News Archive - 69ɫ��Ƶ

Finding Purpose While Healing: Meet Brianna Schmidt FNP ’26

Michelle Tarby — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:48:05 +0000

When she was 18 years old, Brianna Schmidt FNP ’26 was involved in an accident that left her hospitalized for four months. It was serious enough that Schmidt had to learn to walk again. She credits her recovery to the outstanding team that cared for her, including her nurses, whom she calls her “guardian angels.” She grew close to them, and they inspired Schmidt to enter the healthcare field. Today she hopes to serve her community – particularly underserved populations – at a time when there is shortage of healthcare professionals across Central New York.

Schmidt has been a practicing nurse for five years. In that time she has worked in acute care cardiology at Crouse Hospital and orthopedics and gastroenterology at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. She has modeled healthy habits and treated each patient with empathy. It is demanding, complex work. But Schmidt’s decision to continue her education in Le 69ɫ��Ƶ’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program? That was a simple one.��

When I was researching FNP schools, I spoke to as many people as I could to ask for their advice. Every person I spoke to who went to Le 69ɫ��Ƶ referenced one thing that really stood out: the sense of community they found there. That made choosing Le 69ɫ��Ƶ a no-brainer for me. And what they told me was absolutely true. The community I built at Le 69ɫ��Ƶ has been phenomenal.”

Over the course of her time at Le 69ɫ��Ƶ, Schmidt not only refined her clinical skills, but she also learned how to educate her patients and advocate on their behalf. She learned from caring, supportive professors who brought their professional experiences to the classroom and alongside classmates who encouraged one another throughout the program. She also benefited from the College’s Healthcare Opportunities for Professional and Educational Success (HOPES) program. Funded by the New York State Department of Health, HOPES addresses barriers that can accompany advanced healthcare training, including financial, academic, cultural, and logistical challenges, so that students are better positioned to persist, graduate and enter professional practice. In Schmidt’s case, it allowed her to pay for some personal expenses while balancing work and school.

Later this summer, Schmidt will take on a new role. She will begin serving as an FNP at the Onondaga Justice Center. She looks forward to the responsibility, and she is mindful of how important it is to continue to grow in her work.

I want to learn as much as I can. I want to keep an open mind.”

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Exploring the Meaning and Richness in Life — and in the Law: Meet English Major Timothy Murphy ’18

Michelle Tarby — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:26:04 +0000

There are two skills that Timothy Murphy ’18 believes are crucial to his work as an attorney. One is the capacity to absorb complex information; the other is the ability to craft, distill and present arguments or advice in a clear and organized manner. Murphy honed his readiness to do both of these things as an English major on the Heights, examining complex texts and engaging in dialogue about that material. Now an assistant counsel for the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), Murphy says simply:

If you can learn to do those two things well, I believe you can succeed not just in the practice of law, but in many other fields.”

A native of Camillus, New York, Murphy made the most of his time at Le 69ɫ��Ƶ. He fondly remembers�� engaging in lively discussions in each of his classes and honing his ability to craft clear, cogent texts in various creative writing workshops. He cherished the opportunity to learn alongside his peers, some of whom had similar interests and outlooks as he did, others who had different priorities and life experiences. Looking back, he says, his time in the English program exposed him to a variety of perspectives and ideas. Each piece of literature he studied “added more elasticity to [his] mind and provided additional lenses through which to find meaning, richness and beauty in life.”

Away from the classroom, Murphy learned and grew as an individual and a professional while working as an intern at the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office. All of those experiences have served him well since then, as he earned a law degree from Syracuse University, launched his career as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and embarked on the work he is now doing at the DASNY. Each is part of a puzzle that the alumnus continues to put together, thoughtfully and with purpose.

He offered this advice to current Le 69ɫ��Ƶ students:

Cherish this time in your life and use it to explore whatever you are passionate about!”

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5 Things You’ll Be Glad You Did Before Move-In

Michelle Tarby — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:01:23 +0000

Move-in day will be here before you know it. While it’s exciting to think about decorating your room and meeting new people, we asked First-Year Class Dean Allison Farrell to share a few simple things you can do now to help you feel more confident when you arrive.

If we didn’t cover what’s on your mind, just ask us. We’re here to help!

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Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Dolphin Tank

Michelle Tarby — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:57:51 +0000

Ten years ago, students in Chuck Stormon’s entrepreneurship class wondered why they didn’t have their own business competition. When Stormon and Dean Jim Joseph met their enthusiasm with support, Dolphin Tank was born.

In April, Dolphin Tank celebrated its 10th anniversary with a packed room, a WCNY PBS production crew, and more enthusiasm than ever for budding local entrepreneurs.

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It’s Okay Not to Have It All Figured Out

Michelle Tarby — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:48:41 +0000

A conversation with Professor Mary Zampini on finding your path (and your place) at Le 69ɫ��Ƶ

There’s a moment many students don’t talk about out loud:

What if I don’t know what I want to do yet?

But this moment might be one of the most important parts of the process.��

For Dr. Mary Zampini, Professor of World Languages, Literatures & Cultures, that moment didn’t mean she was lost, it meant she was just getting started. She sat down with the Le 69ɫ��Ƶ Way podcast to share her story (and what it means for our Phamily)

“I thought I had it all planned…”

When Mary was younger, she imagined a future in medicine. It made sense. It felt like a plan.

But then something shifted.

I started studying languages in high school… and I loved it. I remember telling my dad, ‘I don’t think I want to go into medicine anymore.’ And he just said, ‘If that’s what you want, go for it.’

There was just one problem.

She had no idea what that path would actually look like.

And definitely not teaching.

“I said, ‘I’ll do anything but teach.’ I was shy. I didn’t think I could do it.”

The thing you avoid might be the thing you love

Then came her first teaching experience as a graduate student. And everything changed.

“From the first day I stepped into the classroom… I fell in love with it.”

That’s the part students often miss: you don’t always choose your path right away. Sometimes you discover it by trying things you didn’t expect.

Mary puts it simply:

Just be willing to be surprised.

College isn’t about having the answer

There’s pressure—real pressure—to arrive at college with a plan.

A major.
A career.
A five-step roadmap.

But Mary challenges that completely.

You might find something in a class you never expected… something that sparks your interest and takes you somewhere really wonderful.

Not every class will change your life.

But one might.

And you won’t know which one unless you stay open.

She tells the story of a student who heard a single idea in a class, something small, almost random, and it led to a decades-long journey that turned into an award-winning book.

What happens when you stay open?

For Mary, that openness led her across the world.

Studying abroad in Spain changed everything—not just academically, but personally.

“I had to become okay with being uncomfortable… not knowing how to say the right thing.”

That discomfort? It became growth.

It helped her:

come out of her shell
connect with new people
rethink what was possible

And in one unforgettable moment—sitting on a train with strangers from across Europe—she realized something bigger:

We spent hours talking… in a language that wasn’t native for any of us. That was the moment I realized why I went abroad—to connect.

So… what actually matters?

Not having everything figured out isn’t the problem.

Being closed off is.��

A lot of students hesitate to try new things because they’re afraid of getting it wrong. Mary sees this all the time, especially with language learning. Students don’t want to speak unless they know they’re 100% correct.

Mary reminds her students:

“Sometimes we go in with this fixed idea of what life has to be… and it limits us.”

The students who grow the most?

They:

try the class they didn’t plan to take
talk to people outside their circle
allow themselves to change

Here’s the secret she shared: if you don’t know what you want to do yet, you’re not alone, and you’re not behind. You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need to keep moving.��

Finding a place that feels like home

When people talk about choosing a college, they usually focus on majors, rankings, or career outcomes.

But there’s something just as important—and harder to define:

Does it feel like home?

The first time Mary stepped onto Le 69ɫ��Ƶ’s campus was for a job interview.

She had grown up nearby, but had never really experienced the campus before.

Still, something stood out immediately.

I felt like I had come home… people were kind, welcoming, and genuinely interested in you. I felt comfortable. Like I’d come home.

That feeling matters more than any major.

Because college isn’t just about what you study.
It’s about where you feel supported enough to figure it out.

It’s the Little Moments That Matter

Feeling at home isn’t always about big things.

Sometimes it’s:

Someone holding the door for you
A simple hello while walking across campus
A conversation that feels real

Those small interactions are what turn a campus into a community. You’ll find that on The Heights.

When People Know Your Name

At one of her first faculty events, Mary met the provost, someone in a senior leadership role.

Not only did he take the time to talk with her, but afterward, he continued to greet her by name.

That might seem small. But it made a big impact.

Because feeling at home starts with feeling seen.

More Than Just a Campus

At the end of the day, college is more than where you take classes.

It’s where you build relationships.
Where you grow into yourself.
Where you find your place.

And when you find the right place…

it doesn’t just feel like a school.

It feels like home.

Final Thought

If you’re unsure about your path right now:

You’re not behind.
You’re not doing it wrong.

You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.

Mary’s advice?

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be open… because that’s where growth happens.

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Professor Bass and Emma Gross ’27 Present at the Asteroids, Comets and Meteors Conference in Poland

Joe Della Posta — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:41:30 +0000

Emma Gross ’27 and Christopher Bass, Ph.D., chair of Le 69ɫ��Ƶ’s physics department, made presentations at the in Poznań, Poland in June 2026. The conference is an international scientific meeting that brings together researchers studying small bodies throughout the Solar System, with researchers from universities, observatories, space agencies and research institutes attending to present new findings and discuss ongoing research.

“Our project focuses on V-type asteroids, a relatively rare class of asteroids believed to be fragments of larger bodies that experienced extensive heating and melting early in the Solar System’s history,” said Bass. “By studying their composition, scientists can gain insight into the processes that shaped the rocky planets and other planetary building blocks more than 4.5 billion years ago. We are using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission together with follow-up observations obtained at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawai’i to better understand these objects.” The project includes collaboration with Dr. Driss Takir of the Space Science Institute, a planetary scientist whose expertise in asteroid spectroscopy has helped guide the research. Their participation was supported by the College’s NASA MOSAICS grant.

At the conference, Bass presented “Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Follow-Up of Gaia DR3 V-Type Asteroid Candidates with IRTF/SpeX” detailing his ongoing asteroid spectroscopy research, and Emma, a physics major and astrophysics minor, presented a poster highlighting her contributions to the data analysis aspects of the project. Her poster presentation was titled “Preliminary Near-Infrared Spectral Analysis of the Gaia V-Type Asteroids (1904) Massevitch and (1914) Hartbeespoortdam.”

Bass noted that one of the goals of the NASA MOSAICS grant is to help establish a sustainable astronomy research program at Le 69ɫ��Ƶ that provides undergraduate students with opportunities to participate in authentic scientific research. “Attending ACM gave Emma the opportunity to present her own research findings to an international audience, receive feedback from experts in the field and engage directly with researchers working on related projects,” he said.

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When You Don’t See an Opportunity, Create One: Meet Amari Pollard ’17

Michelle Tarby — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:31:27 +0000

Amari Pollard ’17 believes firmly that if you don’t see an opportunity, you should create one for yourself. It is a philosophy that has guided much of Pollard’s career. To date she brought her talent and skill to bear as a writer for Inside Lacrosse, co-host of the Sound On with Tari and Amari television halftime show and Sufficiently Black podcast, and co-founder of Amari Dawn Creative Consulting. A native of Baldwinsville, New York, Pollard is now an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at California State University-Sacramento and a news reader at PBS KVIE. She credits her time at Le 69ɫ��Ƶ, where she majored in communication and spent much of her time out of class working on the campus newspaper, with preparing her to tackle each of these opportunities.��

My communication courses and professors, along with my time as a writer and editor-in-chief of The Dolphin, introduced me to journalism fundamentals by teaching me about ethics, transparency, reporting and building audience trust. I utilize those lessons every day in the classroom while instructing the next generation of storytellers and in my own work as a freelance journalist.”

Pollard’s undergraduate years were full of moments that have helped to shape her into the person she is today. Most recently, they helped inspire her to write a collection of poetry, Where There Are Flowers and the Moon, which explores the duality of love and loss and honors the life of her mother, Xandria Sutherland-Pollard ’85, DDS. The process of writing the book extended over eight years, beginning when Pollard was enrolled in a poetry class at Le 69ɫ��Ƶ led by Linda Pennisi. She found herself writing poems on sticky notes whenever something moved or inspired her and, before she knew it, she was sitting on a large collection of them, trying to make sense of how they related to one another.��

Moving forward, Pollard looks forward to growing creatively and professionally, and to continuing to use her work as a tool to affect others.

If in any small way my words and my presence in front of or behind the camera can help people feel more connected to themselves and to others, then I will have fulfilled my purpose.

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Built To Serve, Encourage and Care: Meet Kadia Scott FNP ’26

Michelle Tarby — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:52:00 +0000

For Kadia Scott FNP ‘26, the call to work in healthcare came early. When Scott was a child in her hometown of Saint Mary, Jamaica, her great-grandmother suffered a stroke that left her right side severely weakened. Suddenly doing the things she loved – from spending time with her neighbors to working on her family’s farm to worshipping at her church – became difficult. However, what struck Scott most about this period of her great-grandmother’s life was the care she received from numerous doctors, nurses and social workers, each one committed to her well-being. These professionals inspired her to embark on her own career in healthcare. ��

Today Scott is a nurse at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, where she has worked for nearly five years, spending time in both family care and acute care. It is a demanding, absorbing vocation, but she would not have it any other way. Not only does she play a pivotal role in treating her patients, but she also teaches them about their health and well-being, and advocates on their behalf. It is work that Scott calls “wonderful, amazing and full of surprises.” ��

I was built to serve, encourage and to care for others.”

Scott believes in taking a thoughtful, holistic approach to care. That is part of what drew her to Le 69ɫ��Ƶ’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program. She wanted to learn from professors who brought their own experiences in the exam room into the classroom, and who took the time to come to know their students not just as clinicians, but as individuals. What’s more, she appreciated the ways in which those professors modeled the empathy that lies at the heart of healthcare.��

The Le 69ɫ��Ƶ graduate also benefited from the College’s Healthcare Opportunities for Professional and Educational Success (HOPES) program. Funded by the New York State Department of Health, HOPES addresses barriers that can accompany advanced healthcare training, including financial, academic, cultural, and logistical challenges, so that students are better positioned to persist, graduate and enter professional practice. In Scott’s case HOPES provided her with space to focus on the two most important things: her patients and her studies.

There is much more ahead for this clinician. She will soon embark on the next step in her professional journey when she begins an acute care fellowship at SUNY Upstate Medical Center. It will allow her to deepen her expertise in managing patients with acute, complex medical needs at a time when Central New York urgently needs more advanced care providers.�� As she looks to the future, she is eager to continue to grow her capacity to serve her patients and her community.

God says that we are supposed to treat our neighbor as ourself, and our neighbor is anyone we encounter. I think about that at the hospital a lot. Regardless of what is going on around us, we are part of something bigger than ourselves.”

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CNN Hero Recognizes Andrew Lunetta ’12, Founder of A Tiny Home for Good

Joe Della Posta — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 15:44:03 +0000

President Linda LeMura and Andrew Lunetta ’12

Andrew Lunetta ’12, founder of��, has been selected as a CNN Hero. Created by the��national��network to honor��individuals who make extraordinary contributions to humanitarian aid and make a difference in their communities, Lunetta was recently featured for his work at the non-profit��he��started in 2016 with a goal of ending homelessness in Syracuse.��

In addition to an interview with Lunetta, the story features Rhea Holmes, who now lives in a tiny home. Le 69ɫ��Ƶ President Linda LeMura helped connect Holmes with Lunetta after it was��last winter. Holmes temporarily lived in a house owned by the Jesuits near Le 69ɫ��Ƶ before moving into a tiny home. The story was also�� Lunetta is pictured with Le 69ɫ��Ƶ President Linda LeMura at the site of one of his tiny homes.

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A Passion for Music and a Reverence for Words: Meet Joshua Redden ’11

Michelle Tarby — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:22:40 +0000

Joshua Redden ’11 is professional songwriter, vocalist, and music and video producer. The founder of the Los Angeles-based Trent Park Productions, Redden has developed custom music production and visual content and directed event performances for iconic brands, including the Grammy Awards, NFL, Amazon and Armani. He has made his mark in Hollywood as a music consultant and producer, most recently contributing to a Focus Features project featuring Ice Cube, Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross and Diplo.��

He is also a proud Le 69ɫ��Ƶ graduate.

Redden earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the College, where he also minored in philosophy and education and was a member of the Le 69ɫ��Ƶ Student Programming Board. Looking back, he says that he was especially drawn to Le 69ɫ��Ƶ’s intimate setting and to the opportunity to build connections with others and with the material he was studying.��

It felt personal, creating space to build genuine relationships with both professors and peers. The nighttime discussions – hearing so many different interpretations of the same text – highlighted how each person experiences the world through their own lens. It reinforced for me how essential it is to create with clear intention, so what you communicate has the best chance of being truly understood.”

He also�� discovered how the lessons he learned in the classroom could be applied in the real world, with each of his professors introducing a new way of thinking, equipping him with a versatile set of tools that he now utilizes in the ever-evolving entertainment industry.��

“The lesson I hold closest is that words carry immense power,” he says. “The choices we make—word by word, in structure, in delivery, and in setting—shape how meaning is received. The more deeply you understand your craft of communication, the more clearly you can express yourself – and, in turn, truly understand others.”

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News Archive - 69ɫ����Ƶ