A group of students took part in a one-of-a-kind, and perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime, event on Wednesday, April 27. With a crowd of Medaille students, alumni, faculty, staff and media cheering them on, 19 seniors took less than ten minutes to “stuff” themselves inside the Medaille Bug, a 2000 Volkswagen New Beetle.

Guinness World Records approved Medaille’s attempt at a world record, which is held by a group in Austria that managed to fit 25 people inside a New Beetle.

Video by Chatham Marcolini ’14.

Additional pictures and video will be available on the Medaille Bug’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/medaillebug.

Medaille College honored contributions to community service in Western New York with its annual Founders’ Day Celebration on Wednesday, April 13. A reception, dinner and awards ceremony took place at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.

Ann McCarthy, consumer affairs manager for Wegmans, delivered keynote remarks on service, based on her longtime efforts to volunteer in the WNY community. She also received a Lifetime Service Award.

Recipients of the Fr. Medaille Awards included:

Crisis Services, organizational award.

Christopher Kreiger of WNY Heroes, Inc., individual award.

Khadija Osman, Medaille student, student award.

Medaille’s Scholars Program is hosting a Love Canal Community Forum on Monday, April 4, from 7-9 p.m. in the Main Building Lecture Hall. This event marks another piece of the semester-long project in which this group of students has studied and evaluated the ethical decisions surrounding Love Canal.  Luella Kenny, a noted local speaker and Love Canal homeowner and activist, will give the keynote remarks and will serve as a panelist, along with a local environmental attorney and a representative from the New York State Department of Health.

The WNY Student Leadership Conference is accepting workshop proposals for the event, scheduled for Saturday, April 2 at Medaille College’s Buffalo Campus. Organizers are looking for dynamic and engaging proposals that provide student leaders and students interested in leadership from across Western New York an opportunity to further develop their leadership skills. Preference will be given to sessions that are interactive and engage the audience. Visit the WNY Student Leadership Conference web site for the program proposal form and registration information. The deadline for proposals is February 1.

Earlier this month President Obama signed into legislation changes to the Post 9/11 GI Bill.  To see how these could affect veterans, click on the official news release here. 

“The provisions set forth in the improved Post 9/11 GI Bill mean increased financial aid and services to veterans wishing to attend college and receive a higher education,” said Sergio Rodriguez, coordinator of veterans recruitment at Medaille College.  “That, coupled with our participation in the Yellow Ribbon program, will make a huge difference in the lives (and pocketbooks) of veterans attending or wishing to attend Medaille.”

Recently ranked in a nationwide list of “Best for Vets” colleges, Medaille is proud to support veterans through scholarships and resources designed to recognize and reward their commitment to our country and community.

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Join us on January 22, 2011 when the Women’s (3:00 PM) and Men’s (5:00 PM) basketball teams take on Pitt-Greensburg. Receptions will be held at 3:45 PM and 5:45 PM and will take place on Medaille’s Buffalo Campus in the Sullivan Center. Drinks and food will be provided.
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Not a member of the Maverick Club? Join today.

The mission of the Maverick Club is to encourage and support the academic and athletic endeavors of the Maverick student athletes through promotion, attendance and financial support. Membership is open to alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends of the Medaille College Athletic Program.

Visit Medaille Sports for more information on players, coaches, Medaille’s athletic programs!

On December 6, students from WCMB, Medaille College’s radio station, joined a group of Buffalo fire fighters to distribute toys to children undergoing treatment at Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo through Stone’s Buddies, a program that provides chronically young children and their families a network of support.

 The Medaille students organized the effort, asking faculty, students and staff to donate books and toys and non-perishable food items to the patients.

 “I’m always amazed by the generosity the college and the community show towards others in need,” said Lisa Marsherall, Clinical Associate Professor and Chairperson of Medaille’s Communication Program.  “Thanks to the care and concern by not only the students who organized this effort, but those who contributed, we were able to make the holidays just a little brighter for some very special kids and their families.”

On Friday, December 10, the Kevin I. Sullivan Campus Center at Medaille College was filled with over 350 first-year students as they presented the results of their community-based learning projects completed over their first semester at the college’s annual Community 101 Fair.

 Displaying multimedia and poster presentations to faculty, staff, students and community representatives, the goal of Community 101 is to extend learning beyond the classroom by exploring Buffalo’s history, ecology, technology, leadership and more through hands-on  research and collaboration with local organizations. Sample projects included:

 Balanced Measures: Accommodating Individual and Community Needs: After examining various youth intervention agencies that service the city of Buffalo, students worked with youth at the Northwest Buffalo Community Center.  Combining this experience with research on youth intervention agencies, students developed position papers on how communities can best serve at-risk youth through intervention and mentoring services.

 Diversity and Immigration in Our Society: Through research and a service project with Journey’s End, students explored the struggles that refugees face, myths about immigration, and the ways in which organizations in WNY work with refugees.  As a result, students organized a campus donation drive in partnership with Journey’s End and documented the achievements and challenges they experienced while working to serve refugee populations.

 Strangers, Weirdoes, and Rebels: The Power and Danger of Difference in Society: After exploring the recent video campaign It Gets Better, which targets anti-gay bullying, students produced three powerful video messages to marginalized groups in their own community: LGBT youth, youth affected by poverty and homelessness and incarcerated youth.

 Unearthing Identity: Students examined local identity from an archeological perspective.  Through work with the University of Buffalo’s Archeology Lab, students learned how artifacts provide a unique understanding of the early history of WNY and used their research to create a time capsule to capture what future archeologists of Buffalo may uncover about our local identity in 2010.

 “Over the past few years, the Community 101 projects have shown how a renewed emphasis on contributing to the local community is reciprocally beneficial,” said Brad E. Hollingshead, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Foundational Learning & Assessment at Medaille.  “As students connect to the story and institutions of Buffalo, their creative energies and talents, as well as those of their teachers, are brought to bear on important local issues.  At the same time, the opportunity for students to integrate and apply their classroom learning to real-world problems is a potent means for realizing the college’s academic mission.” 

 “It is a pleasure to watch these students engage with their subject matter, said Alan Bigelow, Ph.D., Professor of Humanities at Medaille.  “They are venturing out into the community, a community which some of them were born in, and others are seeing for the first time.  They are actively exploring their surroundings, and applying research and critical thinking skills to analyze local problems and issues.” 

Information about Community 101 ws also posted to WGRZ’s community website.

 With campuses in Buffalo, Amherst and Rochester, Medaille College (medaille.edu) is a dynamic, private college committed to serving the higher education needs of western New York. Medaille is known for its flexible delivery systems, offering master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees through day, evening, weekend and online programs.

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On November 29 and December 1, 2010, Medaille students facilitated two afternoon workshops in Intercultural Communication for participants in the Site-Based Mentoring Program of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County. The workshops were held at The Belle Center on Buffalo’s West Side, where dozens of big and little brothers and sisters of various ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds enjoyed the opportunity to learn new skills, build trust, and enhance communication across lines of difference. Medaille students enrolled in the Fall 2010 course, INT 325: Intercultural Communication, were responsible for researching, designing, and running the workshops.

Workshop 1, held on November 29, entitled “Culture and Identity: Puzzling Them Out and Piecing Them Together,” was designed and facilitated by Michelle Artessa, Melissa Bowman, Casey Dunlap, Kyle Platt, Kaitlin Pughakoff, and Dan Tomaka.  This workshop focused on improving mutual understanding by sharing personal stories, listening and attending to how others communicate, and reflecting upon how people are connected across difference. The activities sought to strengthen the relationship between big and little brothers and sisters by building trust and interpersonal insight.

Workshop 2, held on December 1, entitled “Directions, Intersections, and New Connections: Exploring Communication,” was designed and facilitated by Megan Bagley, Jessica Deth, James Faber, Bridget George, Justin Kirkpatrick, James Luthart, Marilyn Meyer, John Ranieri, Rocco Vaccaro, and Michele Wiepert. This workshop offered participants a chance to think about the intersections of their interests, values, and communication-styles in a new light. The activities sought to build intimacy and trust between big and little brothers and sisters by encouraging participants to cooperatively solve communication challenges.    

Dr. Matthew Bowker, instructor of the course and supervisor of the project, said: “I am tremendously impressed with what students were able to accomplish in a single semester. Many had little or no experience with the particulars of intercultural communication or with the specific needs of our community partner, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County. Yet they found a way to translate the often abstract and theoretical lessons they were learning into effective, age-appropriate, and enjoyable activities for a diverse group of young participants. They should be recognized for their important service and for the lasting relationships they have built with people and organizations in our community.”

The Buffalo News captured a beautiful image of Medaille’s 5th annual tree lighting ceremony last night, where faculty, students and staff gathered to officially usher in the holiday season.  The Medaille community also contributed personalized ornaments to display.

Click here for the Buffalo News Picture Page