

“I joined the Fire and Rescue squad and was immediately indoctrinated into what it was like to unselfishly come to the aid and rescue of those in need,” explains Shiveley, who spent his summers at St. Mike’s to help keep the squad manned with a skeleton crew. “We all felt this was a small sacrifice, not being with family and friends at home, in exchange for the goodwill we brought to people’s lives and the goodwill we brought to the community.” As captain of the rescue squad his senior year, Shiveley feels “no doubt the volunteer experience and life lessons that I learned at an early age— including compassion, loyalty, trust, adaptability, and faith, among others— set me up for success in the future.”

Carla

Francis Major and Planned Gift Officer

cfrancis@smcvt.edu

802.654.2618 smcvt.edu/plannedgiving

Shiveley went on to receive his medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada in 1982 and completed his internship in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1983. That same year, he was commissioned in the Navy and commenced active duty. One of the highlights of Shiveley’s long and interesting career, which has taken him and Jeannine around the world, was serving as chief executive agent for global patient movement at the Department of Defense. How ironic that Shiveley started with a modest local patient movement system, St. Mike’s Fire and Rescue squad, and ended up managing the largest airborne patient movement system on the planet.

Grateful for the strong foundation he received and the fond memories he holds from his time at Saint Michael’s, Dave and Jeannine recently decided to make a legacy gift of $1,000,000 through their living trust. “We realized we were blessed to have the resources to provide a number of scholarships to academically deserving high school students who otherwise couldn’t

afford the cost of higher education,” he explained. “We felt this was an important service to Saint Michael’s and the kids who will benefit, since we firmly believe education is the key to economic and social freedom. Who knows—maybe some of these students will catch the service and volunteerism ‘bug’ that I did at St. Mike’s.”

Should we be thanking you for putting Saint Michael’s in your estate plans?

We’re also happy to walk people through the various tax-wise ways to support the College.

Shiveley treasured learning from favorite professors, including Arthur Hessler in biology and Dominique Casavant in physics, both of whom always looked over his shoulder with encouragement. He also idolized Fire and Rescue founder Don Sutton, “the most wonderful life mentor and father figure to many of us,” who dedicated almost half his life to Saint Michael’s.

Leading by example, Dave and Jeannine Shiveley have certainly fulfilled the Saint Michael’s vision: Do Well and Do Good.

Dave ’77 and Jeannine Shiveley

Expanding the Saint Michael’s College Regional Club Network

BY STEPHANIE SNELL, DIRECTOR FOR ALUMNI AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

When I joined the College in April 2023 as the director of alumni and family engagement, I made expanding and revitalizing the regional club network, serving alumni who live in particular geographic areas, a top priority for my team. This involved revamping state club footprints, deepening existing club leadership, setting clear goals, producing event calendars, and recruiting new volunteers.

The regional club system plays a crucial role in helping alumni feel close to home. Given the 14,000 Purple Knights in Massachusetts, the alumni team initially focused its efforts there. Previously, the Boston Club served the entire state, which posed challenges due to Massachusetts’s geography and infrastructure (i.e. traffic!). To address this, the Alumni and Family Engagement Office conducted a Massachusetts club survey in August 2023 that identified engaged pockets of alumni. By year-end, six regional clubs had been established:

• SMC Club of Boston, now led by Michaela Rivers ’14 and Siham Elhamoumi ’07

• SMC Club of the South Shore, led by Christine Driscoll Simoni ’08

• SMC North of Boston Club, led by Drew Russo ’03, Tara Keady Nault ’15, and Matt Connolly ’13

• SMC Cape Cod Club, led by Carolyn Brooks ’18

• SMC Central Massachusetts Club, led by Christina DeGrazia Agostinelli ’08

• SMC Western Massachusetts club, led by Gary Levante ’09

The alumni team has also been working to steer existing clubs toward offering a more robust schedule of regular events. Club updates include the following.

• The SMC Club of New Jersey, led by Ed DiFigilia ’04, hosted a holiday celebration in December 2023; more events are coming in 2024.

• The SMC Hartford (Connecticut) club, led by Andy McElroy Jr. ’71

and MJ Picone ’87, hosted two events in January and February in support of St. Mike’s men’s basketball. The annual lunch bunch BBQ is coming up again this fall. They also held a service event in April and hosted their firstever Connecticut golf tournament on May 20.

• The SMC Club of NYC, under new leaders Molly Moore ’11 and Kelechi “KC” Onuoha ’23, organized various events, culminating in an annual holiday party and Covenant House donation drive.

• Amanda DeCesar ’06 and Jude Williams ’86 took charge of reinvigorating the SMC Club of North Carolina, with

a St. Mike’s night at the Durham Bulls in June and a recently completed club survey to plan other events of interest.

• The SMC Club of Burlington will resume activities this summer, led by Michael Bleau ’94, with support from seasoned alumni volunteers.

The alumni team will continue its efforts to revitalize these clubs nationwide. Past and present club leads or volunteers who haven’t been contacted yet will receive outreach soon.

Those interested in starting or revitalizing a club are encouraged to reach out to Stephanie Snell at ssnell2@smcvt.edu.

An alumni holiday gathering north of Boston.

Letter from the Alumni Board President

Happy Summer, one and all!

Now that all of the bunting and regalia have been packed away following graduation, it’s a great time to reflect on the academic year that has passed—but it’s even more exciting to look ahead to the coming year.

As I think about this past year, my first as Alumni Board president, I’m struck by the renewed sense of enthusiasm on campus. We have seen so much good this year and I’m more convinced than ever that Saint Michael’s College is moving with purpose in just the right direction.

As I walk around campus now—and especially in the beautiful mid-campus area built around the Founders Hall cupola—it feels just as it always has, and there are a lot of student smiles to be seen!

I was especially moved by the dedication of the Leahy Center for the Environment this past fall. There is so much beauty on our campus, in the surrounding mountains and valleys, and in and around Lake Champlain, that protecting them all for future generations is vitally important.

If you get a chance to come to campus, as I just did for my Reunion weekend, summer is a beautiful time of year to experience St. Mike’s and Vermont.

Our alma mater is going to continue to thrive by clearly communicating to all of us alumni, to all future students and parents, and to all our staff and faculty that we are sailing together in the right direction. Having President Richard Plumb on board is an important addition to our shared community, and his passionate leadership puts us in great shape for the future.

One highlight this year was the annual Saint Michael’s College Career Symposium in March. Every year, the Alumni Board creates and runs the symposium to help current students see the many—and highly varied—career opportunities and paths they can find after graduation. It’s also an opportunity to bring alumni back to campus and show them the good things happening here. This was my ninth visit!

This year, thanks largely to the work of Trevor Brown ’15 and Caitlyn Burke ’14, who led this year’s symposium, we had a great turnout of both alumni and students and heard some very inspirational stories.

We would love to have you join next year’s symposium. Please reach out to me or any of the Alumni Board members if you’d be interested in participating in 2025. It’s a great day!

Finally, another invitation: The Alumni Office hosts over a dozen regional events across the country every year, and there’s likely one happening near you soon. You can find one at www.smcvt.edu/alumni.

These events are a great way to connect with alumni from multiple years, reconnect with some friends you made during your years at St. Mike’s, and remember all the great times we had on campus. Come join us. At St. Mike’s, we made lifelong relationships in one of our country’s most beautiful corners. I’m so grateful for the impact it continues to have on our lives. I hope to see you soon!

Pat Fitzgibbons ’89 President, Saint Michael’s College Alumni Association

1958

FRANK MCCAFFREY was posthumously honored when the Rutland, VT, courthouse where he presided was renamed the Francis B. McCaffrey Courthouse. Said former Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan, “It is fitting that this courthouse is named after a man who sought to bring peace to so many in this community. Peace for those that suffer, whether they were victims of crime, those that struggled with addiction, those that suffered from mental illness, poverty, or those that were incarcerated.” (PHOTO)

1961

FREDERICK M. “SKIP”

BURKLE was honored by the Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (SDMPH) with a lecture series named in his honor. The inaugural lecture was held December 4–6, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Dr. Burkle is recognized globally for his tireless efforts in support of human rights, humanitarian assistance, and disaster preparedness and response. He has been teacher and mentor to countless health professionals and is often and rightly referred to as the “father of disaster medicine.” His medical qualifications span the fields of pediatrics, emergency medicine, psychiatry, public health, and tropical medicine. (PHOTO)

Rutland District Courthouse was renamed the Francis B. McCaffrey Courthouse, in memory of the 1958 alumnus. After graduating from St. Mike’s, Frank studied at Fordham Law, practiced law in Rutland, became a judge, and helped implement the Drug Treatment Court, a court he sat in, gratis, during retirement, until his death in 2018. He was a true believer in treatment and care for those struggling with the disease of addiction.

1963

JIM PAWLOWSKI shared a photo with Mike Sweeny in Hawaii. (PHOTO)

RICHARD (DICK) MICHAUD shared a photo. (PHOTO)

1965

BILL DUNCAN shared a photo along with the update he has moved again. (PHOTO)

1969

TOM KELLEY shared a photo of a mini class reunion in Florida with several classmates. (PHOTO)

“Father of Disaster Medicine” Skip Burkle ’61 was recognized with a lecture series in his honor by the Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health.

1963 classmates Mike Sweeny (left) and Jim Pawlowski (right) along with their wives, Nicole and Mary Lou, got together at Mike’s home in Honolulu. Mike and Jim arrived at St. Mike’s in September 1959 and were assigned to the barracks named St. John’s Hall. They immediately became good friends and players on the baseball team. Their reunion highlight was both of them bragging about what great scholar-athletes they were, and how they will be even better next time they see each other!

Richard (Dick) Michaud ’63 apologizes for not being able to attend his 60th class reunion, and encourages his classmates to join him in “wintering” in Arizona.

Bill Duncan ’65 recently moved west to Santa Rosa Beach, FL.

1969 classmates: Jeff Sullivan, Pete Pesenti, Tom Kelley, Bob O’Donnell, Bob Limoges, Mike Renzulli, Bob Minetti, and Paul Murphy.

John Verret ’68 took the photo.

Rev. John Unni ’83, pastor of Saint Cecilia’s Church, Boston, MA, baptized Cecilia Patricia Perry in November 2023. Her parents, John Perry and Jessica Dowd Perry ’07, and her grandparents James Dowd ’77 and Mary Beth Trepicchio Dowd ’78 were in attendance.

Susan Jefts ’84 published a new collection of poetry, Breathing Lessons (see class note / Books and Works).

1977 classmates enjoying life together in the Bahamas. Front row (left to right): Red Gardiner, Jim Kellogg, Bill Cascio, Mike Slifka, Woody Woodward, Tucker McDonagh. Back row (left to right): Jeff Lynner, Mike Noonan, Gerald Tuffin, Peter Malley, Chris Damon, Dave Anderson, Bill MacDonald ’76, Mark Cannistraro, Michael Moran ’75, Terry Leddy, Andrew Daly.

JACK T. SCULLY’S poem “End of the Old World” has been named one of three national winners in the 11th Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest. Sponsored by WOMR, a nonprofit community radio station in Provincetown, MA, the contest annually judges hundreds of poems submitted from around the country. “End of the Old World” tells the story of the first Native American to witness the arrival of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower off the coast of Cape Cod in November 1620.

The poem is contained in Jack’s latest collection of poetry, titled Angels in a Dog-Eared World.

1974

MIKE SANBORN recently published his third book, Recovery from an Alcoholic’s Collateral Damage. “I wrote a lot about my experience at [St. Mike’s] and the huge and positive impact it had on

my life,” he shared. The book is a sequel to An Alcoholic’s Collateral Damage, which describes the harm done to a family with a violent, alcoholic mother. (SEE BOOKS & WORKS)

1975

ACCORDING TO JERRY ZEZIMA , “When the going gets tough, the tough eat ice cream. They also keep their sense of humor because laughter is the best medicine in a world gone mad.” That’s the theme of The Good Humor Man: Tales of Life, Laughter and, for Dessert, Ice Cream, his seventh book. He also writes a syndicated humor column for Tribune News Service, which distributes it to 600 newspapers nationwide and abroad. Jerry and his wife SUE PIKERO ZEZIMA , have two daughters, five grandchildren, and many creditors. (See Books and Works)

J. Conlon ’84 drove to Warren, VT, to experience the eclipse with her 1984 classmates. Left to right: J. Conlon, Kathryn Markey, Karen DeLorenzo McPhillips.

1977

TUCKER MCDONAGH shared a photo and captioned it, “Swillers all from Class of 1977 enjoying Eleuthera Bahamas, January 2024.” (PHOTO)

1978

MARY BETH TREPICCHIO DOWD shared a baptism photo in which several alumni were present. (PHOTO)

1980

MARTIN A. FLEMING retired from the G.S. Blodgett oven company in January 2023 after 37 years. He worked primarily as an assembly technician on the production lines and as an electro-mechanical sub assembly technician. His retirement plans include travel with his wife, work as a firing range safety officer at BSA Camp Norris, and doing as much fishing and hunting as he can.

Kate Gribbon ’17 married Kelsey Hogan on October 7, 2023, in Andover, NJ. Two generations of St. Mike’s alumni were in attendance, including (left to right) Stephen Gribbon ’85, Athena Akiki ’18, Claire Fogarty ’17, Lindsey Garland ’17, Tess Karlon ’17, Pete Fantry ’85, Katie Casella ’17, Kate Gribbon, Caroline Hall ’17, Eli Olson ’17, Carol Gribbon Anderson ’81, Mark Gilman ’85, Rich Gribbon ’87, Rob Pursell ’85, and Jen Bowen Bartz ’85.

1984

J. CONLON road-tripped to Vermont to experience the April 8 eclipse with her classmates. (PHOTO)

SUSAN JEFTS published her new collection of poetry, Breathing Lessons, in the fall of 2023. The book is composed of poems of place and spirit, shaped largely by the Adirondacks, Vermont, and parts of northern Canada. Susan has been doing reading events in New York and Vermont, and would be happy to connect with alumni about poetry. Visit SusanJefts.com for more. (PHOTO) (See Books and Works)

1985

STEPHEN GRIBBON shared a photo from 2017 alumna Kate Gribbon’s wedding where they celebrated with many fellow Purple Knights.

A birthday celebration photo was shared of 1985

Right to left: Class of 1985 classmates took a girls trip to Newport, RI, to celebrate 60th birthdays! Jenna Ruddy Verrochi, Maryanne O’Hara ’80, Mary-Jane Meagher Reda, Leah Simpson Vazza ’86, Jennifer Cuty deLyra, and Jill Hurcomb Byrlev.

alumnae JENNA RUDDY

VERROCHI, MARYANN O’HARA , MARYJANE MEAGHER REDA , LEAH SIMPSON VAZZA , JENNIFER CUTY DELYRA , and JILL HURCOMB BYRLEV.

1986

RICH GALLERANI shared he started working in watercolors last year.

“I recently painted this coffee- and book-themed watercolor for my hometown Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters in East Longmeadow, MA. I presented it to the owner, and she and her wonderful staff hung it up immediately.”

SUZANNE LEOUS shared a photo of ’86 and ’85 friends at a mini reunion in New Hampshire. (PHOTO)

1987

A photo was shared of JOHN JORDAN,

’85 and ’86 classmates gathered in New Hampshire for a mini reunion to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and watch the St. Mike’s Men’s Basketball NCAA Division II East Regional tournament. Left to right: Karen Dunmire Makiver ’86, Kathy Behan Gallagher ’86, Susan O’Laughlin Ronan ’86, Beth Conlin-Tailleur ’86, Kathy Korby Wells ’86, Jennifer McCann McGinley ’85, and Suzy Leous ’86.

John Jordan ’87, Jeff Provost ’87, Dan Byrnes ’86, and David Provost ’86 at a post-holiday gathering in Middlebury, VT.

Peter Cartmell ’88 was promoted to director of aviation operations for LifeFlight of Maine, his employer since 2015. Peter has held previous positions of helicopter pilot, base lead pilot, helicopter training captain, and chief pilot. In 2018, he completed a 30-year Army and National Guard career as a UH60 Black Hawk pilot.

Kerri D’Arrigo ’89 wed Dave Lucey ’89. Left to right are Bill Leonard ’89, Tom Hogan ’89, Christine Dunkerly Hogan ’89, Tom Joyce ’89, Kristin Joyce ’89, Sarah Valentini ’89, Dave Lucey ’89, Kerri D’Arrigo Lucey ’89, Father John Unni ’83, Pam Nee Barker ’89, Jamie McKenna ’89, John Palmer ’89, Mike Alden ’89, Katy Deskus Burke ’89, Ellen Baker Alden ’89, Elaine Cooper McKenna ’89. Missing from picture but in attendance: Regina Cancellare DeBenedictis ’88 and Nancy Sokolosky Horwood ’89.

Jay Cronin ’90 shared a chance meeting in January 2024: “After missing her chair, Allyson Dillmeier ’91 ended up on my chairlift completely bundled up and unrecognizable. After four minutes of chitchat, we got to Vermont somehow and up came St. Mike’s—and to our surprise had a great catch-up after too many years!”

Kate DeVoe Tirabassi ’93 and Loung Ung ’93 reunited on the campus of Keene State University, where Kate is a professor and Loung was delivering a keynote address.

A trip to Ireland last summer. Left to right: Zach Sullivan and Andrew Olevitz, both Class of 2021. Andrew’s mom, Amy Roy Olevitz ’90, Amy’s roommate Kerri Kilroy ’90 (not pictured but taking photo) and Kerri’s sister Kathryn Kilroy ’87.

Longtime Class of ’94 friends Sarah Palmer Daigneault and Jenny Kay Berger met up for après IPAs on a bluebird February vacation day at Copper Mountain, CO.

Cheering on the Vegas Golden Knights, Class of 1998 friends (from left), Shannon Green McKenna, Michelle Bruno Waldron, Meg Rowe Whalen, and Kaley Johnson Herron.

JEFF PROVOST, DAN BYRNES, and DAVID PROVOST. (PHOTO)

1988

PETER CARTMELL shared a photo in his new position as director of aviation operations with LifeFlight of Maine. (PHOTO)

1989

KERRI D’ARRIGO shared a photo from her wedding to DAVE LUCEY. (PHOTO)

1990

JAY CRONIN shared a “chance meeting” with ALLYSON DILLMEIER ’91. (PHOTO)

KERRI KILROY shared a photo of a trip to Ireland last summer. (PHOTO)

1993

Classmates KATE DEVOE TIRABASSI and LOUNG UNG reunited in April at Keene State University, where Kate is a professor of communication and the director of the Center for Research and Writing. Bestselling author and activist Loung was the inspiring keynote for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies 2024 Genocide Awareness Lecture. (PHOTO)

1994

SARAH PALMER

DAIGNEAULT and JENNY KAY BERGER met at Copper Mountain, CO, in February for après IPAs and lots of laughs. (PHOTO)

1998

MEG ROWE WHALEN shared a photo with classmates SHANNON GREEN MCKENNA , MICHELLE BRUNO WALDRON and KALEY

JOHNSON HERRON. In January, these Purple Knights got together to cheer on the Vegas Golden Knights. (PHOTO)

1999

KRISTEN MAROLA has joined the nationwide employment law firm Jackson Lewis P.C. as chief officer. She has more than 20 years of experience as a strategic, transformational human resources manager and a trusted advisor to C-suite executives and their leadership teams. (PHOTO)

JOY-MICHELE JOHNSON shared a photo along with the news of her swearing in as a New Jersey Court judge. (PHOTO)

JIM WELCH is the marketing and development coordinator for Ben Bronz Academy, a state-approved private special education

On April 8, 2024, Katherine “Katie” Hathaway ’99 (Virginia) and Scott Croteau ’98 (Massachusetts) traveled to Paterson, NJ, to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Honorable Joy-Michele Johnson ’99, as she took her oath of office as a New Jersey Superior Court judge. Judge Johnson was nominated by New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy and confirmed by the New Jersey Senate to serve an initial seven-year term. She has been assigned to the criminal division in Passaic County, NJ.

Kristen Marola ’99 joined the nationwide employment law firm Jackson Lewis P.C. as chief talent officer.

Rasmus Phoenix Ake Norstrom was born in 2023 to Bjorn Norstrom M’01 and his wife Regina.

Paolo Rosales ’05 married Eileen Haspert in Huntingtown, MD, on August 26, 2023. Reports Paolo: “We both work at the 5 Star Life Insurance Company in Alexandria, Virginia, which is how we first met, and we now reside in Calvert County, Maryland. I actually proposed to Eileen on the steps of the College Chapel on July 26, 2022, and our engagement was immediately blessed by Rev. Marcel Rainville ’67.”

Reports Jeff Baker ’06: “Since transitioning away from my 16-year career in craft beer and fine wine, I have been hard at work in Vermont’s burgeoning cannabis industry and was recently promoted to marketing manager at Sunset Lake Cannabis, one of Vermont’s premier outdoor cannabis cultivators. As part of my new role, I will also be overseeing the marketing efforts for Sunset Lake’s cannabis retail dispensary, Lake Effect Vermont, in South Hero, VT.

Michaela Rivers ’14 wed Erik Nemes in October 2022. Pictured are Jane McGuinness ’14, Sara Denton Dean ’14, Jess Uges ’14, Jessie Phillips ’14, Brooke Connor Warech ’14, Erin Millard Monzione ’09, Molly Nemes ’21, Mike Brown ’14, Kaila Krouse ’12 M’22, Meg Sweezey ’10, Jen Conetta ’09, Tommy McCann ’09, John Madden ’78, Eric Salzillo ’18, Abi Walsh Salzillo ’19, Mairead Walsh ’22, Linda Donahue P’19, Brian Donahue ’88, Katie Weithman ’15, Pat Duquette M’97, Chris Allen ’14.

Cait Houlihan ’15 and August Koch ’15 were married on September 23, 2023, at the Grafton Inn in Grafton, VT. Alumni in attendance, front row: Becky Thompson ’15, Amelia Seman ’15, Coleman Jaeger ’15, Moe Paquette ’15, Emily Laughlin ’15. Back row: Meghan Ahearn ’15, Rose Houlihan ’15, Mary Taylor ’15, Alana Houlihan ’17, Anne Houlihan Pawlus ’88, Nelly Koch ’12, Steve Passarelli ’15. (Not pictured, the DJ—Brian Nagle ’07.)

Congratulations to Benjamin Granja ’12 on being valedictorian of his Fire Academy in FDNY.

After graduating from Albany Law School summa cum laude in May 2023 and passing the New York State Bar in October 2023 with a score high enough to practice in any Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) jurisdiction, Deana DiBenedetto ’20 was officially admitted to practice as an attorney in the State of New York in January.

On June 24, 2023, Veronica McMorrow ’19 and John Keating ’17 were married in Sunderland, VT. There were 29 St. Mike’s graduates at the wedding, including Veronica’s father, Patrick McMorrow ’76, and uncle Dan McMorrow ’78. Also in attendance were Marie McCormack (maid of honor) ’19, Delia Conlon (bridesmaid) ’19, Michaela Foody (bridesmaid) ’18, Michael Goode (best man) ’17, Dan Rathbone (groomsman) ’17, Patrick McCann (groomsman) ’17, Marty Maloney (groomsman) ’18, Kyle Wentzel (officiant) ’18, Peter Soons ’82, Kate Soons ’92, Leslie Lindquist ’05, Erik Haversang ’11, Liz Haversang ’11, Andrew Brown ’17, Colleen Wick ’17, Colin Ebneth ’17, Gianna Bounpastore ’17, Zac Minior ’17, Amanda Ford ’18, Olivia Richards ’18, Rebecca Shedd ’19, Victoria Creighton ’19, Shannon Maloney ’19, Matt Thompson ’19, and Zack Principe ’20.

Meredith Deffley ’12 was honored with the Bank Insurance Securities Association (BISA) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Rising Star award.

school in West Hartford, CT. He is also the executive director of the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government after spending 18 years in the newsroom of The Hartford Courant

2001

BJORN NORSTROM M’01 shared a photo of his new baby. (PHOTO)

2005

PAOLO ROSALES shared a photo of his 2023 marriage to Eileen Haspert. (PHOTO)

2006

JEFF BAKER shared a photo and some career news. (PHOTO)

JASON and JILLIAN ’04

CHAREST shared a photo of a mini reunion with classmates and their families at Magic Mountain in Vermont. (PHOTO)

2011

KATHERINE HACKETT shared a photo from her wedding with several St. Mike’s alumni. (PHOTO)

2012

MEREDITH DEFFLEY was named to the Bank Insurance & Securities Association (BISA)

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Rising Star award, which recognizes just eight professionals annually for their efforts to advance DE&I in financial services and their communities.

BENJAMIN GRANJA was valedictorian of his Fire Academy in FDNY. (PHOTO)

2014

MICHAELA RIVERS shared a photo of her wedding to Erik Nemes along with many other St. Mike’s alumni. (PHOTO)

2015

AUGUST KOCH shared a photo from his wedding to CAIT HOULIHAN in 2023. (PHOTO)

2017

JOHN KEATING shared a photo from his 2023 wedding to VERONICA MCMORROW ’19 (PHOTO)

2018

ANIKA LYNN BIEG married Dr. Olivia Arden Sacks. On February 10, they held a wedding celebration for 200 guests at the Boston Public Library.

St. Patrick’s Day weekend was celebrated in style at Magic Mountain in Vermont with some new additions, including spouses and kiddos since their last ski weekend together! Alumni pictured include Emily Heffernan Helter ’06, Brian Howley ’06, Anne Fletcher Howley ’06, Jason Charest ’06, Jillian Kasierski Charest ’04, Brendan Waight ’06, Chris Higgins ’06, Amanda Dargie DeCesar ’06, and Taylor Piffath ’06.

Pictured: Katherine Hackett ’11 married Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi on July 22, 2023, at St. Patrick’s Church in Huntington, NY. Lots of family, alumni, and colleagues from Katherine’s tenure in St. Mike’s Admissions celebrated, many of whom met their partners while at the College! Cousins Tom Smith ’07 and Shawna Wakeham ’07 and their children Asa, Gabe, and Jude, as well as Megan Mulvaney ’17. 2011 classmates Sarah Regan Dewey, Evan Dewey, Brian Ahern, Micho Pilotte Ahern ’10, Mia Weber, Marybeth Ash Dattilio and husband Matt Dattilio, Ben Taylor, Kate Bailey, Natalie Watson Lodge ’12 M’19, Xander Lodge M’19. Tanya Makhlina ’10, Heidi St. Peter ’96, and Carlos Vega. Katherine resides with her husband in Port Jefferson and is pursuing her master’s degree in Applied Health Informatics while working full time at Stony Brook University.

Reunited in Magog, Canada, in January for a Nordic spa trip to celebrate our their St. Mike’s friendship. Left to right: Emma Thomas ’18, Courtney Burt ’18, Julia Colasanti ’18, Mary Rose Carolan ’18, and Kristin Funsten ’18.

Kyle McKinniss Ciulla ’19 married Bae Zhang on October 1, 2023, at Abagail Kirsch Tappan Hill Estate in Tarrytown, NY. Left to right: Don Kavanagh ’73, Philip Ciulla, Jr. ’73, Fallon Tierney ’19, Kristin Swanson Ciulla ’11, Dylan Bernache ’19, Nicole Ouellette ’19, Andrew Koerner ’19, “Bae” Jaiying Zhang Ciulla (Bride), Kyle Ciulla ’19 (Groom), Branden Young ’19, Philip Ciulla III ’10.

Alumni gathered at the St. Mike’s Bruins night in Boston. Left to right: Maura Dodge ’20, Shelagh Fluherty ’21, Alyssa Nye ’20, Kara Gailiunas ’20, Katie Terban ’20, and Nell Criscione ’20.

COURTNEY BURT shared a photo of a Nordic spa trip to Magog, Canada, with classmates.

2019

KYLE MCKINNISS CIULLA shared a photo from his wedding and this update: “After graduation, I lived and worked in Beijing, China for three years and met the love of my life. I currently work at ADP. Alumni were in our wedding party and in attendance. (PHOTO)

2020

MAURA DODGE shared a photo from the St. Mike’s night in Boston cheering on the Bruins. (PHOTO)

DEANA DIBENEDETTO was recently admitted to practice as an attorney in the state of New York. (PHOTO)

Saint Michael’s College takes pride in its alumni and joyfully shares the news of their lives and achievements. Publishing these alumni messages does not reflect any endorsements or positions taken by the College.

St.

Cheers to

Mike’s holiday gatherings in NYC! A fun time was had by all NYC club members.

In Memoriam

We are saddened to note the loss of our beloved alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the College. To read their full obituaries please use the listed URL or QR code below. Our deepest sympathies are extended to their family and loved ones. smcvt.edu/obituaries

1949

Walter J. Fitzmaurice

1952

Rev. Normand C. Coté

Robert J. McKenzie

Frank A. Vidolin

1954

Thomas E. Berberich, Jr.

1955

Edward J. Trombley, Sr., Esq.

1957

Robert J. Conlin

Kenneth F. MacDonnell, M.D.

Stephen J. McCulloch

1958

Thomas A. Barry, Sr., Ph.D.

John L. Haggerty

1960

Maj. Edward P. Rogenski (Ret.)

1961

Dean J. Bergeron

John J. Messer

Thomas F. Robinson, III

Russell D. Van Zandt

1963

Richard A. Gadbois, Esq.

Richard L. Musso

1964

Charles S. Rogers II

1965

Peter P. Brail

Joseph W. Krayeski

1966

Thomas J. Barber

Richard J. Berube

Brother Paul J. Hebert, S.C.

Peter T. Sheehan

1967

Michael J. Ruggiero 1962

Peter J. Legere, Ph.D.

Brother Roland J. Ouellette S.C.

Michael A. Wheeler 1969

D. Michael Henderson

D. Thomas Rooney

Michael F. Fleischman

John C. Makuch

John E. Belcher, Jr.

A. Kolb

A. Regina

R. Chely

Ann B. Descoteaux

William C. Rick III

Martha M. Robinson, Ph.D.

E. Bruce Nelson

Scott L. Wood

Nancie O’Meara

Michael R. Dilworth

Kathleen S. Wilbur

Matthew R. Lawson

Kayla R. Morey

MASTER’S ALUMNI M1984

Holly K. Tuck M1987

Jane P. Campbell M1989

James G. Renton M2000

Brenda J. Hawkins M2002

Judith A. Flemer

M2006

Katherine J. Buswell

FACULTY,

STAFF, AND FRIENDS

Alice M. Boutin

Carolyn B. Duffy

Paul J. Reiss, Ph.D.

Michael D. Samara

Michael David Samara

Michael David Samara, a beloved and respected Saint Michael’s College student life leader and later campus minister and academic support specialist over four decades, died unexpectedly from a heart attack at his home on April 26, 2024. He was 66 years old.

A New Hampshire native from a close-knit Lebanese and SyrianAmerican family, Mike moved to Vermont in 1977 to serve as director

Paul J. Reiss

Paul J. Reiss, who served Saint Michael’s College as its 14th president from 1985 to 1996, died February 28, 2024, at age 93 in his longtime home of Lake Placid, New York, with two sons by his side.

When he became president of Saint Michael’s, Paul continued teaching. In addition, he had the president’s home, Reiss House, built on campus and donated it to the College. He

of student life at Saint Michael’s. Soon he was promoted to the role of dean of students and vice president for student affairs. He served the College for 35 years before retiring in 2012.

Mike touched the lives of many people and was admired for his thoughtful, caring demeanor as well as his efforts in advocacy, equity, and inclusion. He formed lasting relationships; many students stayed in touch with him for decades after graduating. The

College’s Office of Residential Life created an award presented annually in his honor.

Along with his wife of nearly 50 years, Lucy Samara M’84, P’08, Mike is survived by a son, Andrew Samara ’08; a daughter, Julie Samara Thompson; a brother; and extended family.

oversaw the renovation or new construction of 80 percent of Saint Michael’s buildings and facilities, and he led the faculty in recommitting to the College’s mission and Catholic identity.

As his family wrote in his obituary, Paul was a humble intellectual with a gentle manner. A man of deep Christian faith, Paul was disciplined, thoughtful, and generous. He was

Walter J. Fitzmaurice ’49

Walter J. Fitzmaurice ’49 passed away peacefully on January 10, 2024, two months past his 100th birthday. Born in Rumford, Maine, Walter was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force during the height of World War II. Stationed in England, he proudly took his place in the “Greatest Generation,” serving as a radio operator and machine gunner on B-24 Liberators, flying 30 combat missions over enemy

territory with the renowned “Flying Eight-Balls.”

After the end of WWII, Walter returned to the U.S. and attended Saint Michael’s, earning a B.S. in Biological Studies in 1949. That same year he met the love of his life, Lorraine, who survives him. They were married for 75 years and raised eight children in North Reading, Massachusetts.

especially devoted to Rosemary, his wife of 67 years, and was a handson partner in raising their nine children.

Donations in Paul Reiss’s memory may be made to Mercy Care for the Adirondacks or Saint Michael’s College/Nativity Scholarship Fund.

Walter was beloved by his friends and classmates, and generations of alumni who came after him. He was adored by the Saint Michael’s staff, faculty, and Edmundites, who appreciated his immense loyalty and devotion to the College.

Saint Michael’s College

One Winooski Park, Box 6

Colchester, VT 05439

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