Morning everyone!

I hope you’re all enjoying this fabulous snow day! So, the spring 2017 career, internship and grad school fair is coming up on MARCH 114th and I know what you might be thinking.  “That’s only for upperclassmen” or “I have plenty of time before I have to apply to an internship.” Don’t worry, this is the thought on a lot of students’ minds when they hear about an event like this! However, I can tell you as a student intern (and senior) that it’s never too early to start applying for internships. Getting as much experience as possible not only is a fantastic way to build up your resume, but it’ll strengthen your confidence when you enter the workplace.  You absolutely do not have to wait until you’re a senior to start applying for these opportunities, nor should you! You also should try to be open to ANY internship opportunity that comes your way.  It’s fantastic to be able to work as an intern in the field that you’re interested in, but it’s also great to work in a field that you may not particularly enjoy.  You’re still going to get experience in a professional setting and you’ll learn how to conduct yourself an a professional environment that may not be quite as desirable as you would like.

This career, internship, and grad school fair is also a great opportunity to network yourself! One of the most important things in preparing yourself for the future is to figure out who you know and who you can meet in the field. Don’t ever be afraid to introduce yourself at an event like this, or to start a conversation.  Even if they don’t offer you a job right on the spot, talking to people may just get you that information that WILL get you a full time position one day.

The Spring 2017 Career, Internship, and Grad School Fair is on March 14th from 3pm-6pm in the MAAC and registration is now OPEN! To register, head over to CareerSaint and access the 14th Annual Spring Career, Internship & Graduate School Fair 2017 under Attend Events section on the homepage.

All students are highly encouraged to attend and I hope to see you there!

Julia (Student Intern)

Hey guys!

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to write for bLAb and it feels great to be back! I had the chance to attend my first event of the semester yesterday and I have to say, it wasn’t something I have ever been to before.

The news in the US hasn’t exactly been positive or uplifting these past couple of weeks, especially with President Trump’s immediate travel ban after the inauguration.  Many people are scared, angry, and uncertain about what the future holds, but many have also come together in support and protest of their friends, family and colleagues.  Yesterday, I had the chance to attend a solidarity sit-in to support my fellow Saints who are Muslim and I am so glad that I did! Until yesterday, I had never been to a rally and didn’t quite know what it was going to be like.  I was very happy to see how big the turnout was and I saw so many people that I knew! Students, faculty, administrators, people from all over campus joined the crowd in front of the SSU to listen to powerful words about peace, freedom of religion, and loving one another.  I was especially pleased to hear some of Siena’s own friars speak!

I was so inspired by the sense of community during the event! Siena College is like a community in it of itself and in times like these, a community needs to stick together. Being able to hear the words of support from each person that spoke really made me realize what Siena College and its Franciscan values is really about.  It doesn’t matter who someone is or where they’re from or what religion they practice, they are irreplaceable and valuable parts of the Siena Saints community.  Attending this rally was very eye opening and I very much hope to see more events on campus like this in the future.

Did you attend the sit-in yesterday? Let me know in the comments!

Julia

Student Intern

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

Hello everyone!

For the last thirty seven years, Dr. Paul Murray of the Siena College Sociology Department has taught a Civil Rights Movement course.  Now, this course isn’t what most may think and while it does examine the major events and people that we hear about in textbooks such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and the famous bus boycott, and the words of Malcolm X, this class goes a little bit deeper.  Dr. Paul Murray, along with his students, discusses the average, everyday people that were there, the ones that were the inspirational and driving force behind the events of the Civil Rights Movement.

This past spring semester, Dr. Murray knew he would be retiring and that this Civil Rights Movement class would be his last.  He, along with the help of some of his students, filmed every single class and discussion.  He invited many of his friends whom had witnessed and even participated in these events firsthand, to speak to the class about their experiences.  Over the course of the semester, the class quickly grew to more than just a group of college students.  Dr. Murray’s friends who were invited, along with other professors from various areas, often stayed to discuss topics with students and small groups of high school students often attended the meetings as well. Dr. Murray, along with two of his students, spent six weeks over the summer compiling and editing over thirty hours of footage and placing together the amazing stories into a film that I was able to view tonight.

As soon as I entered the room, I could immediately feel the sense of community among the audience members.  Everyone seemed to know one another and I could tell that each and every one of them had come to support Dr. Murray! Even some of Dr. Murray’s students from the Civil Rights Movement class and his First Year Seminar classes were able to attend the event and I can quite honestly say that I’m very disappointed that I was not able to take the Civil Rights class with Dr. Murray! He was so welcoming and greeted each person who came in the room, even when they entered in the middle of his introduction.

The film itself was none other than incredible.  Throughout my years as a student, I have been taught the same aspects of the Civil Rights Movement in all of my history classes.  Like others, I was only given information about the major figures and events that occurred during the time, but this film allowed me to see the genuine experiences from people who had actually lived during the Civil Rights Movement.  Each of the firsthand accounts, particularly by Jim Owens, Mikki Conn, and the dean of the School of Liberal Arts, Jim Harrison.  At only eighteen years old, Mikki Conn was arrested for sitting with a group of white people in a segregated cafe and spent the weekend in jail. I couldn’t believe how young she was! However, the actions that each of these speakers took during the Civil Rights Movement to make a difference was extraordinarily humbling.  The major figures that arose during the Civil Rights Movement that we are taught in our history classes did make a difference, but it was the decisions and actions of the citizens that really fueled the movement.

Were you able to attend the event? If you did, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Julia

Student Intern

Hello everyone!

I hope you’re all having a nice and relaxing weekend! As many of you already know, the Creative Arts Department and Stage III Theater Club here at Siena College puts on a production each fall semester and last Thursday, I was able to attend the opening performance of “The Glass Menagerie.” This play, originally written by Tennessee Williams, takes place in St. Louis, Missouri and tells the story of the (very) eccentric and slightly irritating Amanda Wingfield, her shy daughter Laura, and her aspiring author son, Tom.  I had read this play in one of my high school English class, so I was able to go into the performance with a slight knowledge of the story, but I was slightly unsure of what the live version would look like.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people attended the performance, including several members of Siena’s alumni! I also really liked how the set was designed because although it was very simple and stayed the same throughout the entirety of the show, it was still very beautiful and perfect for the time period.  Along with the old fashioned music that was played during the performance, I honestly started imagining myself as part of that time period!

Although the cast only consisted of four members, I could immediately tell how many hours of preparation and practice had gone into this performance. Not only was the overall acting incredible, but the Southern accents that each member displayed throughout the performance was none other than perfect! The cast actually was able to work closely with a dialect coach, Paul Riccardi, for several weeks during rehearsals, who instructed them on how to perfect their Southern accents.  Their long hours of practice definitely showed because I was so impressed at the authenticity of their accents! Each member of the cast is to be commended, as well as each and every member of the crew because working with such an iconic play can be very difficult at times.  However, this performance truly did Tennessee William’s masterpiece justice and I am so glad that I was able to attend.

If you have a chance to, “The Glass Menagerie” will be performed on November 18th and 19th at the Beaudoin Theater in Foy Hall at Siena College. See the above flyer for specific details and let me know in the comments if you do attend and what you think!

Julia

Student Intern

Hi guys!

For the past week and a half, the Siena College School of Liberal Arts has held three Student Internship Panels (the last one being tonight) and I had the pleasure of being one of the  panelists! Interns of various majors and areas of studies were selected and were asked questions, mostly by Ashley Dwyer and the team from the Career Center.  We were given the opportunity to talk not only about what we are doing at our internships, but also about our application/ interview process and what we are planning to take away from these experiences.

I have to say, it was a little bit nerve-wracking at first to see so many people there! However, I immediately found it easy to speak about my internship here at the School of Liberal Arts because I truly am enjoying my experiences.  I have the opportunity to interact with both students and faculty on a more professional level and I am able to market events and information through the means of social media, which is something I hope to be able to do in my professional career. Through this internship, I have learned more about conducting myself in front of large groups of people and about public speaking and I was able to successfully use both of these tools during the internship panel.  During the event, I also had the pleasure of meeting Alicia Pepe, who is Siena College’s new Student Internship Coordinator.  She was very enthusiastic to meet all of us, it being her very FIRST day on campus, and she couldn’t wait to hear what we had to say about Siena’s current internship program.

I feel very honored to be working with the School of Liberal Arts and to have had the opportunity to serve as a panelist at the event.  For whoever may be reading this, whether you’re a Siena student or faculty member or whether you may be from another school, consider going to events like these! They can be so incredibly helpful if you’re looking for an internship and don’t ever be afraid to ask questions of the panelists!

Julia

Student Intern