Saint Anselm Monks Take Part in Pope’s Visit
May 2, 2008
Four monks from Saint Anselm took part in the visit of Pope Benedict XVI when he came to the United States for six days in mid-April. Read more
New Residence, Fitness Center Coming
April 18, 2008
Saint Anselm College will build a new residence hall, fitness center and academic space in a $14 million construction and renovation program that will begin this spring, announced college President Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. Read more
SIFE Advances to National Competition
April 4, 2008
The Saint Anselm College SIFE Chapter (Students in Free Enterprise) won the SIFE Northeast Regional Championship on April 1 in Providence, Rhode Island. Read more
Debate Team Wins Northeast Regional Championships
April 3, 2008
The Saint Anselm College Thomas More Debate Society won the Northeast Regional Championship Tournament Saturday, March 15 at Suffolk University, for the third year in a row. Saint Anselm received the first place Team Sweepstakes for Lincoln-Douglas debate and edged out Emerson College, Ithaca College, and Bristol Community College for the award.
Ryan Ollis ’08, politics major, went 4-0 in the preliminary rounds and defeated an Emerson student in the final round to take first place. Fellow teammates placed third, fourth, and sixth.
The debate team also received four Speaker Awards, based on speaker points. Nicole Thorspecken ’09 and Ryan Ollis ’08 placed first and second respectively.
Next up for the debate team is Nationals, which they have been preparing for all year. The whole debate season is based around this National Tournament. While the team attends 8 Invitational Tournaments throughout the year, the real teamwork and focus is aimed at the national competition, which will pit Saint Anselm against every school in the league, not just those in the local geographical area.
To prepare, students write both affirmative and negative briefs on their issue, which can easily add up to the length and work of a thesis. The team will hold practice nights in the upcoming weeks in which alumni debaters will return to campus to help the team before they head off to Tennessee State University in Nashville for the competition April 18-21. The team has had a history of success at nationals and hopes to continue that streak this year.
EuroChoir Sings Its Way Across the Continent
April 2, 2008
The Saint Anselm College EuroChoir, consisting of 34 students, spent the week of spring break performing in three European cities: Budapest, Salzburg, and Zurich. The students, along with choir director, Fr. Bede and four chaperones, left February 29 for a whirlwind week around the continent.
The group touched down in Budapest and spent time exploring the historic city. They gave three performances at various churches, often becoming a tourist attraction themselves while posing for pictures in their formal concert attire prior to performances.
The group experienced some familiar weather while in Salzburg, where a snowstorm covered the city streets. Many students cite watching The Sound of Music while driving through the Alps after seeing the movie setting as one of the highlights of the trip. While in Austria, the EuroChoir sang in Salzburg Cathedral where Mozart was baptized. They also visited smaller venues where they used their voices to raise money in a benefit concert to support local music programs.
Then it was another six hour bus ride to Zurich where they gave two performances and attended a memorable farewell dinner on their last night in Europe–filled with reminiscing about the past and looking forward to future choir trips.
The trip was full of reconnecting with familiar faces, chance encounters, and happy surprises. Matt St. John, a junior Politics major, said that there were instances of people meeting relatives whom they had never had the chance to meet before. The group was also surprised by Saint Anselm students currently studying abroad in Europe—and for one student, by parents who surprised their daughter by showing up for a concert in Zurich.
Despite motion sickness, canceled flights, and sprained ankles, the trip was one to remember by all who attended. St, John called the week a “phenomenal experience” and said that he came home with a deeper appreciation for both Europe and America.
Returning Home: SBA So. Dakota
March 10, 2008
Fri., March 7: The group woke at 6 a.m. to a spectacular sunrise. With a final thank you, and the last wisdom of the elders presented by Tom McCann, the Executive Director of Re-Member, the Saint Anselm group packed their four vans and gathered for one final group picture overlooking the stunning landscape of the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Shortly after 9 a.m., the group was driving down the rutted dirt access road one last time. They departed the Re-Member headquarters with KILI radio, the reservation’s own radio station, providing the musical score in the background. In the following hours, the four-van convoy rolled through grasslands and into the Black Hills as they drove North towards Mount Rushmore, and Rapid City.
Passing through the natural beauty of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, the Black Hills National Forest and Wind Cave National park, the scenery outside the windows was the perfect backdrop for individuals to reflect on the week worth of experiences and memories they were leaving with.
Early in the afternoon the group arrived at Mount Rushmore. Walking under the majestic gateway into the site, mixed emotions were displayed: the understanding that had been fostered in the week-long stay “on the rez” left many participants questioning the placement of the monument in the sacred hills of the native inhabitants. After taking time to reflect on the experience, the vans once again rolled northward.
Sat., March 8: With three flights between South Dakota and Manchester, N.H., the group woke around 4 a.m. local time to reach the airport. As the plane banked East out of Rapid City, one final view of the grasslands, and Black Hills was visible out the right side of the airplane. Subsequent flights took the group through Minneapolis and Detroit, with little time to spare.
Upon boarding the final flight to Manchester, a flight that was delayed in order to allow the Saint Anselm group to make the connection, many fellow passengers engaged SBA participants to learn about the experience. Words were sometimes hard to come by as descriptions were offered to the traveling public.
Shortly after 4 p.m. the flight touched down in Manchester. Back in familiar surroundings, SBA SoDak retrieved their bags, and boarded a bus for the short drive back to campus. Coming together as a group later in the evening with the other SBA groups who had also returned to campus provided a time to share stories, and to model t-shirts that many trips had purchased during their stay.
Sun., March 9: Although Spring Break comes to a conclusion today, the Spring Break Alternative experience continues. E-mails continue to bounce back and forth between group members, with photos being added online by the hour. Processing the experiences of the past week will continue, individually, and as a group. Whether in the classroom, at the dining hall, in the Abbey Church or in a residence, the experience of every group brings a unique perspective back to the hilltop at Saint Anselm College.
For the participants of SBA South Dakota, the past twenty-four hours can seemingly be summed up in two words. Although we’re now hundreds of miles from Pine Ridge, we continue to return to the saying Mitakuye Oyasin: we are all related.
SBA South Dakota 2008: (Leaders) Kristen Copithorne & Sarah Raabis. (Participants) Faculty: Denise Askin. Students: Alex Bazarian, Brianne Chirokas, Quinn Flatley, Laura Gerber, Allen Huberdeau, Kelsey Hunt, Stefanie Iannalfo, Kristen McGoey, Kathryn McGrath, Maureen O’Leary, Danielle Pixley, Elizabeth “Zibby” Scrivani, Jessica St. Laurent, Courtney Vivian.
A note from your blogger: The past week has been an amazing experience with a group of amazing people. Only one month ago, I was expecting to be home in Maine for my spring break. Two weeks prior to the departure of SBA trips, I was offered the chance to join this group as an observer for the week. My job description: to document the experience via photography, video and the written word. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Not only did the group welcome me with unabashed sincerity, they shared the experience with me. I became part of the group, I laughed, I cringed and I shared in the emotions of processing what we were hearing, seeing, and experiencing.
To those involved in the decision to take a chance on my sharing in this experience: thank you. To the staff at Re-Member who went above and beyond to accommodate my technical needs: thank you. And to the amazing group of participants who comprise SBA SoDak: You are incredible, talented and special people. Thank you for sharing your experience with me, and with those who have been reading and viewing your experience all week.
To learn more about Re-Member, and the Pine Ridge reservation:
Re-Member is the South Dakota host site to SBA trips.
KILI Radio Broadcasting from Porcupine Ridge on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, KILI Radio describes itself as “The Voice of Lakota Nation.”
Lakota Country Times a weekly newspaper produced for Bennett and Shannon county, the Lakota Country Times covers Indian affairs on the reservation.
