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Around Campus

Spring Semester 2024

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Event

To honor and celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Marist hosted an event that featured prominent speakers taking part in a panel discussion, called The Asian Experience in America: Religion, Culture, and Entrepreneurship. The event was the first of its kind at Marist, and helped foster growth and learning, as well as celebrated Asian faculty, staff, and students’ contributions to the Marist community.
The Asian Alliance Club helped promote the event, which was co-sponsored by the Marist Center for Multicultural Affairs and featured radio personality Angela Yee, host of iHeartRadio’s Way Up, entrepreneur and Director of Lovett Commercial Kirby Liu, and Marist faculty including Dr. Sang-Keun Yoo, Assistant Professor of English and Dr. Brian Loh, Lecturer of religious studies. The event was hosted by Marist alumna Kenya Gipson ’12/’15M.
Engaging the community: “This event allowed us to highlight the diversity and creativity of our faculty and alumni and promote a culture of belonging for our Asian American and International communities,” said Dr. Aundrea Matthews, program director in Marist’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The groups involved hope the event will grow each year to broaden the knowledge and engagement with the diverse communities of Marist.

Runway of Dreams Adaptive Fashion Show

Spotlight on inclusion in fashion: For the second year, Runway of Dreams held its adaptive fashion runway show in the McCann Center. Adaptive fashion is clothing designed to help those with difficulties dressing themselves due to disability, age, or lack of mobility. The clothing is designed to be easier to put on, adjust, and remove.
A diverse group of models took part in the show, ranging from seven to 44 years old, a wide community of people including those with scoliosis, cerebral palsy, blindness, and hidden disabilities.
Sponsors pitch in: Clothing and footwear donations for the show came from companies like Zappos, Billy’s Footwear, and Sparkies. The Runway of Dreams executive board and club members, along with organizational and faculty advisors organized and prepared for the event, working with the sponsors, models, event programming, and marketing.
Dreaming big: The Runway of Dreams Foundation is a nonprofit working toward a future of inclusion and opportunity in fashion for the over one in four adults in the United States living with a disability. The foundation raises awareness and advocates for change in the fashion industry and helps foster the next generation of leaders by working with campuses across the country.

Student Global Leadership Conference

Capping off a year abroad in Ireland, students who participated in the First-Year Dublin Experience (FDE) program traveled to London in April for the Student Global Leadership Conference (SGLC). Hosted by the Foundation for International Education, the SGLC provided these Red Foxes with the opportunity to network and share research with students and professionals from around the world.
Goals: The SGLC aims to foster research and discussion on sustainability, diversity, inclusivity, social justice, and human rights. It began in 2013, and this year's event took place at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
Presentations: Several Marist students presented their research at the conference, covering topics from the impact of listening to music on leadership to how media influences mental health.
Takeaways: Mary Dutcher '27, part of a group presenting on media and mental health, said, "The experience was a nice way for me to practice my public speaking about a topic I am passionate about, especially since it was with a group of people my own age who are also passionate about the topic." Lizbeth Santos-Cruz '27, who presented on music and leadership, said, "The experience for me was really great! It pushed me out of my comfort zone made the London trip unforgettable!"

Sustainable Semester Sweep Out

Move-out season is one of the most wasteful times of year at any collegiate institution, with the average college student producing about 640 pounds of waste.
The annual Semester Sweep Out is a campus-wide initiative aimed at reducing the waste produced by students during move-out. Students encourage the Marist community to participate in the event, ensuring usable items typically discarded are instead donated to the community.
Volunteers Sweep In: This year saw the most student volunteers ever at the Sweep Out event, as students worked to make move-out less wasteful and more sustainable. They encouraged students to donate, collected and sorted items, and even helped load donations right into local community partner trucks!
Giving Back to the Community: Marist students partnered with 10 local nonprofits in Dutchess County, donating to Hudson River Housing, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, Grace Smith House, Dutchess Outreach, Hope on a Mission, Children's Home of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess Outreach Acts of Kindness, Fareground and A Giving Heart Ministry. 
Semester Sweep Out Leadership: This year’s Sweep Out Director, Sophia Orr ’26, said that she took over the Semester Sweep out after last year’s director Kat Wiehe ’23 graduated, so that she could continue to give back to underprivileged in the local community and promote sustainability with her team of volunteers.

Debate Club Returns to the Top

It’s been 15 years since Marist was last represented in competitive debate tournaments. Marketing major Matt McCann ’26 and criminal justice major Dasha O’Brien ’27 got together to form the resurgent team.
Champions once more: Matt and Dasha took first place at the final tournament on April 14 at SUNY Rockland, winning all three of their 45-minute debates. Matt also was the first-place individual speaker at the tournament.
The team was tested in impromptu debate, in which debaters are assigned a topic and a position on that topic. They are then given 10 minutes to form their arguments, which can be about legal, moral, and ethical issues. Impromptu debate is also one of the most accessible competitions for schools with smaller debate programs.
“We have a lot of plans for the future of the Debate Club at Marist,” said the club’s director of marketing, Valeria Morineu ’26, a marketing major. “We are very excited to see how much it can grow from there.” The club plans to resume next academic year, and any students interested in joining this fall can email the club’s webmaster, Jakie Linares ’25 (Jakeline.Linares1@marist.edu).

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