Welcome back!

Hello and welcome back! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Now that summer is over, we can finally go back to our regularly scheduled blog updates!

I was unfortunately really sick last Spring, so I couldn’t do an April blog post, but nothing like that should happen anymore. And what a nice way to start off September! Not too cold, not too warm, just a nice and comfortable temperature to walk around and catch Pokémon.

Squirtles started showing up everywhere, it's great.

The SMC campus has been through a lot of changes over this past summer, and I’m sure more will come over time. Change is good, it makes life more exciting! Let`s go over some of the new things that bold new first years might not be aware of:

We have a new housing option!

Residence Hall IV as it is being called right now is a brand new housing option for Juniors and Seniors. It is right to the side of Canterbury Hall and it is now the closest building to Ethan Allen Park. It is also basically a really nice hotel.

(There are not a lot of pictures of the new Residence Hall. That's how new it is.)

Students may choose to live there from their Junior year onwards if they wish to have a limited meal plan and/or just want to have an apartment-style place instead of a townhouse. All apartments come equipped with their own kitchens, hold up to four people, and are considered part of “wet campus”, meaning students over the age of 21 can drink alcohol while indoors.

This also means we are one step closer from completely overtaking the gas station and making it our own! Rejoice! One day!

One day.

We are a smoking free campus!

From September 1, 2016, Saint Michael’s College and all of its property is officially a smoke-free college. While our advertising only mentions tobacco, as a member of Resident Life, I can guarantee that this also extends to other categories of smoking, such as hucas and marijuana.

This has been a project two years in the making, and you can read all about it on the official school website. This is part of a cultural change that we, as a community, think we are ready to embrace.

While some people might not be happy with it, on the bright side Bergeron Wellness Center has opened a great group for smokers support, where people can get help if they wish to stop but cannot do it by themselves. Our main priority is still making people comfortable, and we are ready to do whatever we can to guarantee everyone can have a happy and positive experience while coming here.

We are rolling out KnightSafe!

For a couple of years now, Public Safety has been looking into options for making students feel safer once the lights go out. It gets dark quite early during the Vermont winter, and, although Vermont is still the state with the lowest crime rates in America, some students just want to feel safer walking across campus after hours.

That is why the department is rolling out the KnightSafe initiative. Basically, students in patrol will be connected to the Public Safety Switchboard, and will be on duty to escort students across both campuses every day from around 6PM to 1AM. The service includes both walkers and drivers, and will prove useful for art students who need to transition between both campuses fast. It is completely free and we are eager to help.

Business has already started and the response has been great. I am involved with the service, so this blog will also serve as a nice reminder of developments and advances in that front!

And this is just off the top of my head. Fall is always a season of change for Saint Michael’s – new students coming in, new programs, new classes. I hope we’ll have a great year, as we always have.

And you, have a lovely day! 

Changing seasons!

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a safe Saint Patrick’s Day and a relaxing Easter break!

Weather has been acting erratic the whole year, but the important part is: we’re finally changing from winter to spring!

More on adorable animals later.

Changing seasons affects students in many different ways. There has been a lot of research about how Vitamin D affects students’ behavior and mood, and how important it is to take care of yourself during colder seasons. We’ve had a very atypical year, however – at least in Vermont, it never dropped below freezing for too long, and we didn’t get a lot of snow.

That doesn’t mean winter didn’t affect people. The winter season can have really bad effects: it messes up students’ health, sleeping schedules change, depression becomes more likely and stress levels start rising with the approach of finals.

But that’s in the past! Spring is coming and it’s coming fast! And we have so much to look forward to!

1.      Go out! And have fun! Without three layers of clothing!

·         Gone are the days of being unable to walk outside without protective gear! We can finally wear t-shirts and don’t immediately regret our life decisions. Additionally, it is also the perfect time to just hang out outside – studying indoors can get boring sometimes.  

Being outside actually makes studying fun sometimes.

2.       Having way more sun all day long.

         Remember that thing I said about vitamin D? Well, lack vitamin D is very correlated to depression and sleeping problems. One of the main ways we get vitamin D is through exposure to the sun, which, in the winter, is obviously a problem. But we’ve beaten the tyranny of winter, and so everyone’s moods should start getting better!  

Accurate representation of the sun during Spring.

3.       Flowers! Remember them?

         Some like the white aesthetic of the winter, but really, dead trees and fields get old. Spring brings back all that color and biodiversity that makes places like Saint Michael’s beautiful.  

You can also just play Flower. It's a really nice game.

4.       Dogs! And barbecues!

        With the temperatures rising, people can finally bring their dogs outside again, officially beginning dog petting season! Read that again. Let that sink in.

Average dog attire during Spring.

And there you go! A lot of things to look forward to during Spring!

Have a lovely day.

How to defeat midterms stress in three simple steps

Hey everyone. February has been quite busy, so that's why we're having such a late post!

I was also struggling to come up with something to write about, but then I realized one of the main reasons for that is because I am studying for my midterms. So let's talk about that.

Midterms are scary if you don't prepare for them. As you move on in your college life, the classes get more and more challenging. It might not feel like it, but once you're taking three or four 300-level courses at once you really start understanding what people mean when they say college can be hard.

Luckily you also discover some great tricks to avoid stress and to study better. Such as...

Take good breaks.

It sounds kind of weird telling people to not study, but it's extremely important to pace yourself. While research shows that cramming does help your scores, it's not gonna help if you don't actually absorb anything in that 10-hour marathon of studying for your Physics exam.

You are objectively more focused after taking a break.

Go outside and walk for a couple minutes. Buy a coffee and stick around the cafeteria for a while. Or really, just play with your phone after a long study session. As long as you rest in-between good chunks of mental exercise, your brain should be re-energized and you should get a better grade. Hopefully!

Maintain a healthy lifestyle.

All the study in the world isn't going to save you if you haven't slept in three days. Maintaining healthy habits such as eating well, sleeping well and exercising makes your body better prepared to deal with anxiety, bad moods, and just generally makes you feel better.

Look at that beautiful stock image! Don't you wanna be like that when you're studying?

What I'm basically saying is a lot of studying well is taking care of yourself. Otherwise the information will just be buried underneath all the other things you have to worry about. It does suck that you can't live on McDonalds and coffee, but your brain will thank you for the balanced meals and exercise by giving you more energy in your day, and more focus when you study.

Know your limits.

Sometimes you just can't study the entire semester in one night. It's better to understand what you can get done and focus on being practical rather than trying to bite more than you can chew and accomplish nothing. 

Pace your studying. Make a plan ahead of time and make sure you know what you're doing. If you're having difficulties, you can have tutors, talk to your professors, or ask classmates who are ahead of you in that subject to guide you. What's important is to know that no one is expected to get everything perfectly: you have the right to admitting you're stuck, and you have the resources to help yourself.

And since we just left Week 6, I just want to make clear: midterms can really mess you up. If you're not feeling well and if it feels like too much, SMC has in-campus counselors that can help you. No one's alone in this, and everyone knows how hard it can get sometimes.

This was a pretty long post, but I hope it helped you somehow. Good luck in your midterms, and have a lovely day.

Welcome back!

Hey guys! Welcome back to Saint Michael’s! I hope you all had a great break.

Considering how warm it was last year, it’s kind of surprising how the winter has really picked up. I’ll try not making “Winter is Coming” jokes throughout the entirety of this post, but I promise nothing.

You love it though.

Going from a humid 100 degrees to a dry 8 is a pretty big shock, but I honestly like the winter. Although it does suck to have to go outside when it’s snowing, but hey – at least you’re going indoors again very soon after that. And it is really nice to be back for classes – I’m pretty excited about my schedule, everything sounds really interesting.

Granted, the spring semester is relatively smaller than the Fall one, meaning we will spend less time together this time. But it doesn’t mean there’s less to talk about. Next week the school will host our customary Martin Luther King Jr. Week, with daily activities in the memory of one of the greatest leaders the country has ever seen.

It will be my pleasure to hopefully entertain you once again! Your attention is really appreciated and it’s shaping up to be a great semester.

Have a lovely day.

...

I'm sorry.