Medaille College News

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams saw their dreams of the “sweet sixteen” end, as the Mavs were overtaken by SUNY-IT, and the Lady Mavs fell to Marymount University in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.  More »

An article on Medaille’s community outreach projects in Buffalo appeared in the February 2010 newsletter of the Viable Futures Center. In addition to the successful Community 101 projects of the fall 2009 semester, the article highlighted Medaille’s upcoming initiative with the Buffalo City School District at Riverside Academy of Entrepreneurship and projects that connect with the Veterans Art Therapy Program with the Arts in Education Institute, the Niagara/Buffalo Riverkeepers, and the Buffalo Olmstead Parks Conservancy.

Three local leaders will speak with Medaille College students about their experiences in working to enhance the quality of life in the Buffalo region on Wednesday, February 24 from 6-7:15 p.m. at Medaille’s Buffalo Campus.

Dr. Donna Fernandes, president of the Buffalo Zoo, Crystal Rodriguez, executive director of the Commission on Citizens’ Rights and Community Relations, and Justin Azzarella, executive director of the Elmwood Village Association, will share their first-hand experiences while promoting their organizations and goals for community improvement.

With the city of Buffalo used as an extension of the traditional classroom, students in Medaille’s first-year learning communities are engaged in a year-long study of themes that connect to local community issues, and are challenged to move those issues outside the classroom and to reach for “real-world” solutions.

Dorthea King-Simpson, the director of family child care at the Rochester Childfirst Network, made the choice to advance her education at Medaille College in Rochester. “When I moved from Utica, NY to Rochester in 2004, Rochester’s unemployment pool was saturated with highly-educated individuals,” she says. “I knew that I needed to go back to school to remain competitive.”

Two years after graduating from Medaille College with a master’s in organizational leadership, King-Simpson offers that her choice was the right one. “My organizational leadership degree is paying me back exponentially. Every day, on the job, I work to show the staff at Rochester Childfirst Network that they, and their contributions to the agency, are valued – that they are paramount to our success,” she explains. “Medaille taught me how to build trust with, invest in, and to earnestly praise those with whom I work.”

For King-Simpson, the design of Medaille’s Accelerated Learning Program was a major factor in her selection of a Rochester-area business program. “Without Medaille’s accelerated program, flexible schedule, and convenient location to where I live and work, I would not have been able to make the necessary commitments for my personal development,” she says. “My Medaille degree has without a doubt, increased my value as a member of the leadership team in our organization.”

Medaille’s basketball teams have demonstrated their power within the AMCC by winning conference titles. The men’s basketball team held off Frostburg State in a home game to win their second-straight regular season conference title. And the Lady Mavs basketball team also won a close game over Frostburg, clinching their fourth regular season title in the past five seasons. More coverage at medaillesports.com »

After two years of coaching the women’s volleyball team, head coach Jake Beiter was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 list. Beiter graduated from Medaille in 2007. More »

The Medaille Perspective published its first issue of the spring semester, featuring articles on:

• A country torn: Haiti’s earthquake, with comments from Haitian native Dr. Craig Centrie
• Raising his Voice: sophomore Doug Page is the “voice of Medaille”
• Men’s Basketball nationally ranked among D-3 teams

Additional opinion, lifestyle, news and sports articles are available at medailleperspective.com.

Medaille College’s SIFE program, Students in Free Enterprise, has received a $750 grant from HSBC to support a collaborative project that promotes financial and physical health in area middle schools.

Medaille students are bringing the Junior Achievement “It’s My Business” curriculum to Buffalo’s parochial schools through a program called CHAMP, Choosing Healthy Alternatives through Mentoring and Play. This volunteer effort works to educate students in grades 5-8 on making better choices in food selection, and to promote the importance of exercise in personal and family units.

At St. Amelia’s School in Buffalo, four Medaille students work with middle-schoolers to set up “student markets” within the school. The students chose to create a healthy snack shop in the form of a “Smoothie Shack.” With guidance from the Medaille students about running a business, entrepreneurship and ethics, they will produce a business plan, advertising and marketing material, and a budget. The project will lead to a presentation by the St. Amelia’s students to their peers on why they chose this project and what it means for the school.

Medaille students travel to St. Amelia’s about twice each week to work with the students. “I like working with these kids; they’re a bright, fun group,” says Danielle Rollins, a sophomore in Medaille’s undergraduate business program. “When we asked them to think of a product they’d like to create, they were thinking big.” Instead of video games or toys, “one child talked about how he wanted to help his mom, a doctor, help other kids live a better life by finding cures for diseases,” she says.

Part of the HSBC grant will cover the costs of buying juicers, blenders, and supplies at St. Amelia’s. The rest will go toward similar efforts at other middle schools.

Students in Medaille College’s True Blue and Gold and Emerging Leaders Programs are working to rehabilitate a structure on the West Side of Buffalo. Over twenty sophomore and senior students at Medaille spent a combined total of 300 hours rehabilitating a house throughout the fall.

Medaille initiated the project in spring 2009 through collaboration with Harvey Garrett of the West Side Community Collaborative. This spring, Medaille students will continue their work through fund raising projects and reconstruction within the home. With faculty and staff support, students are learning to work in a group setting for one common goal, time management and scheduling. More significantly, the group is playing a part in the broader revitalization efforts on the West Side of Buffalo, and collaborating with citizen-leaders to make positive changes for that community.

After purchasing a dilapidated property at 376 Rhode Island Street in Buffalo for $1,650, Buffalo resident Rob Stuhr has worked diligently to renovate and restore the house. “[Medaille students] have been wonderful,” says Stuhr. “The amount of man-hours has helped in moving the project forward, and they help keep the energy going to move the project along.”

The Medaille College women’s basketball team conducted a trio of basketball clinics over the winter recess, teaching game fundamentals to children throughout Buffalo. More »