We only have two weeks of classes left in the semester and many of the faculty (and students) are asking what happened to March???? Time has flown by so fast this semester and it seems inconceivable that the end is in sight. It has been a great semester but one packed full of papers, exams, projects and challenges. The economy continues to challenge everyone and the "normal" frantic expectations for our seniors has been made worse this year due to the tenuous nature of "who is hiring out there?" Fortunately the Student Resource Center career folks have been working overtime to make sure that they are there to assist anyone who is still struggling with "what am I going to do after SMC."
I traveled to Springfield, MA this past Friday for a meeting with other Faculty Athletics Representatives (FAR's) from the sixteen NE-10 schools. This is our athletic conference and one of my responsibilities is to serve as a liaison between our athletics department and the academic side of the College. It has been a wonderful opportunity to talk with colleagues who struggle with some of the same concerns I have about making sure that our student-athletes have a good experience and that they don't forget that they are STUDENT-athletes. Our gathering on Friday (15 of the 16 were present along with two folks from the Conference Headquarters) gave me a chance to renew friendships and to realize that we are doing a great job at Saint Mike's when it comes to a quality experience for our student-athletes. As we discussed everything from how many baseball/softball games SHOULD be played in a season to comparing NE-10 academic achievement to other D-II schools across the country (we do very well in comparison) we also discussed the challenges that each of our institutions face with the economic downturn. Fortunately we also agreed that providing quality athletic programs for prospective students is a great recruiting tool for our institutions. We will get together again in June with all of the Athletic Directors and the Compliance folks to continue a collaboration that can only lead to good things.
It was good to get away for a couple of days and I combined a quick visit to my sister and brother-in-law's with this time away from campus. Tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday are the days when most of my final papers are due - it will be fun to see how they rise to the challenges I have presented them with as while they would sometimes prefer that I tell them EXACTLY what I expect, it is more of a challenge to give them some guidelines and then "force" them to make some decisions on their own. Now all I have to do is to find time to grade everything...
As a "small world" story I share that two days after I attended the most recent Barefoot Truth concert at Higher Ground in Burlington I "hosted" a meeting of accepted students who are interested in psychology and their parents for an informal discussion. I had put the department website and the online newsletter on the screen in a classroom and was explaining the departmental "blogs" when one of the women turned to her son and pointed out that I had a reference to Barefoot Truth in my blog. When I noticed her response I just said that this is a group, mainly from SMC who are doing well with concerts and that they have been performing all around the Northeast. I asked if she had heard of this group since she did have a reaction. She laughed and told me that her nephew is Garrett Duffy, one of the members of Barefoot Truth and that she had sat behind me at the concert that Saturday night. It is a good thing that I tend to "behave" myself at concerts :)
take care, be well and, as always please keep our veterans and soldiers in your thoughts and prayers.
Dave
