The Class of 2020 moved into their residence halls during Move-In Day on Thursday, August 25, 2016. The freshmen come from 13 states across the country.  Almost 26 percent of the incoming freshmen plan to study nursing. The other top majors that freshmen have expressed interest in are athletic training, psychology, biology, and management. 

Freshman Gianluca Barecchia said it just took one visit to Dominican College for him to decide this was the place for him. “It seemed very welcoming and homey,” he said. “It felt like a home away from home.”

Barecchia was also impressed with Dominican College’s commitment to service. Barecchia is an EMT in North Branford, CT and has accumulated 800 hours of community service working for the volunteer ambulance corp, in a children’s hospital, at a church, and in a pantry for the needy. 

Freshmen attend several days of orientation activities before starting class on Monday, August 29.

Dominican College administrators, faculty, and staff have welcomed students for the 2016-2017 school year.   Christine Dilts, Assistant Dean of Students, said that freshmen were busy with activities during a three-day Orientation from Thursday, August 25  through Saturday, August 28. 

“Our objectives for Orientation are that the students coming in feel welcome and they feel like they belong, which means that they are going to make friends and become a part of the Dominican family.  We also want them to be familiar with their surroundings so that they know where to go for class on Monday morning.  And we want them to have a sense of the resources that are available to them,” said Dilts. 

Student leaders have been trained as Orientation Leaders and have been helping freshmen with the transition to college. During Orientation, freshmen attend a number of activities and informational sessions to help them make friends and become comfortable at Dominican College.

 

On the eve of graduation, the Class of 2016 presented the College with a wall mural in the Granito Center depicting student life since the College was founded in 1952. The Senior  Gift has become an annual tradition at Dominican College and is a way for graduating seniors to show their appreciation to the College. 

 “With the mural, the buzz words are ‘our history, our life, our legacy.’  This gift is their legacy,” said Senior Advancement Officer Sal Pennino, who advised the 15 student members of the Senior Gift Committee.

The mural is on the second floor walkway of the Granito Center above the stairwell and foyer and includes photos of students at the college from the 1950’s until today. One of the first photos is of nuns ice skating at the college.  One of the last photos is of graduating students taking a selfie.

A short description of each of the photos is included in separate wall panels installed at eye level on the first floor of Granito Center,  near the entrance.

The unveiling of the Senior Gift takes place the day before graduation, after the Graduation Mass and before the Baccalaureate Awards. This year, the student committee lifted a drape covering the mural to reveal the wall mural for the first time.

The Senior Gift is funded partially through donations from graduating seniors and others interested in giving back to the school. To make a donation to the Senior Class Gift, please click here.

Past senior gifts include the Charlie the Charger statue, the Hennessy Center flag pole, and the Alumni Book of Remembrance. 

 

 

For the first time ever, Dominican College is offering a course this spring semester called Broadcast Journalism for TV.  The class is taught in the new TV studio on the upper floor of the Granito Center. 

Andrew Burns, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, said the 20 students who take the class are getting exposed to different fields of communications by producing a newscast and finding out what jobs suit them best. “Everybody rotates so they get experience in every position – director, producer, anchor, writer, editor, camera person,” said Burns.  “I think everybody has been able to get the feel for the communications field a bit more and where they want to try to find work later on.”

Burns said the students write the newscast which covers campus news, record it digitally, edit it, and upload it  to the College server.  During the next school year, it is hoped that the newscast will run on the TV monitors located throughout the College. 

Freshman biology student Kimberly Acevedo of Brewster, NY, has been accepted into a prestigious 10-week summer program at Clemson University for students who are exploring a career in biological research. Acevedo is one of just ten students accepted into Clemson University’s National Science Foundation REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) Program.  There were more than 300 applicants. 

Acevedo hopes that the intensive research program at the South Carolina school will help her decide on a career path. “I’m not sure whether I want to go to medical school or if I want to do research so I figured having a summer internship for research at Clemson University will help me determine if I want to do research or not,” she said.

The summer program is called, From Genomes to Phenomes – Exploring Function Across Scales. “The REU that Kim will participate in will provide her with experience not afforded to many freshmen,” said Bernadette Connors, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology. “She will have an opportunity to work with Clemson researchers on a significant and meaningful ecological project.  The work she completes this summer will enhance her opportunities post-graduation, and give her insight into the multiple career paths that an education in biology can provide.”

Some of the highlights of the program include:

• Individual mentored research from faculty members
• Field trips, as well as workshops on scientific writing, giving presentations, and applying for both graduate school and fellowships
• A $5,250 stipend, free room and board at the college, and travel costs up to $500

The program runs from May 22 – July 29, 2016.

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Performances of the Dominican College Spring Musical Kiss Me, Kate were held Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 at 8 p.m. at St. Dominic’s School, 488 Western Highway, Blauvelt, NY 10913, behind the Convent of St. Dominic.

Kiss Me Kate is a Cole Porter musical that takes place in Baltimore, where a theater troupe is putting on a performance. Egotistical leading man Fred Graham is reunited with this ex-wife Lilli Vanessi when the two are forced to play opposite one another in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. It becomes clear that as much as they profess to hate each other, they are still very much in love. The show also has gangsters, mistaken identities, and more romantic entanglements. Kiss Me, Kate has something for every — including comedy, romance, drama, and suspense.  

Kiss Me, Kate was presented by the Dominican College Aquin Players and directed by James Filippelli. 

Performances of the Dominican College Spring Musical Kiss Me, Kate were held Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 at 8 p.m. at St. Dominic’s School, 488 Western Highway, Blauvelt, NY 10913, behind the Convent of St. Dominic.

Kiss Me Kate is a Cole Porter musical that takes place in Baltimore, where a theater troupe is putting on a performance. Egotistical leading man Fred Graham is reunited with this ex-wife Lilli Vanessi when the two are forced to play opposite one another in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. It becomes clear that as much as they profess to hate each other, they are still very much in love. The show also has gangsters, mistaken identities, and more romantic entanglements. Kiss Me, Kate has something for every — including comedy, romance, drama, and suspense.  

Kiss Me, Kate was presented by the Dominican College Aquin Players and directed by James Filippelli. 

The 20th Annual Scholarship Recognition Dinner was held on Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at the Casa Mia Manor House in Blauvelt to honor students and their generous benefactors.

Dorothy Filoramo, V.P. of Institutional Advancement noted that the event had grown from six scholarships being awarded to 14 recipients in 1995 to 40 scholarships being awarded to 82 students this year. “That is amazing growth and a commitment of our donors in the future of you, our Dominican College students,” she said.

Student speaker, Darian Fernandez, said his experience at Dominican College has been completely positive and gave a lot of credit to his biology professor Dr. Bernadette Connors. “Because of her, I have been fortunate enough to attend a lunch with our College’s Dean Nowak, participate in a Trees for Tribs planting, attend seminars, have the potential to attend scientific conferences, shadow her research on the Sparkill Creek contamination problem and much more,” he said.

Fernandez is one of six freshmen at Dominican College who received a new 4 year biology scholarship, made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation.