Year Three for Me!

Wow. I cannot believe it. I just recently began my junior year at Holy Cross. The time is flying faster than I can even imagine. There is so much to look forward to this year, and I cannot wait to see what it has in store for me.

I began junior year by taking the role of orientation leader yet again. I helped welcome the Class of 2027 to Holy Cross, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have played a part in their journey. They are an incredibly talented group of students who will thrive at Holy Cross, and it was so rewarding getting to know them!

School quickly began after orientation ended! I adjusted to life back on the hill. I was excited to see my friends that did not go abroad this semester, and I miss the ones that did! I am living with three other roommates this year, and we get along great! It was an adjustment moving to apartment-style living, but we have so much fun cooking together and sitting at the kitchen table every night.  We are a family in our room, and I would not have it any other way! The laughs and memories we have shared in such a short period of time are immeasurable.

As the year began, I reflected on my goals for this year, and all of theme are centered around a common theme: gratitude. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend Holy Cross, and it is one that I do not take for granted. Every day I discover something new to appreciate at this college, and I am excited to embarking on new opportunities with an open heart and mind. So, this year is the year of testing the waters, reaching for the stars, and being thankful for every step of the journey that is the Holy Cross college experience.

Build Day Best day…

Working for Worcester is a non-profit organization whose focus is to give back to the youth of Worcester. Working for Worcester has been able to reinvest over two million dollars in the community and has enabled thousands of volunteers across the city to come together and connect with each other on the best day of the year: Build Day!!

Yesterday was a day quite unlike no other. It began, for me, at 3:30 A.M. As I am on the managing team, the morning was an early one! I had to be at the storage unit at 4:40 to meet the site managers and get the day started!

At the storage unit, our leaders, Caitlin, Charlie, and Aidan, pumped us up for the day ahead. Everyone received their t-shirts, and then we trekked to Worcester City Hall to set up for the rally. Of course, I stopped at Dunkin’ first!

When we arrived at City Hall, I helped unload and set up the tables for all the volunteers. When they arrived, nothing but joy and anticipation filled the air. It was electric. I stood on the stage in total awe and admiration of a crowd of individuals all standing together ready to achieve one common goal: making the city of Worcester a better place. Helping the children. Making a difference. Doing the right thing. Working together. Working with each other. Teams, schools, alumni, friends, and neighbors from all walks of life came together to complete the task. To execute the mission. To continue to commit the Jesuit values of being men and women for and with others.

This year, we helped transform and revolutionize nineteen sites across the city. We built playgrounds, installed swing sets, mulched, carried countless wheelbarrows of wood chips, planted, made sandboxes, built garden beds, and, most importantly, we helped the kids.

The kids are who we do it for. They are our future. We aspire to do everything we can to improve their quality of life. To inspire them through their environments. To create safe spaces that enable them to be the best versions of themselves.

I am so proud to be a part of such an incredible organization. I am proud to be a part of an organization that strives to make the world a better place. That encourages others to act for the greater good. That ignites a spark in volunteers to feel prideful for their acts of service. That emphasizes the notion that a kind act, no matter how small, can make a difference. I am so proud to be a part of Working for Worcester.

 

Spring has Arrived…

Warmer weather is upon us. The first day of warm weather is the best. Students are wearing shorts, doing work outside, and joy persists ubiquitously around campus.

While I gave my weekly tour, I couldn’t help but feel so grateful to be a part of a community that is this special, and all of the students mingling outside helped the prospective students and families see the full potential that Holy Cross offers.

The weather has been so nice, and my friends and I have taken advantage of the beautiful scenery. We’ve been on walks, and we recently attended the Holy Cross baseball game against Army. We got takeout for dinner, and we cheered on the Crusaders in what would be the first of many under the lights baseball games.

The environment was electric. People were filled with spirit while watching the game. There was an common appreciation for the beautiful view and anticipation for the performance of the team.

My friends and I loved the experience, and we realized that one of the beautiful facets of the Holy Cross community is the ability to cheer on classmates that we know personally while also familiarizing ourselves with new faces. I’m proud and grateful to experience the Holy Cross family.

A Night to Remember…

Our Class President coordinated a formal for the Class of 2025 in the Hogan Ballroom! It was so much fun!

Getting ready was so much fun! All of us hung out together in Healy before the dance. Getting ready together made it feel like prom night, which I especially appreciated because I recognize that COVID-19 impacted the ability of many to have a traditional prom. We blared music while dancing and singing along to our favorite songs in anticipation for a great night ahead.

When we got to the formal, we danced the night away! It was a great time! Our class was a united front, and our class had a great time hitting the dance floor. We had a conga line, and we all enjoyed talking to one another and getting to know each other a bit more.

I really appreciated the night, and it ended in the best way possible: matching pjs! My friends and I debriefed the night in our matching outfits as we said farewell to a great night filled with fun and laughter.

I loved our class formal, and I am forever grateful for the closeness it brought to our class <3.

For the Kids.

The motto that prevails throughout campus. I am the Co-Director of Fundraising for Working for Worcester, a non-profit that gives back to the city through various infrastructural developments in the community. Our target audience is organizations that benefit children, in particular. Working for Worcester is a great organization that was founded by two Holy Cross students in 2012, and it has grown substantially to reinvest $2 million to the city of Worcester.

As part of our fundraising efforts, we have an annual Chipotle fundraiser in which students can use a special code and donate to the great cause of helping the children. I am always looking for an excuse to get Chipotle, and I was so excited to donate to an initiative with a great purpose and mission.

My friends and I went to Chipotle on the day of the fundraiser, and it was swarmed with students who were donating to Working for Worcester! It was great to see the college community rally together and support the children! I felt proud and happy to be a part of such a great program that has an even greater impact on the community, and I cannot wait for Build Day, the day in which we actually perform the developments at various sites!

Here is a pic of the management team at one of the playgrounds we built!

Wow. The semester flew by. I cannot believe it is 2023, and I cannot believe that I am going to soon begin my second semester of my second year at Holy Cross. It is true, time flies when you’re having fun!

 

The end of the semester was hectic! After Thanksgiving, we had two weeks of classes followed by a week of finals, and I finally departed for Buffalo on December 17 for what I thought would be a relaxing break filled with family, laughter, and fond memories.

 

Upon my arrival at home, I definitely got the family and memories components of my wishes, but the fond part lacked. To begin, Buffalo underwent a catastrophic blizzard that took the lives of forty-two individuals and was one of the worst recorded in history. While Buffalo is usually prepared for snow, no one was ready for the magnitude and intensity of the Blizzard of 2022 that struck on Christmas Eve. My family lost electricity for fourteen hours, and my house received about five feet of snow over the course of forty-eight hours. As I was out shoveling snow for hours on end, I was dreaming of my easy life at Holy Cross where I don’t have to shovel, and I am eternally grateful for all of the hard work of the facility staff at school that keep the roads and walkways clear of snow and ice. Even though my family suffered some hardship during the storm, we were very lucky that everyone remained safe and unharmed from the monstrosity, and we pray for those that lost their lives during the storm who were not as fortunate. 

 

Right when Buffalo saw the light, the sun, and the fifty degree weather after the storm, another tragedy rolled into town. A house fire resulted in the deaths of five children whose lives were cut short. My heart breaks for them and their family, and, as I pray for them, I wish them healing and love in a time of such need.

 

Soon after, I found myself sitting with my Josh Allen jersey on ready to enjoy the game of a lifetime when the Buffalo Bills played the Cincinnati Bengals during Monday Night Football. Joe Burrow and Josh Allen were going head to head, and the nation anticipated this matchup to be one of the best. My family all gathered together in my living room and had our eyes glued to the television. As we saw the first quarter begin, we had a sense of pride in the Bills and couldn’t wait to cheer them on. Tragically, however, during the first quarter, Buffalo Bills’s  safety Damar Hamlin fell into cardiac arrest and was in critical condition as he fought for his life. Nothing can prepare a player, coach, staff member, or fan to witness such a heart wrenching sight. Luckily, by the grace of God, Hamlin is expected to fully recover, and the nation united together during this time of hardship.

 

The support of my friends from Holy Cross during these times was immeasurable. Friends from the hill were reaching out to check in on my family and me, and I am forever grateful that the Holy Cross community stretches beyond Worcester, Massachusetts. 

I had the opportunity to attend the Bills vs. Patriots football game, and it felt like both of my worlds were colliding! The rivalry was intense, and the Bills pulled out the win!

 

Congrats to the Holy Cross Crusader Football Team!

It was cold. It was rainy. It was worse than rainy. It was down pouring. Yet, we arrived at Fitton Field with positive minds and anticipation. We were hoping that the Holy Cross Crusaders would come out victorious. They did.

The game was exciting. Because of the rain, we wore rain ponchos and still were soaked, but it was worth it. I was surprised at how many people were in attendance with the poor weather, but I felt such a sense of pride going to Holy Cross in that moment. I was so happy to be a member of the Holy Cross community, and the passion in the atmosphere was ubiquitous. The players were slipping and sliding, the crowd was erupting, and the stadium was roaring with cheers and applause for the team as they advanced and are playing next week in South Dakota.

At halftime, we went to Kimball to warm up, refuel, and eat before returning to the stadium to see the Crusaders come out victorious. I saw the excitement on the players’ faces, and I was happy to see that all of their hard work had paid off. I was starstruck, and I could not believe that I actually go to school with these people, some of whom are my friends. This community facet is another great component of Holy Cross, and I am grateful for the opportunity to say that I attended a historical game to witness great people do great things.

 

Hello everyone! It has been a crazy couple of weeks! Since we last chatted, we had family weekend and the Holy Cross Crusaders won the Patriot League for the fourth year in a row! My brother, who attends Holy Cross, is currently enlisted in the Washington, D.C. semester away program during which he does an internship while simultaneously crafting a thesis. He surprised me for family weekend, and it was great having him back on the hill, even though it was such a short period of time.

The weather for family weekend was beautiful. I felt so prideful as I took my parents around campus, showed them Wheeler Hall, led my dad through the library (I was kind of bored for this one, lol), and spent quality time with my family as it was the first time we all were together since I left to be an orientation leader mid-August.

My favorite part of family weekend was the tailgate. Because we are from Buffalo, we tailgated to the max. It wasn’t quite like the Bills mafia tailgates, but it was pretty close. We went to Wegmans and picked up subs, and feasted on cookies, dips, chips, and snacks. All of friends and their parents came, and it was truly an incredible time. After the tailgate, we went to the game, and the Crusaders played amazingly to narrowly beat Fordham University. Overall, it was the best fall weekend, and I am so grateful for the memories I made as I was able to show my parents a glimpse of life on the hill!

As I returned from fall break and school was in full effect, I was faced by a real hurdle on Sunday night. Revenge night. The Buffalo Bills played the Kansas City Chiefs. I still have trauma from the last time we played them, and the Chiefs came out victorious .

This Sunday, I was praying for victory. As a tradition, I wear my Josh Allen jersey every game day with Buffalo tie-dye sweatpants. I have a Josh Allen fathead on my wall in my room, and I wake up to see his beautiful face every morning. I was nervous for the game, but I was excited to see how far our team has grown.

I had Buffalo wings for dinner (how could I not), and my friends and I gathered in the common room to watch the game. None of them are Bills fans, but they know how much football means to me, so they cheered on the Bills and watched with me as I anxiously monitored every play.

In a beautiful, elegant, manner, the Buffalo Bills came out victorious, and I used that positive energy to start the intense school week in a positive way. I felt as if I was watching the Crusaders when I was watching the Bills as they both are dominating their seasons right now!

GO BILLSSSSSSSSSS!!!!