Hi everyone!

For those of you who have continued to read this blog throughout the semester, THANK YOU! I have had a ton of fun having the opportunity to write for bLAb and I look forward to doing so again beginning in January.  I have thoroughly enjoyed working on my own writing and providing the Siena College community with a look inside to what the School of Liberal Arts has to offer.

Tonight, I attended my last event of the semester, A Festival of Lessons in Carols, which was put on by the Siena College Creative Arts Department.  This Advent Prayer Service featured the incredible talents of the Siena College Chorus, Chamber Singers, and the Psalm 150 Ministry, alongside the expert teachings of Tim Reno and Kate Kaufman Burns.  The chapel was jam-packed when I arrived, so much so that extra chairs had to be set up for more audience members! There were Christmas decorations everywhere and an absolutely beautiful manger was constructed on the altar.  Christmas is truly one of my favorite times of year and to be able to take an hour from studying and working on finals was such a relief! The audience was invited to join in on several of the songs along with the chorus and there was such a sense of community and happiness in the room, despite just how busy this entire week has been.

The talent during the service was amazing, from the vocals to the instrumentalists, to the speakers, each member of the audience truly was drawn in by the songs.  My favorite piece by far was “Joy to the World,” particularly for the trumpet solos that rang throughout the chapel among the other instruments.  Each note was blended perfectly and I was so happy to see several names of Siena alumni listed in the program as performers.  This time of year really is one that brings people together with a sense of peace and love and as a senior, I am so glad that I was able to be a part of this.

Were you able to attend this service? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Julia

Student Intern

Hi guys!

As a Liberal Arts major, I am always interested to hear what Siena alumni are doing nowadays, despite what their majors were here at Siena.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend an event hosted by the School of Business, a talk that featured Steven Schwartz who graduated Siena with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting.  Steven is the president and founder of Global Service Consultants, which essentially specializes in closing the gap between the areas of insurance/risk management and information security.  He specifically talked about our own personal data and how cyber security has become a major issue to people all over the world.  With so much being online nowadays, it’s easy for various accounts to be hacked and Steven heavily emphasized that we must keep track of everything we do on the internet, specifically keeping track of our personal data.  I found that learning about the risks of the internet and the importance of cyber security to be extremely helpful.  As intern for the School of Liberal Arts, I work significantly with social media sites and I hope to do so in the future.  Social media sites can be hacked very easily if the proper precautions are not taken and I believe that Steven’s presentation will help me to prevent these problems from arising in my professional career.

I was very excited to see that the event was absolutely PACKED. Every seat in the Maloney Great Room was taken and students were sitting on the floor and were lined up against the walls, just to hear Steven give his presentation.  Although Steven is not much older than the rest of us (having graduated from Siena in 2011), I was surprised to see how accomplished he currently is.  He has had several excellent jobs since graduating Siena and now is the president of his own company.  Although I will not be going into the fields of accounting or cyber security, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to see where a Siena College education can take me.

Thanks for reading!

Julia

Student Intern

Morning everyone!

I hope all of your weeks are going well, especially those who are about to embark on the dreaded finals week! I myself am about to begin finals in less than a week and will admit, I have been pretty stressed out lately.  However, last week, I was able to put aside a couple of hours to attend the Siena College Fall Semester Concert and am SO glad that I did.  The concert featured the talents of the Siena College Chamber Orchestra and was conducted beautifully by Dr. Paul Konye, one of Siena’s own Creative Arts professors.  The Beaudoin Theater was packed with students, parents, friends, and faculty and I was very surprised to see that the orchestra itself was comprised of both Siena students and musicians from the community!

Although I do not personally listen to classical music, I was amazed by how difficult the performance pieces were.  The orchestra was not only comprised of string instruments, but of others as well and the blending of sounds was absolutely beautiful.  The concert featured a series of pieces, some that were lively and fun to listen to and others that were a bit slower, but I found each of them drawing in my attention more and more.  The opening piece even featured four middle school students from one of the charter schools in Albany, each of whom was extremely talented!

This event has been one of the most memorable I have been able to attend this semester, but not only for the incredible talent that I was able to watch.  I am a senior this year (YIKES) and up until now, I didn’t even know that the Creative Arts Department hosted a fall semester concert.  The Creative Arts Department has so much to offer to the rest of the Siena College Community, yet not that many people know about the events. This is why I am working for the School of Liberal Arts.  I want to give students on campus the opportunity to attend these events and to see what their fellow Saints have to offer.  I truly wish that I had known about events like these when I was a freshman because I absolutely would have attended more of them.  So, for those of you reading this that go to Siena, or even for those who may be attending another school, find out what events each department is hosting! They really are a blast to go to and you’ll end up learning a LOT along the way!

Were you able to go to the concert? Let me know in the comments what you thought!

Julia

Student Intern