St. Mary's River Life: The Admissions Office Blog

Life at St. Mary's, The Public Honors College. Photos, videos, tips, and facts about liberal arts on the St. Mary's River. Run by Student Ambassadors in the Office of Admissions. Visit us daily at 10am and 1pm.

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Hello everyone! My name is Sophia! I am a sophomore, majoring in French and self designing a second major, Global Studies. Outside of my classes, I am in involved in a bunch of stuff on campus; I am the Philanthropy Fellow for the Office of Advancement, a member of the Field Hockey team, I am in Dance Club, and an Orientation Leader. One of my favorite spots on campus is actually the varsity athletic field during sunrise in the spring. It is incredibly gorgeous! Also, one fun fact about me is that I grew up living in Africa!

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In our on campus gallery (Boyden Gallery) the opening of a new display features a piece from sophomore artist, Briana. Attached is her artist statement: “This piece is just as it looks. There is a growing tension between the minorities in the USA and the government. Rising police brutality and an increasing gap between the social classes have ignited a flame of distrust and hatred within POC in communities across America. My piece is a bold look of my view of the changing country. It is an homage to The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. I made it this way so it is recognizable to those viewing it but also makes them wonder about the meaning. As God created Adam, imperialism created the African American. From a society that created us, we are now breaking away from what they expected us to be." Feel free to check out this amazing piece which stands in congruence with many other breathtaking pieces of art.

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Smcm’s first snowfall of the year! Classes are on per usual but the walk to class is beautiful as ever

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Our Southern Maryland Counselor, Jessica (Class of 2016), gave a presentation at Thomas Stone High School’s Parent Night yesterday. She talked to parents and students about the college process in general, and also a little bit about what makes SMCM special. Her favorite question of the night was “Is the food good?” Jessica, who’s favorite day in the Great Room is any day with french toast sticks, was happy to talk about our cafeteria.

If you’re curious about the menu, you can check it out here!

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This was our last visitor for 2016! Mack came to visit the Office of Admissions before we close for Winter Break. The college will reopen on January 4, 2017. 

We all wish you safe and wonderful holidays, and look forward to the visitors 2017 brings!

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And here's a clip from a hit at karaoke last night! Good luck on those last few finals!

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Here's some of the shenanigans from last night's midnight breakfast! This amazing tradition is during finals week and all you need to get is a valid student ID, students loving coming for a nice study break and laughing with their friends for a last hoorah of the semester.

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Happy Finals week Sunday! This time next week everyone will be back home for winter break. Until then we hope everyone was able to catch the amazing sunset this evening for a nice study break! Tomorrow morning is the first set of finals, good luck to all! 

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Club Highlight! Love Your Melon Campus Crew is one of the newer clubs on campus. This club is a nationwide project started by college students just like us! This club works to bring awareness about childhood cancer. The company makes hats and other great products and with every product bought a hat is donate to a child combating cancer. Our campus crew has a passion for bringing this awareness and helping those in need. They frequently table at events on campus and hope to bring a smile along the way. 

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That’s right! Classes for the semester are officially over! Monday marks the first set of finals. Although this is exciting news for current students this unfortunately means Admissions is closed for visits. But we hope to see you when we return from break. Stay in touch with the blog as we update you on what is going on with our students during finals and winter break!

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Here are some action shots from this semester’s dance show taken by a student photographer, Scott, from the school newspaper “The Point News.” Be sure to look for a copy of the next printing of the school paper. It can also be accessed online at: http://thepointnews.com

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Even on a rainy day here at St. Mary’s it’s still a sight like no other! The rain doesn’t bring the happy vibes on campus down students can still be seen enjoying all that SMCM has to offer. 

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Biology Department Highlight

As a Biology student at St. Mary’s, you’ll feel welcomed into a close-knit community of faculty, staff, and peers bound by a love for life and living organisms. From world-class facilities, like our wet lab and axolotl lab, to an accomplished group of faculty who know each of their students individually, the Department of Biology will provide the tools to help you achieve whatever personal and professional goals you hold.

The Major

We offer both a major and a minor in Biology here at St. Mary’s. Classes are small, and are all taught by our professors which have doctorates. Each major is required to complete a St. Mary’s Project, and each student also completes original research before they graduate.

The Opportunities

There are a variety of research, study abroad, and internship opportunities available to biology majors at St. Mary’s. Interested in sustainability? The St. Mary’s River is an amazing natural resource right on campus for our students. Like our oyster restoration project. Want to go into medicine? Our Health Sciences Advisory Committee will work with you as you prepare for medical, veterinary, or dental school.

The Careers

Recent employers of our graduates include the National Park Service, the Smithsonian, National Institutes of Health, PAX River, and more. St. Mary’s biology graduates also go on to a variety of impressive graduate schools, including Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Duke, and others. 

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Writing & Speaking Center

One of the many resources for student here on campus is the writing and speaking center located in the annex of the library. The center is directed by an English department professor each year and the tutors are trained for a semester before getting to work. The tutors are students from a wide variety of studies. This resource is commonly used during the finals week session we are currently in. 

The writing center can help you with any part of your paper from getting started to a final look through. The sessions can be blocked for a half an hour to an hour.  The speaking center aspect is for the dreaded oral presentations. During your session you will practice your oral presentation and they will give you feedback as well as a video of your presentation to consult. Another perk is if you waited a little too late to get an appointment through the writing center there is an online bot that will assist you in editing your own work. The purpose of this is to help our students achieve their goals with their work and take them from the high school level of writing and speaking into the collegiate level professors expect from the honors students. 

Already a student and this is new information here’s how to sign up for an appointment: http://www.smcm.edu/writingcenter/

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This past weekend the Dance Club, our largest club on campus, has their end of the semester show! Every show sold out (and very quickly at that!) One of the night’s intermission piece was a collaboration with the St. Mary’s Best Buddies club. Here’s a photo from after they preformed! It truly was a great show and to see all the happy faces on stage was amazing as always.

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Happy Sunday everyone! Here is a beautiful shot of our river from the warmer days, if you look close enough you can see some students enjoying paddle boarding on the river!

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TBT here’s a photo of President of the college J. Renwick Jackson throwing a frisbee in 1977! Happy Thursday everyone, we hope you have a wonderful day.