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Around Campus

Spring Semester 2023

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Celebration of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

In case you missed it: Marist College hosted its 21st Celebration of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (CURSCA). The event highlighted undergraduate research projects and gave students a platform to showcase their findings to the Marist community.
Celebrating students: Around 90 students participated in the showcase, with 83 participating in the poster presentations and others showcasing videogames, reading poetry, or discussing their Model UN experience. The research project topics ranged from ChatGPT to adaptive clothing to celebrity drama.
Why it matters: CURSCA allows students, faculty mentors, professors, and staff from every school to gather and absorb their peers' diligent undergraduate research. Attendees included deans, President Kevin Weinman, and Dr. James Snyder, Dean for Academic Engagement. Synder noted that, “CURSCA matters because it curates some of the best work of our students who have benefited greatly from the mentoring of our faculty. Most of the projects have also been presented at conferences, which is an unparalleled experience for our students in terms of their careers as students. Marist excels at creating these types of high-touch experiences for our students.”

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$1,000 Prize for the Mahsa Amini Social Media Contest

Spreading the word: Mahsa Amini was a young Iranian girl whose death sparked the Woman-Life-Freedom movement in Iran last fall. Dr. Mohammadali Koorank Beheshti, Assistant Professor of Marketing, organized a social media contest to raise awareness about human rights conflicts and provide a platform for young freedom activists.
Getting students involved: The contest invited students from every major to create social media content that narrates inspirational stories about oppressed freedom activists. The goal was for students to step into the role of social activists and learn how to create videos that promote humanity and freedom of speech.
Financially supporting young activists: The 10 finalists had the chance to attend an award ceremony in the Cabaret on May 3, where faculty, staff and fellow students could review their projects. The winner, Meg Pieper '23, was awarded a cash prize of $1,000 and a plaque. The contest also had a $300 cash prize for the people’s choice winner, which was given to Caitlin Camilleri '25. These cash prizes will allow these young activists to continue to spread the word about this pressing conflict.
To learn more about the human rights conflict, visit here.

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Marist Farmer & Flea Market

Let’s recap: The semesterly Marist Farmer and Flea Market brought the dining tent to life with fresh food, clothing, and live music by a new student band, 308 Band. The market was a collaboration between the Ethical Fashion Initiative Club (EFI) Ethical Fashion Initiative Club (EFI), Students Encouraging Environmental Dedication (SEED) Club, and Marist Dining.
Collaborating with the community: One of the event’s goals was to highlight small and local businesses. The market was filled with racks of clothing and handmade goods from nine second-hand clothing vendors and two student vendors invited by EFI. Marist Dining also invited local food businesses like Picolandia Food to attend.
The Big Picture: This event promotes supporting local businesses and sustainably sourced foods and fashion. Billy Teed ’26, Social Chair of EFI, said, “We want to continue to support and grow small businesses who value and practice sustainable growth and awareness.”
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Marist College Dance Ensemble Showcase: Illuminate

A long-standing tradition: Being the largest student-run organization on campus with over 300 members, the Marist College Dance Ensemble (MCDE) is a 31-year-old club with over 60 showcases in the books. According to Dance Ensemble President Julia Romero ’23, “MCDE’s purpose is to be inclusive to everyone who wants to dance.”
MCDE illuminates Marist: The annual dance showcase featured styles of dance ranging from Irish step to contemporary to hip hop. There were 23 dances this year, all choreographed by 30 students, with over 1,000 audience members throughout the weekend. Dancers also invited select seniors to choreograph a senior dance, giving seniors the unique chance to be spotlighted and to dance as a group one last time before they graduate.
Bringing light to the Marist community: This year, the theme was “illuminate” because MCDE worked to light up the stage with passion, creativity, and original student choreography. The theme also aligns with shedding light on the talent and diversity of MCDE through the performances.

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Spring Concert 2023: The Driver Era

Music in the air: The Spring concert returned to Marist with special guests The Driver Era & Flipp Dinero. Organized by The Student Programming Council (SPC), the concert drew over 1,500 student attendees, a strong turnout given this was the first time Marist hosted an artist for a spring concert since pre-pandemic.
Austin Moon stars at Marist: The Driver Era is a music group with brothers Ross Lynch and Rocky Lynch. Previously known for their popular music group “R5”, the group started in 2018. You may be familiar with the name Ross Lynch, who also played the role of Austin Moon on the Disney Channel Show “Austin & Ally.” Their set list consisted of newer songs like “Malibu” to songs from Ross’ Disney Channel days like “On My Own.”
"Flipp” -ing the genre: Opening act Flipp Dinero is a rapper who is best known for his single, “Leave Me Alone,” which was released in 2018 and received over 525 million plays on Spotify.
Bringing the school together: Like most events on campus organized by the SPC, the spring concert allows students from every grade level and major to come together and have some fun!

Around Campus