Immerse yourself in a campus culture that's as eclectic as you are.
Taking the Lead
When Adam Smith ’15 entered SUNY Potsdam his freshman year, he never imagined he would be backpacking throughout the Adirondacks or scaling walls of ice and rock. Through the wilderness education program he gained leadership skills that set the stage for a successful career in outdoor education. Now he’s come full circle, back at SUNY Potsdam as an instructor in the same program where he was once a student.
When dozens of creatures wait in an empty building for you to show up, you know you’re essential. Among the unheralded individuals who keep a college campus going when no one is around to notice, two SUNY Potsdam students—Amber Rudolph ’20 and Morgan Gregg ’20—trudge through an echoing Stowell Hall three times a week on a mission: to care for, feed and give companionship to a mottled cadre of turtles, aquarium fish, geckos, bearded dragons and snakes.
The accomplished fashion designer and savvy entrepreneur Saad Hajidin ’88 has turned his company InPhorm into an ally in the fight against COVID-19—shifting his focus from manufacturing women’s activewear to producing protective face masks. The SUNY Potsdam alumnus has been working with his factory in Thailand to manufacture protective face masks that are fashionable and eco-forward, while also meeting guidelines set forth by the FDA.
Archaeology students Adam Jacobs ’20 and Mindy Thompson ’20 are determined to spread the historical and archaeological truths of their Akwesasne Mohawk heritage through SUNY Potsdam’s 2+2 Archaeological Studies Program where students complete their first two years at St. Lawrence College, and their involvement in Potsdam begins with a single archaeology class each semester to limit the amount of commuting necessary. By their third year, students are fully matriculated at Potsdam.
Stretching skyward from the tiny studio at the back of her Potsdam home, Rivka Rocchio, an assistant professor of theatre, uses her phone to record yoga techniques for her students. Her routine—like with every other professor and student at SUNY Potsdam—has shifted inward in the wake of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, and the social distancing that followed. Rocchio has responded—using technology to bridge the physical chasm between her and her students.
Making solutions, preparing samples, and studying reactions and the formation of complex ions in the lab—the show must go on. Fitting chemistry challenges onto the flat face of a computer has become a sudden and unexpected specialty for John Proetta '09. An instructional support assistant at SUNY Potsdam, his forte has traditionally been lab chemicals. Now, he has been thrust into the role of crafting and facilitating a unified approach to the online delivery of chemistry lab instruction. In a world where the old playbook has been thrown out, Proetta finds himself on tight deadline, working one-on-one to help instructors in their scramble to present their materials through the screen.
Monday marked the start of all online classes at SUNY Potsdam, the continuing journey toward our academic goals and with these, a test of our collective will and capacity. Our campus community members are offering snapshots into their own personal “new territory.” One benefit of these posts is that they may help us learn new methods and gain ideas from each other.
As a wounded service member returning from Iraq, alumnus James Wilkes ’01, ’06 & ’10 re-entered civilian life with a battery of injuries, including significant memory loss. For the past 15 years, he has been continuing to climb out of that darkness left behind in war. After receiving degrees in biology, business administration, and instructional technology and media from SUNY Potsdam, he went on to an impressive career at IBM. In his spare time, he tackles the most daunting endurance races on the planet—including recently completing the Quintuple Anvil Triathlon, with 703 miles of biking, running and swimming.
Jenn Belisle ’20 has thrown the doors of possibility wide open. The Crane School of Music student broadened her horizons when she took the plunge and traveled on a teaching assignment to another hemisphere.
After getting her Master of Music degree in vocal performance from SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, Melanie Shank ’16 landed a job at the most prestigious performing arts center in the world, working as the executive assistant to the vice president of concert halls and operations at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
With a tank of air on her back and fins on her feet, Natalia Anapolis ’20 stepped into the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia. The scuba diving adventure was a completely new experience for her—foreshadowing her work in Australia over the next few weeks as she stepped into a classroom as a student teacher for the first time. Last fall, Anapolis spent 13 weeks Down Under where she got to explore the continent, while also completing her student teaching placement as part of her degree in childhood/early childhood education.
For those willing to juggle university classes and commitment to children, the challenge of being a student parent also offers the sweet rewards of family. SUNY Potsdam parents Megan and Zachary Bovee share their story.
Amanda Moeller ’15 has leveraged a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from SUNY Potsdam to gain a master’s degree and a sought-after position with a multinational company. A member of several honors societies while at SUNY Potsdam, she is now the customer supply chain manager at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, where we caught up with her to chat about her undergraduate experiences.
The Adirondacks have stretched and formed LeighAnn Montaglione '20. When she graduates in May, she’ll take a suite of skills with her that will help connect her dual passion for photography and conservation.
SUNY Potsdam’s exercise science program has been a treadmill to success for Lucas Rucci ’20 and Wilber Parada ’20. Now in their final semester at SUNY Potsdam, both students were just accepted into the Doctor of Physical Therapy programs of their choice.
Last Friday, the North Country was blanketed in snow, but that didn’t stop the crowds from pouring into Maxcy Hall to support the Potsdam Bears for the 17th Annual Bear Pride Night. The tripleheader featured the women’s basketball, men’s basketball and women’s hockey teams as they faced off against Buffalo State. Join us for a look back at an exciting night at Maxcy Hall!
Amazon has nothing on Cameron Hewes ’15. The giant online retailer sells almost anything you can think of, but don’t expect to find specialized sheet music for the clarinet. For that, musicians can now turn to CAMco—the Crane School of Music alumnus’s new business that offers hundreds of options for purchasing sheet music composed specifically for the clarinet family of instruments.
After growing up in East Harlem, N.Y., Neishja Ransom ’17 never expected to be bushwhacking through the Adirondacks or dangling from rock climbing walls, but that all changed when she came to SUNY Potsdam. The wilderness education program provided her with skills ranging from wilderness first aid and rock climbing to leadership in the backcountry that she parlayed into a leadership position with the Girl Scouts of Greater New York.
Kayla Boyd continues to take on leadership roles on campus as a team leader in her entrepreneurship classes, the president of the Black Student Alliance, coordinator for Multicultural Weekend, and most recently as an instructor for Kayla’s Bootcamp, a high-intensity interval training fitness class offered through the Potsdam intramurals program. She will be graduating this May with a double major in business administration and creative writing.
Set high in the Rocky Mountains, Banff, Alberta, is known for its world-class skiing and prestigious film festival. But for Kelley DiPasquale, a non-traditional student in the music business program at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, it was something else entirely that drew her to the snowy mountain town. DiPasquale is in the middle of a six-month-long audio recording internship at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The hands-on practicum has allowed her to oversee professional audio recordings for bands like the Rapidgrass, a Colorado-based bluegrass quintet, and work with jazz drummer Jerry Granelli, best known for recording the “Charlie Brown Christmas” album with the Vince Guaraldi Trio.
Nicole Weed ’20, a senior in the Department of Anthropology, is currently working on a Presidential Scholars project looking at how technology has affected language and communication over time. With opportunities to work as a research assistant for Dr. Lydia Rodriguez and as an intern for Dr. Faris Khan, the culmination of her experiences has been paving the way for graduate school and a successful career as a linguistic anthropologist.
It’s never too late to go back to school. Just ask Tabitha Brown who is back in college after a 25-year hiatus. After raising a family and homeschooling her children, she decided it was time to complete her bachelor’s degree—starting the same year her daughter went off to college. Brown is now excelling as a non-traditional student in SUNY Potsdam’s Department of History where she has been delving into local history projects to explore Northern New York’s past.
For first-year students, there’s no better opportunity than the Environmental Studies Adirondack Experience. The unique program allows students to work with Dr. Glenn Johnson, Dr. Donald McNutt and Dr. Katherine Cleary as they focus on three disciplines (English, ecology and biology), set against the backdrop of the Adirondack Mountains. View a day in the life of our students exploring the Spring Pond Bog Preserve and the Wild Center in Tupper Lake as part of the Adirondack Experience.
Paul Dougall ’20 is a true Renaissance man. Now in his last year at SUNY Potsdam, he is completing not only a degree in music business, but two separate degrees in mathematics as part of the Department of Mathematics’ BA / MA program—a unique opportunity for highly motivated students to graduate with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics at the same time. Over the summer he landed an internship at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center where he was able to incorporate all of those disciplines.
Back when she was still a sophomore at SUNY Potsdam, alumna Rebecca Scholldorf ’15, a clarinet performance major at the Crane School of Music, decided to pursue a second degree in music business. It proved to be one of the best decisions of her life. After completing the required internship for her music business degree her senior year, she was immediately offered a job by that same company, DANSR, Inc., the exclusive distributor of Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces and accessories.
Scott Elliott ’21 has always wanted to be a teacher. After spending nearly 22 years as a musician in the U.S. Army, he’s turning that dream into a reality, as he pursues his master’s degree from SUNY Potsdam in childhood education, studying in Watertown. For more than two decades, he traveled the world playing his saxophone and clarinet to improve relations with other countries and support the troops. Now retired, his real-world experience will bolster his efforts in the classroom, as he follows his path to becoming a teacher.
After walking across the stage at Commencement in May, Ivy Huber ’19, a double major in middle/secondary English education and literature/writing, spent the summer teaching English to children in Italy. Now she’s back home to start her career as a sixth grade English teacher at Waterloo Middle School after successfully completing SUNY Potsdam’s teacher education program and two student teaching placements in St. Lawrence County.
SUNY Potsdam alumna Mary Catherine Sawyer ’19 landed her first job just months after graduating from SUNY Potsdam this year. With degrees in music education and theatre education—and extensive student teaching experiences as an undergraduate—she’s well prepared for her new career as a music teacher in the Bronx, N.Y.
