STUDENTS EMBRACE CHALLENGE

A Stonehill education encourages students to embrace challenge -- in the classroom, on the playing field and on many extra curricular fronts. 

Moreover, with the support and guidance of faculty and staff, our students rise to meet their challenges. The following profiles highlight student accomplishment, initiative, volunteerism, and struggle.

Scholar Athletes
For example, a recent Boston Globe article noted the academic success rate of Stonehill student athletes with the women’s cross country/track program holding a 100% record and the men’s program holding a 95% record. To read the article, visit here. 

Students Volunteer
In the Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex on Sunday February 10, more than 100 Stonehill student volunteers helped to make the Special Olympics basketball tournament a success for 500 special athletes from Southeastern Massachusetts and the large crowd who  cheered them on.

When Brockton’s MainSpring House recently needed volunteers for a census on the homeless, seven Stonehill students participated. 

According to George Watson, a housing case manager at MainSpring who also works in Stonehill’s mailroom, “The students responded to a last minute request, worked hard, and treated the people they met with respect. I was proud of them.”

Bound for Graduate School
English major Mike Ryan ’08 has been listed as one of 12 finalists for a prestigious American Graduate Fellowship from the Council of Independent Colleges. Should he be selected as one of the two winners, Ryan, who intends to pursue a doctorate in English at Brown University, would receive a $50,000 graduate fellowship, renewable for a second year.

Exploring Distant Lands
Upon returning from a semester at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, where she tutored local students, Hillary Weimont ’08 helped to organize a special interest house on campus focused on global issues. She also raises money for the tutoring project back in South Africa. 

Political Science major Greg Thomas ’09 is preparing to break ground by becoming the first Stonehill student to study in Korea. At present, he is busy at home in Connecticut mastering Korean. When classes begin shortly, Thomas will study at Yonsei University in Seoul taking courses in Korean, international politics, and economics.

Making a New Home
Endurance and determination describe the President of Diversity on Campus, Khalid Abdi ’08. After leaving Somalia as a refugee, he built an extended family with members of our cross country team. 

Injury prevented him  from running this year, yet Abdi attended practice regularly to support his teammates. 

Committed to a career in public health after he graduates in May, this Health Care Administration major recently served the Brockton HIV/AIDS community as an intern.

Courage in the Face of Adversity
Sadly, Lindsay Briggs ’08 is not in class this semester because the Cystic Fibrosis patient is awaiting a double lung transplant in Pittsburgh, Pa. Until recently, the Communication major was maintaining her studies and serving as the editor of The Summit. 

Her courage is remarkable and we pray for her return to campus. 

For more information about Lindsay and a Campus Ministry appeal on her behalf, visit here.

Issued February 8, 2008