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Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the end of your summers and are off to a great school year! Everyone’s back into the swing of things here at Holy Cross. Before school started, I worked as a Fall First-Year Orientation Leader, where I not only helped the first-years transition to college but made some of my best friends! Now, most students are already spending most of their time in the library (including me!) although many members of the community–including alumni, faculty, staff, students, and families–gathered in Chestnut Hill this past weekend to watch the Crusaders take on Boston College for the first time in since 1986!

First-Year Orientation

One of my favorite experiences at Holy Cross so far was working as a First-Year Orientation Leader in August. We moved in more than a week before the first-years to train, prep for orientation, and learn more about the resources available to not just first-years but all students. The four day orientation program, from move in day to the first day of class, allows first-years to adjust living away from home and to meet a new group of peers from their residence hall. We attend sessions from different groups on campus, play different games, and (hopefully) have some fun! Even though I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the program, I loved working with my first-years (shoutout O’Kane Orcas!) and getting to know a completely different group of people who are now some of my best friends.

Academics this Semester

As a declared History and Music double major and fellow in the Carroll Program for Political Science, all of my classes fall into one (or both!) of those categories. This semester I am taking Theory of Music 3, History of Western Music 1, Europe: 1890-1945, and Ethics of Capitalism, the political science seminar for the Carroll fellowship. So far, I’m enjoying all my classes–even though they keep me in the library most of the time.

HOLY CROSS vs that other school

In more fun news, this past weekend Holy Cross challenged BC in football for the first time since 1986! Holy Cross sold out the student section, and three (yes, THREE) packed fan buses helped students make the trek to Chestnut Hill. Although the outcome of the game was not in our favor, both sides played well and everyone had a great time!

That’s all I have for now! Check back in soon to hear about the 175th Anniversary celebration (this Friday!) and my first lecture for the Carroll Fellowship!

Hi everyone! I hope you all survived final exams and are off to enjoying your summer vacations!

My last few weeks were a little stressful, because I had to both finish my classes and take exams while ill with mono. While it wasn’t my favorite couple weeks on campus, I still managed to have some fun and enjoy the warmer weather in Worcester!

One of my favorite events from the spring semester was definitely Battle of the Bands, sponsored by the Campus Activities Board. We were blessed with beautiful weather (for April) and my friends and I enjoyed an afternoon filled with music and friends. Here are a couple of my friends and I decked out in our SCONE gear!

The winner of Battle of the Bands (a first-year band called SCONE) opened for the Spring Concert two weekends before final exams. This year’s headliner was DNCE–it was truly a treat for all to have a Jonas brother on campus! While I missed the spring concert because I was sick, I heard it was a fantastic take and I am excited to see it next year. Congrats to SCONE on this great opportunity!

Thanks to everyone who read my blog this past year! It was a joy to share my first year experience at Holy Cross and I hope everyone learned a bit more about the Holy Cross experience.

Hi everyone! Hope you are surviving the unseasonable cold that has struck Mt. St. James and that spring comes back soon! I’ve been pretty busy the past couple weeks, making it to a Red Sox game, Working for Worcester, and looking forward to a bunch of music opportunities!

This past Friday my friends and I took the commuter rail into Boston to see a Red Sox game at Fenway Park! It was the first time I had been in a while, and some of my friends’ first time in general. Although our seats got pretty chilly, we enjoyed watching the Red Sox beat the Orioles 8-3 (except for my roommate, Elena, who will always root for the Orioles).

Yesterday, I volunteered with Working for Worcester, an organization looking to benefit the Worcester community through acts of service. Started by two Holy Cross students in 2012, Working for Worcester has a build day every year, where members of the community, including students at local colleges, families, and government officials, all help out to improve different areas in Worcester.  My group, lead by one of my friends from spring break immersion, helped clean up a local park. My friend Ian (a Worcester native) lead a group at a local elementary school, where they helped refinish an outdoor basketball court. Take a look at this before and after shot–great job, guys!

These next couple weeks I have a lot of work to do as we close out the semester, including a variety of musical opportunities. On April 25, the Chamber Orchestra is playing a concert with the artist-in-residence Jan Müller-Szeraws, an incredibly gifted cellist and musician who will be playing the Saint-Saens cello concerto. We also have a guest clinician, Dr. Heidel, coming to work with the concert band before our concert on April 29. It is sure to be an exciting couple of weeks musically!

Check back in soon to hear about more updates from Holy Cross!

Hi everyone! March seemed to fly by this year, as it usually does, and this week I wanted to profile one of my favorite classes. Teddy Roosevelt’s America is my 110 level history course that is all first year students and taught by one of my favorite professors, Prof. Ed O’Donnell. We examine the Gilded Age and Progressive Era through the lens of Roosevelt’s complex and sometimes controversial presidency while learning important reading and writing skills.

Each class, we usually talk as a full group and then meet in smaller groups to discuss the readings or viewings for that particular class. It is extra helpful to first be able to bounce ideas or interpretations off peers rather than in front of the whole class right away! Then we reconvene as a class and one or two people will share some of the best ideas we had in our group. We’re about halfway through the semester, but I can already tell my oral presentation skills have improved!

We also have a couple semester-long projects, including a podcast project, in which two students choose an event from 1870-1920 (roughly TR’s period of relevance) and produce a 7-10 minute podcast about it. There is a lot of research involved in not only the history aspect (mine is about the Flu Epidemic of 1918) but also on how to write and deliver an effective podcast, including narrative storytelling and background music and sounds! We will even get to record them in a soundbooth on campus before the end of the semester! Part of our homework for each class is listening to history podcasts to learn not only about the history itself but also how the narrators style and craft the podcast itself.

We also have two debates throughout the semester. The debate takes a full class period and each group member has either a major speaking role or writing role. We take a step away from our era in history to discuss modern topics, like DACA and gun control.  I am looking forward to mine in April!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s profile on one of my favorite classes, Teddy Roosevelt’s America! Check back in soon to hear more updates from the hill!

 

Hi everyone! I hope you all survived the snow and enjoyed a restful spring break (if you had one!). As I mentioned last time, I spent my spring break in Glasgow, VA immersing myself in their culture and values–and had a great time!

The trip was interesting to say the least. Most days were spent doing service work for the community, like cleaning and doing yard work for elderly citizens and painting the community center. We were also invited to a variety of church services and meals, which gave us an opportunity to interact with members of the community and hear their stories. Like all groups on SBIP, we all participated in reflection at the end of every day to help process what we had seen and heard and help find meaning in what we were doing.

While in Glasgow, we were housed in a local community center (which we eventually helped paint) and slept on cots. We cooked some of our own meals and were generously fed by members of the community for others. A big part of Appa specifically is “roughing it,” or not totally knowing what we are going to do next, but it makes the trip exciting and fun!

In addition to meeting a great community, my group from Holy Cross was able to bond and now we are all great friends! I loved getting to know upperclassmen whom I may not have met otherwise. Our bond is definitely unique, as we spent a whole week living, working and learning about this great community together.

For now, I will just have my souvenirs to remind me of my great week as I adjust back to reality and prepare for midterms and papers. Check back in soon to hear about more happenings on the Hill!

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a good New Years celebration and you’re sticking to your resolutions (if you made any!). I’ve been relaxing and preparing for second semester (and managed a visit to Philadelphia)!

Last weekend I drove down to Philadelphia to visit my friend Emma from school. I had never been before, and Emma introduced us to some of Philadelphia’s best-known sights and food, although it was pretty cold. Here I am with my roommate Elena, who made the trip up from Baltimore, eating Philly cheesesteaks (which were really good!). Shoutout to Emma and her family for hosting us and not making fun of our hats!

I have also been preparing for second semester, buying books and checking syllabi (yes, some of them are available!). This semester I am taking Music Theory 2, Teddy Roosevelt’s America (a super cool history class) and Principles of American Government in the PoliSci department. I will also be taking my Montserrat, which is philosophy based–my professor (who is a Jesuit!) will stay the same.

Although Montserrat classes last a whole year, as opposed to just a semester, usually the focus switches at least a bit. For example, last semester in my class we talked about “Degradation and Demonization” in terms of genocide, and this semester we will talk about “Reconciliation and Remembrance” with regard to similar events. So although we will continue reading a couple books from last semester, the focus of our discussions will shift.

That’s all I have for now! Be sure to check back in two weeks when I am back on the Hill!