Friday, October 7

Saint Michael's Speakers

Author of Soul of a Citizen, Paul Loeb
One of my favorite aspects of student life here is the breadth of speakers that we get. So far I've been able to attend a panel on U.S foreign policy following 9/11 (which you can watch here), a talk by social activism speaker Paul Loeb, a panel on the U.S and Eurozone debt crisis, a workshop by diversity education specialist Maura Cullen, a "Faith and Food" panel that explained how Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism affect the eating habits of practitioners and a presentation on the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project.

Burlington mayoral candidate Jason Lorber shaking hands with an SMC student

There have also been some in-class opportunities for me to be challenged and inspired by working professionals. For my American Politics and Media class with David Mindich, I was able to go to a Labor Day speech by Bernie Sanders and then chat with Seven Days columnist Shay Totten, Burlington Free Press reporter Matt Ryan and Burlington mayoral candidate Jason Lorber.  Then in my my Media Revolutions class (which is mainly about media history and different mediums of communication), SMC alumnus Jonah Kessel came to talk to us about his post-grad experiences as an international photo and video journalist. It was inspiring and invigorating to see how much an SMC grad had accomplished and useful to hear the perspective of someone who had been through what we, as students, are currently experiencing.

Speaker representing a Vermont worker's union 
at Bernie Sander's Labor Day event

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