Home » Articles posted by Jamie Mistretta

Author Archives: Jamie Mistretta

Categories

Graduation: How is it Here Already?!

Can you believe I’m going to be ordering my cap and gown next week? Senior salute is in just a couple of days. Not only will I be trying on hats and gowns for size, but I’ll be tying up loose ends and deciding what’s next for me as I say goodbye to the staff from offices around campus.

What’s next for me? I was able to obtain a job in Philadelphia working for an adult education center, starting over the summer as an early education coordinator and transitioning into a night class teacher. While working, I plan to take pre-requisite credits at Temple University for speech pathology with hopes of continuing my education as a fulltime graduate student in the fall of 2018.

My education at Juniata College was individualized—I got exactly what I wanted from it. I picked Juniata so that I could have an undergraduate degree in something more marketable than pre-speech pathology. This was because I wanted to be more marketable and be able to work while attending graduate school so I could afford it and also so I could be gaining experience while still in academia.

I’ve already made this connection with the adult education center from two summers ago, I worked with them as a rising junior. Now, I am doing exactly what I wanted to do because of my marketable degree in Education Studies and Human Development.

I look forward to the years of possibility ahead. This is just the beginning. There are six weeks left of classes and 47 days until I take that walk down and switch over that tassel. It’s all just so surreal!

International Food Fair and Talent Show

Amigos de Guanin is hosting its annual International Food Fair and Talent Show. This event is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. As secretary of the club, I am very excited for the event on Saturday, February 18th. All proceeds go to an underdeveloped community in the Dominican Republic that I visited in 2015 with a group of students on a one credit service trip. I fell in love with the community and have been raising money ever since.

International Food Fair and Talent Show

The International Food Fair and Talent show is an invent where we get other clubs to help us make multiple dishes from around the world. This year, we have dishes such as matzah ball soup, a rice and beans dish, and many more. Following these delicious dishes will be talent from places such as Africa, the Dominican Republic, and many others.

A lot of planning has gone into this event. It will be held in Baker Refectory from 7-9PM and tickets are $8 with student ID, otherwise $10 at the door. You will be receiving a plate full of food, a night full of talent, and an experience like no other. Ellen Campbell, Dean of Students and other speakers will be presenting throughout the evening.

I am so happy to be part of a club like Amigos de Guanin. It is my senior year and so it is my last year involved with this fundraising experience, but I really am honored to have been a part of this work and I hope to continue to contribute even after graduation.

photo credit:  Jared Evans
photo credit: Jared Evans

The Juniatian

I wanted to do something big before I graduated; I wanted a big project in order to go out with a bang! The Juniatian has been the project for me. It’s been a roller coaster of a journey and it’s really just getting started.

It began when administration had to make the executive decision cut newspaper as a course. This was devastating to many of us. However, it was the opportunity for the newspaper to become something even bigger than it was.

Over the summer, I worked very closely with the Provost and administration to figure out what we could do to evolve the paper into something new and different. I learned a lot from this experience. Not only did I get to sit face to face with my president (not exactly something you get to do at other universities) and give a sales pitch (I still remember how sweaty my palms were!), but I also got to work closely with the Provost who then helped us take the next steps.

The Dean of Students, The Provost, my friend and I.
The Dean of Students, The Provost, my friend and I.

 

One of the most exciting achievements that came from the summer was the creation of the paid positions. We were able to create paid positions for Juniatian staff.

Because we are one-hundred percent student run, it’s students who run the interviews for these positions. So, this week I held interviews in our office. It sounds so official, I know! It’s been such an experience to be recognized for initiative, work with administration, and interview students.

I am honored to be in the position I am in and I look forward to what comes next. I am so fortunate for the opportunities Juniata has allowed me to surround myself with.

An Untraditional, Traditional Path

I’ve never been one for the traditional route, especially when it comes to academics. It started way back in adolescence. I tried on the homeschooling program for size in sixth grade. That wasn’t exactly my cup of tea and so I transferred from homeschool into a public middle school. In high school, I had a unique “magnet” creative/performing arts experience. It was anything but typical. It didn’t end there. For college, I started off with community college and then transferred to Juniata.

Juniata College was supposed to be my traditional experience. As I approach the end of my academic career here, I continue to reflect on just how untraditional it has been.

I didn’t end up here by mistake. I ended up here because it’s was the next piece of my puzzle. I searched for a four year university when I was in community college because I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to go away for college. I wanted to get the dorming experience, the meal plan, the activities, and the clubs–all that stuff that community college just didn’t have. I wanted to create lasting relationships with professors, students, and faculty. I knew exactly what I was looking for. When I signed up for Juniata, I was signing up to finally get my traditional experience.

It didn’t take me long to realize that Juniata college is anything but your average everyday college. It wasn’t soon after enrolling that I was individualizing my POE and mixing choir with newspaper all while planning on going into speech pathology and taking a service trip to the Dominican because, why not? Psychology and education can go together because I want them to, not because the school told me they have to. It didn’t take me long to realize that untraditional experiences find me because I’m just an untraditional person, just another Juniatian keeping Juniata weird. Juniata College has taught me many things, but most of all to love myself for who I truly am because it will always shine through in our personalities, and especially in our decisions.

 

 

 

 

Puppies and Poetry

Puppies

It’s not uncommon to find a furry friend walking along the science building or taking a stroll beside the library. Juniata’s campus is a very pet friendly environment, I mean come on, who wouldn’t want to play fetch on all that freshly cut green grass of the quad?

It was a Friday, the third Friday of classes to be exact. Things were finally starting to fall into a pace. I walked into my last class of the day, feeling the drag of a Friday afternoon. I realized everyone else was really feeling this drag, too.

Poetry, in my opinion, is a great class to end on. It’s a wonderful wind down after a week full of fast paced, non-stop, college life. Despite my positive feelings towards this class, it’s still an obligation that isn’t quite Grey’s Anatomy and so I took my book out with a sigh, watching the minute’s tick until we began.

As we waited for a few more people to trickle in, a student came running into the classroom out of breath. “Puppies!” she shouted, “There are puppies!”

“Puppies?” my professor exclaimed? “What do you mean puppies? Where?” I think I could tell he was trying to contain excitement.

“Outside! By the Founders Fountain! Can we go? Please?”

Everyone stared at my professor waiting for a response. Awkward seconds passed. “Puppies don’t have anything to do with poetry…” he began. More awkward seconds.

“Okay. Quickly.”

Then suddenly, the Friday drag was lifted. Everyone jumped, and I mean jumped from their seats, including the professor, out and down the stairway to the fountain and onto the grass to play with and love the multiple, freshly born puppies.

The first ten minutes of poetry that day were passing puppies around, holding, snuggling, and watching my professor tell them how much he loved them. A memory, I’ll never quite forget. A memory of Juniata I hold near and dear to my heart. An experience I don’t think I’d get in any other poetry class anywhere else.