- Honors Post-Journal
- Research Opportunity
- Honors Student Gabrielle Paoletti featured in Canisius Magazine (Adobe Acrobat .pdf)
- Photo Galleries
- Watch a video of Commencement 2009 Student Speaker Gabrielle R. Paoletti's speech
- Graduates Recieve Fulbright Awards
- Honors Alumnus makes gift to sponsor international service-immersion trip
Applications are currently being accepted for Bates White Research Experiences for Undergraduates
The All-College Honors Program at Canisius College is pleased to announce a joint research initiative with Bates White LLC, a leading economic consulting firm. The initiative—Bates White Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)—is a program dedicated to funding individual research. These one-semester positions provide opportunities for students to work closely with a faculty member of the All-College Honors Program to conduct research for one or more projects determined by the faculty member.
Funding is available for four positions—two each semester. Each student will be awarded a research grant of $1,500 for the semester. To be eligible, students must have a minimum of a 3.5 GPA (overall and in their major) and be at least a sophomore. Recommended majors include economics, finance, accounting, and math, but are not limited to these disciplines.
Recipients of the award, in addition to working closely with All-College Honors faculty, are required to write a three-page, single-spaced report of the research experience that will be shared with Bates White. The supervising faculty member will write a one-page report of the experience that will also be shared with Bates Whites.
Applications should be sent to:
Dr. Bruce Dierenfield
Honors Program Director
2001 Main Street, Buffalo
New York 14208-1098
716-888-2683
dierenfb@canisius.edu
The application packet must include (a) a cover letter to Dr. Dierenfield, indicating your reason(s) for seeking the position, (b) a resume, and (c) an unofficial transcript (all in hard copy). Screening will begin immediately, and the positions will be filled by TBD.
Any inquiries about these positions should be directed to Dr. Dierenfield.
For more information about Bates White, please see http://www.bateswhite.com.
Commencement 2009
Gabrielle R. Paoletti ’09 was the student speaker during Canisius College undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 16.
| The above video requires QuickTime. If you do not see the video start to play after a few seconds, you may need to download QuickTime here. |
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| Student Speaker Adam Pendleton '08 |
"I would first like to thank Fr. Cooke and the members of the selection committee who have given me the honor of being able to speak here today.
"I could not have asked for a better introduction than the remarks offered by Mr. Darden and Senator Schumer—I thank you, gentlemen.
"I have found it difficult to have to stand in front of you and complete a seemingly simple task: give a speech that unifies the Canisius College Class of 2008. But how can I find a way to connect people like me, who are passionate about chemistry and science, to those who find science as exciting as a poorly performed root canal? How can I make our math majors and our English majors see eye to eye? And the political science majors! Lord knows how well they can argue amongst themselves! So I thought, perhaps I should find some common ground that I have with my fellow graduates. Similar club involvement? Probably not. Athletic prowess? That’s certainly not a winner, either. The members of this class are some of the most diverse in talent and involvement that I have ever seen. I could take the easy route and talk about how we will all achieve great successes in our life ... but maybe that's not the case. There is only one thing that I know that all of us will have to face, once we graduates enter what Tom Petty calls 'the great, wide open.' That, my friends, is failure. Thus, I have decided that the final words the Class of 2008 will hear will focus on our impending failures. And I can think of no one better to talk about this than yours truly.
"But the thing that unifies us, as a graduating class from Canisius College, the thing that sets us apart is how we respond to that failure. Canisius is where leaders are made, and the way I see it, one of the best characteristics a leader has is resilience, determination, motivation. For through failure, excellence can be achieved. With that said, I would like to share with you a personal example of the power of failure.
"When I was in 4th grade, I was invited to join a special program called 'Major Progress Pupils,' or 'MPP.' The MPP class was composed of the brightest, most ambitious students in the North Tonawanda school district. This class was taught by a man named Norman Schoell. Mr. Schoell had been a teacher for over 50 years; in fact, he was 80 years young when he taught my class. Mr. Schoell was a man of infinite wisdom. However, even he couldn’t foresee what was to come. Unbeknownst to him, in that very special class was the most brilliant, charming (and incredibly good-looking, might I add) student he had ever had the pleasure of teaching: me.
"The MPP program was truly a unique experience. We went hiking and camping as a class in order to observe nature—in short, we learned in a way that excited our passion for knowledge. In order to match our passion, however, Mr. Schoell held us to an extremely high standard. While our friends were out playing, we were doing in-depth, fully cited research reports or pages of algebra and geometry problems. He expected, he told us, nothing less than our best. Of course, being the incredibly talented student I was, I had heard this all before and it didn’t concern me. I knew that even my most mediocre work would be more than acceptable, just as it had been in the past.
"So when the assignment to create a miniature-scale pioneer environment came down to the very last night, I knew I could just “throw something together.” So, at 8pm that night before it was due, I had my father walk out to the front yard with me and hold a flashlight as I pulled bark off of the linden tree in the front of my house. Back inside, with the use of some silly putty, rubber cement, and an eccentric design that would cause Frank Lloyd Wright himself to turn green with envy, I created the most hideous log cabin you could ever imagine. I truly would pity the poor 3-inch-tall people that would ever have to inhabit this house. Sure, it was not my best work but I knew it would do.
"The MPP program was truly a unique experience. We went hiking and camping as a class in order to observe nature—in short, we learned in a way that excited our passion for knowledge. In order to match our passion, however, Mr. Schoell held us to an extremely high standard. While our friends were out playing, we were doing in-depth, fully cited research reports or pages of algebra and geometry problems. He expected, he told us, nothing less than our best. Of course, being the incredibly talented student I was, I had heard this all before and it didn’t concern me. I knew that even my most mediocre work would be more than acceptable, just as it had been in the past.
"So when the assignment to create a miniature-scale pioneer environment came down to the very last night, I knew I could just “throw something together.” So, at 8pm that night before it was due, I had my father walk out to the front yard with me and hold a flashlight as I pulled bark off of the linden tree in the front of my house. Back inside, with the use of some silly putty, rubber cement, and an eccentric design that would cause Frank Lloyd Wright himself to turn green with envy, I created the most hideous log cabin you could ever imagine. I truly would pity the poor 3-inch-tall people that would ever have to inhabit this house. Sure, it was not my best work but I knew it would do.
"Mr. Schoell critiqued every aspect of our assignments that next day. The other students in the class had created some truly creative projects and then there was my … bark … house. Norman Schoell asked me to step into the hallway. (Never a good sign) He very slowly crouched to my eye level. 'Adam,' he said, 'This is not your best work. You have disappointed me, and further, you have done a disservice to yourself. I expect more out of you.' That quote was word for word.
"To this day I have not forgotten his cutting comments. To make matters worse, Mr. Schoell informed me that he had given me an F on the project. I had failed. From that day on, Mr. Schoell pushed me harder than anyone in that class. Then, I saw it as cruel and unfair. Today, I can say, 'thank God for Norman Schoell.' In his words and actions, he taught me to take pride in my work, and produce nothing less than my best. Because of him, I know so much more now than I did back when I knew everything. It turns out, Mr. Schoell was putting in motion the Jesuit ideal that we are all familiar with: 'Pursue excellence, nothing else is worth your time.'
"Now, of course, I have had some successes since that infamous day in 4th grade. But I have also had my fair share of failing within the walls of Canisius. (Perhaps I should mention how I brilliantly organized the SPB-sponsored Java Jams. Average weekly attendance?: about 4.) But through these failures, I have learned so much. By planning events that miserably crashed and burned, I learned how to organize successful events. I learned how to be an effective RA really quickly by making those 'rookie mistakes.' I learned that no matter how much you prepare for anything in life, no matter how badly you want something or need something, dreams can be crushed at any moment.
"But I have also learned that not every failure is a bad thing. For all we know, life may just have other plans for us. Things may not always go our way, we may try to jump over a hurdle and end up face planting in the dirt. But brushing that dirt off, and running at it again is what sets us apart. At Canisius, I know we have all had similar experiences with failure. Through them, we have learned to fail effectively, to learn from those failures, and continue, determined, to life’s finish line.
"As I near the end of my 5 minutes of fame on this stage, I realize that some of my fellow graduates may not have heard a single word I’ve said. Some of you have probably been staring at this stage thinking 'My God. Look at all those steps. One trip on this robe and it’s all over.' But my point is that, yes, as you walk up these steps and across this stage, you may trip and fall … and we may laugh. But if you do fall: get up. Because that is what leaders do. That is what a Canisius graduate does. Get up, and use that very next step as one step closer to excellence--for truly, nothing else is worth your time.
"To my fellow graduates of the Canisius College Class of 2008: Congratulations, good luck, and God bless. Thank you."
Commencement 2006
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| Student Speaker Eric M. Soehnlein '06 |
"I would like to thank Fr. Cooke and the members of the commencement speaker selection committee for giving me the opportunity to speak today. Also, I’d like to especially thank Dr. Nelson for saying those nice things that my mother probably loved to hear. In fact, Dr. Nelson, if you’d like to come over to the house the next time I screw something up, which will probably be as early as this afternoon, you’re more than welcome, provided you bring that little paragraph with you.
"When you think about it, student commencement speeches might be the most ironic thing in all of the irony laden area of academia. That’s because I, a fellow graduate with absolutely zero real world experience, who actually doesn’t understand very much of the real world at all, is supposed to stand here and say something that will unite and inspire all of us. But I have to be careful too - after all, I’m really the last thing in between all of you and walking across this stage and finally graduating, and getting on with your parties or the Sabres game or what have you. Still, I have to say something. So, in order to land myself up here, I answered an essay question 'What it means to graduate from Canisius College,' and about two weeks ago I figured I’d just try and talk about that.
"Now, when you want to talk about an institution that espouses some kind of philosophy, or mission statement, you go to the source. A quick glance at the Canisius Web site, billboard, letterhead, coffee mugs, t-shirts, baby bibs and probably the top of any of our tuition bills, holds our proud slogan: “Where Leaders are Made.” I have to admit, I’ve had a lot of leadership experience while I was at Canisius. As president of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit honor society, I single handedly led the organization through what was probably the least successful and most poorly planned fundraiser in college history, when I tried to plan a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Oh don’t get me wrong, the concert went well. All the performers exceeded expectations and the food that was donated was exceptional. The only problem was that nobody, and I can’t overemphasize the term nobody, came.
"Of course there were those other times when I exhibited my stalwart leadership prowess, like the time when I was president of Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, and we almost didn’t go to our academic conference in Portland, Oregon because I struggled to secure the funds from the student senate, and then messed up booking the hotel. Then there was that time when I was president of the European Studies club and we almost had to cancel our trip because I had done the accounting for our overnight stay in Fredonia perfectly … for one night, forgetting that our conference in Fredonia was in fact four nights long.
"In fact, the only true successes that I have had leadership-wise at Canisius included free food or t-shirt giveaways, or events where attendance was mandatory. Hence, I’m very thankful that I was pretty much guaranteed an audience today. However, it quickly became apparent that leadership might not be the best thing for me to talk about.
"A new day and an optimistic outlook steered me toward the other emphasized slogan on our school’s Web site: the Jesuit education. At the outset it seemed like the perfect topic. We’ve all been exposed to it, philosophy squeezed into every nook and cranny of every possible subject area, and the philosophers who sought to teach us that the good life was well ordered, or who sought to address and solve for the existence of God or the problem of evil. The only problem was, of course, how do I make all that applicable in a commencement speech? Could I make the whole thing a five minute logic proof? What would something like that sound like? For the matter, what would I prove? That we’re all going to walk out of Canisius College and lead happy, successful and stress free lives? Maybe there is a way to write a good student commencement speech about the Jesuit education, but I’m pretty sure I don’t know how to do it.
"So I was back at square one yet again. I had failed to write a unifying speech around my school’s slogans, but I still needed to say something. After all, if you’re commencement speaker, that’s your job. It’s not like I can just come up to the podium today and say 'pass.' So, what was it that was the unifying factor for all of us who are going to walk across this unbelievably warm stage today? What did it mean, exactly, to graduate from Canisius College? Is there any one thing that unifies the bio majors with the digital media arts students, or the English nerds with the education majors? Was it that we all endured the food at the dining hall? Was it that we all struggled for parking? Perhaps it was that all of us would happily stop doing work and go just about anywhere on campus for free mugs, free t-shirts or, on that single magical night during finals week, a free breakfast? Although writing a speech about free breakfast would fulfill a couple of personal life long dreams, I knew that composing a speech around an omlette metaphor was just a bit too off topic for today. And then I had a moment of simple clarity that you all should be thankful for, because it finally gave direction to this speech.
"Just when it seemed like I had lost my way permanently and was doomed to failure, I realized that what unifies us is that we are all going to walk across this stage in funny looking robes, wearing hats that can be used like Frisbees, and that we are going to leave the safe haven of undergraduate education and go onto bigger and better things. And these things that we’re going to face, whether they be graduate or professional school, the job market, the military, the exciting world of reality television or wherever the rest of your life might take you, these things will not always come easily. Indeed, just like I struggled and failed time and again to write a unified and insightful speech for you today, all of us will struggle, and we all will fail. And so that, my fellow graduates, is what I finally would like to make the point of my speech. Yes that’s right, what I really learned in college, and what I really want to share with you, is how to fail.
"'Failure?,' you might say to yourself, 'how can that possibly be a good thing, Eric?' Surely the college has made a poor choice in its speaker! Well, I will offer you a little bit of my experience from undergrad, and then I promise I will yield the podium and we’ll all graduate.
"My junior year I received the best non-dating related advice in my entire college career, and it came from Dr. Paul Dowling, a professor of English who lives in the books of Aristotle, Milton and Rousseau and who, at that time, was my professor for a class in Shakespeare. Our first essay assignment that semester was to examine the comic relief in Macbeth. I wrote what I thought was one of my finest papers, examining the scene from several perspectives I thought were insightful and, more importantly, scratch that - most importantly, was deserving of an A. Unfortunately, Dr. Dowling didn’t feel the same. He felt the essay was disorganized, un-unified and lacked a main argument. I was crushed, and, worse, I feared I was doomed to less than an A in the class. Shaken, I took the painfully slow moving elevator from the basement to the seventh floor of Churchill Tower to plead my case.
"'This is the lowest grade I’ve gotten in all of college, I’ve gotten an A in everything else,' I started out, only to later move on and argue why my paper was remarkable, groundbreaking and, most importantly, deserving of a higher grade. Dowling sat in his chair looking at me like I was a square egg, and when I finished he said something that I will never forget. He paused and looked at me and said, 'You must be a tremendous fan of college football.' 'Why?' I replied, annoyed that he was seemingly changing the topic. He replied, 'Because you think you have to win everything, and you think that you have to win everything big.'
"He went on to say that he had always been a baseball fan. He explained that, in baseball if you’re successful three out of ten times, you’re a damn good hitter. Four out of ten times, you’re among the best there ever was. 'Baseball,' he went on to say, 'is much closer to life.' In life being successful, and here I mean doing anything that is worthwhile, is not easy. You see, in baseball you have to figure out the pitcher, understand the situation of the game, and you try to help your cause. After you fail, which you do inevitably, you re-group, you analyze why you weren’t successful and you try to succeed again and again.
"I took Dr. Dowling’s advice to heart. Instead of dwelling on the fact that I had failed to write an A paper, I focused on what I could do better. I embraced my failure and learned from it, and I realized that Dowling was right - my writing was disorganized and I was really thinking about literature in the wrong way. Once I embraced my own failure not only did I receive As throughout the rest of the course, but I also became a stronger writer, a clearer thinker, and I eventually learned to like Shakespeare.
"At the same time that I was getting to know Dr. Dowling, I was getting to know Dr. Frank Riga, our graduate studies scholarship coordinator, who resides in an office on the top floor of the library that has the incredible ability to always be 10-20 degrees warmer than any other place in Buffalo - regardless of season. At the suggestion of Dr. Occhipinti and Dr. Galie and a few others in the political science department, I was applying for a Truman Scholarship; a scholarship to graduate study in the field of your choice based on academic excellence and public service. The Truman committee awards two scholarships per state, and Canisius had had some near misses for the scholarship in recent years. The application itself was pages upon pages of detailed essay questions and personal statements, but Dr. Riga and I hunkered down and we wrote, and edited, and wrote, and edited, and then discarded several things I had written, and then wrote anew, and then edited again, then would have a heart to heart talk about something, and then would write again. It was a tedious and often disheartening process that, at times, made me doubt whether I would ever even get the application in the mail on time. I would wager that by the end of that period, from the beginning of August until mid November when the application was due, Dr. Riga and I spent well over 100 hours on those darn words on a page. And by the time it was due, I really believed I could win. I mean, I had volunteered for a civil rights organization, Catholic Charities, Roswell Park and the Erie County Bar Association. I had a very high cumulative grade point average, and my essays had been edited by one of the most intelligent people I had ever met.
"Three weeks later, the Truman committee announced the winners on their Web site. Not only did I not win, I didn’t even place. Here I was thinking I had done great things, and the girl who had won not only had a more impressive resume than me, but she had also swam the English Channel the previous summer to raise money for AIDS research - I’ll let that sink in - I had done some volunteering, she had swam a cold and dangerous body of water on her own to raise money and awareness about one of the most serious health crisis of our age. I had been outgunned from the start.
"Once again, I was crestfallen. I had done, I thought, a very good job, and yet again I had failed. Luckily, I ran into Dr. Bruce Dierenfield, who is the new director of the Honors Program and who has been an American history professor here. I told him about my failure, and my disappointment, and, luckily, he was there to give me some of the same advice as Dowling.
"'Eric,' he said, 'nobody cares how many times you fail. Think about it,' he said, 'nobody cares that Lincoln lost elections before he was president, or that Kennedy’s administration was riddled with policy failures. The only thing anyone cares about is that one time - just that one time that you happen to succeed. That’s why you have to keep trying, because if you try often enough, and don’t let yourself get discouraged, eventually you will be successful.'
"What Dr. Dierenfield had done was re-iterate and finally teach me that failure was one of the most important things in life, and just looking back at the application process, I knew he was right. First, in the process of failing at the Truman, I learned that I was the kind of person who was so stubborn, and so determined, that I was not going to give up just because it was difficult. What’s more, I realized that I had learned enough about myself, and enough about writing, to keep trying for scholarships and awards that no one like me had any business applying for - and I’ve kept trying for these things ever since. Some of them I’ve won, most of them I have lost.
"Still, I always learned more out of my failures than my successes. Failing to plan one club event always gave me insight into planning the next, writing one paper that didn’t quite work always helped me write the next paper a little bit better, and stopping after 15 miles of running when I was planning to run 20 always left me having run 15 miles more than I would have had I not run at all.
"And so, class of 2006, that is finally the only thing I can say to you. I don’t know much about life beyond Canisius, but I’ve heard that it’s hard, and I’m willing to bet that we’re all going to fail. The key is to fail the right way. And so I urge you, if you didn’t get into the program you wanted to for next year, or if you didn’t get the job that you wanted, keep trying. Ten years from now nobody is going to remember how many times you tried for a goal and didn’t succeed, but with perseverance, I’m willing to bet that 10 years, 20 years and 30 years from now our class will be among the happiest and successful collection of people that you will find anywhere.
"With that, I’d like to say to the class of 2006 Congratulations, Good luck, and may you have a lifetime of perseverance and success ahead of you."
"When you think about it, student commencement speeches might be the most ironic thing in all of the irony laden area of academia. That’s because I, a fellow graduate with absolutely zero real world experience, who actually doesn’t understand very much of the real world at all, is supposed to stand here and say something that will unite and inspire all of us. But I have to be careful too - after all, I’m really the last thing in between all of you and walking across this stage and finally graduating, and getting on with your parties or the Sabres game or what have you. Still, I have to say something. So, in order to land myself up here, I answered an essay question 'What it means to graduate from Canisius College,' and about two weeks ago I figured I’d just try and talk about that.
"Now, when you want to talk about an institution that espouses some kind of philosophy, or mission statement, you go to the source. A quick glance at the Canisius Web site, billboard, letterhead, coffee mugs, t-shirts, baby bibs and probably the top of any of our tuition bills, holds our proud slogan: “Where Leaders are Made.” I have to admit, I’ve had a lot of leadership experience while I was at Canisius. As president of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit honor society, I single handedly led the organization through what was probably the least successful and most poorly planned fundraiser in college history, when I tried to plan a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Oh don’t get me wrong, the concert went well. All the performers exceeded expectations and the food that was donated was exceptional. The only problem was that nobody, and I can’t overemphasize the term nobody, came.
"Of course there were those other times when I exhibited my stalwart leadership prowess, like the time when I was president of Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, and we almost didn’t go to our academic conference in Portland, Oregon because I struggled to secure the funds from the student senate, and then messed up booking the hotel. Then there was that time when I was president of the European Studies club and we almost had to cancel our trip because I had done the accounting for our overnight stay in Fredonia perfectly … for one night, forgetting that our conference in Fredonia was in fact four nights long.
"In fact, the only true successes that I have had leadership-wise at Canisius included free food or t-shirt giveaways, or events where attendance was mandatory. Hence, I’m very thankful that I was pretty much guaranteed an audience today. However, it quickly became apparent that leadership might not be the best thing for me to talk about.
"A new day and an optimistic outlook steered me toward the other emphasized slogan on our school’s Web site: the Jesuit education. At the outset it seemed like the perfect topic. We’ve all been exposed to it, philosophy squeezed into every nook and cranny of every possible subject area, and the philosophers who sought to teach us that the good life was well ordered, or who sought to address and solve for the existence of God or the problem of evil. The only problem was, of course, how do I make all that applicable in a commencement speech? Could I make the whole thing a five minute logic proof? What would something like that sound like? For the matter, what would I prove? That we’re all going to walk out of Canisius College and lead happy, successful and stress free lives? Maybe there is a way to write a good student commencement speech about the Jesuit education, but I’m pretty sure I don’t know how to do it.
"So I was back at square one yet again. I had failed to write a unifying speech around my school’s slogans, but I still needed to say something. After all, if you’re commencement speaker, that’s your job. It’s not like I can just come up to the podium today and say 'pass.' So, what was it that was the unifying factor for all of us who are going to walk across this unbelievably warm stage today? What did it mean, exactly, to graduate from Canisius College? Is there any one thing that unifies the bio majors with the digital media arts students, or the English nerds with the education majors? Was it that we all endured the food at the dining hall? Was it that we all struggled for parking? Perhaps it was that all of us would happily stop doing work and go just about anywhere on campus for free mugs, free t-shirts or, on that single magical night during finals week, a free breakfast? Although writing a speech about free breakfast would fulfill a couple of personal life long dreams, I knew that composing a speech around an omlette metaphor was just a bit too off topic for today. And then I had a moment of simple clarity that you all should be thankful for, because it finally gave direction to this speech.
"Just when it seemed like I had lost my way permanently and was doomed to failure, I realized that what unifies us is that we are all going to walk across this stage in funny looking robes, wearing hats that can be used like Frisbees, and that we are going to leave the safe haven of undergraduate education and go onto bigger and better things. And these things that we’re going to face, whether they be graduate or professional school, the job market, the military, the exciting world of reality television or wherever the rest of your life might take you, these things will not always come easily. Indeed, just like I struggled and failed time and again to write a unified and insightful speech for you today, all of us will struggle, and we all will fail. And so that, my fellow graduates, is what I finally would like to make the point of my speech. Yes that’s right, what I really learned in college, and what I really want to share with you, is how to fail.
"'Failure?,' you might say to yourself, 'how can that possibly be a good thing, Eric?' Surely the college has made a poor choice in its speaker! Well, I will offer you a little bit of my experience from undergrad, and then I promise I will yield the podium and we’ll all graduate.
"My junior year I received the best non-dating related advice in my entire college career, and it came from Dr. Paul Dowling, a professor of English who lives in the books of Aristotle, Milton and Rousseau and who, at that time, was my professor for a class in Shakespeare. Our first essay assignment that semester was to examine the comic relief in Macbeth. I wrote what I thought was one of my finest papers, examining the scene from several perspectives I thought were insightful and, more importantly, scratch that - most importantly, was deserving of an A. Unfortunately, Dr. Dowling didn’t feel the same. He felt the essay was disorganized, un-unified and lacked a main argument. I was crushed, and, worse, I feared I was doomed to less than an A in the class. Shaken, I took the painfully slow moving elevator from the basement to the seventh floor of Churchill Tower to plead my case.
"'This is the lowest grade I’ve gotten in all of college, I’ve gotten an A in everything else,' I started out, only to later move on and argue why my paper was remarkable, groundbreaking and, most importantly, deserving of a higher grade. Dowling sat in his chair looking at me like I was a square egg, and when I finished he said something that I will never forget. He paused and looked at me and said, 'You must be a tremendous fan of college football.' 'Why?' I replied, annoyed that he was seemingly changing the topic. He replied, 'Because you think you have to win everything, and you think that you have to win everything big.'
"He went on to say that he had always been a baseball fan. He explained that, in baseball if you’re successful three out of ten times, you’re a damn good hitter. Four out of ten times, you’re among the best there ever was. 'Baseball,' he went on to say, 'is much closer to life.' In life being successful, and here I mean doing anything that is worthwhile, is not easy. You see, in baseball you have to figure out the pitcher, understand the situation of the game, and you try to help your cause. After you fail, which you do inevitably, you re-group, you analyze why you weren’t successful and you try to succeed again and again.
"I took Dr. Dowling’s advice to heart. Instead of dwelling on the fact that I had failed to write an A paper, I focused on what I could do better. I embraced my failure and learned from it, and I realized that Dowling was right - my writing was disorganized and I was really thinking about literature in the wrong way. Once I embraced my own failure not only did I receive As throughout the rest of the course, but I also became a stronger writer, a clearer thinker, and I eventually learned to like Shakespeare.
"At the same time that I was getting to know Dr. Dowling, I was getting to know Dr. Frank Riga, our graduate studies scholarship coordinator, who resides in an office on the top floor of the library that has the incredible ability to always be 10-20 degrees warmer than any other place in Buffalo - regardless of season. At the suggestion of Dr. Occhipinti and Dr. Galie and a few others in the political science department, I was applying for a Truman Scholarship; a scholarship to graduate study in the field of your choice based on academic excellence and public service. The Truman committee awards two scholarships per state, and Canisius had had some near misses for the scholarship in recent years. The application itself was pages upon pages of detailed essay questions and personal statements, but Dr. Riga and I hunkered down and we wrote, and edited, and wrote, and edited, and then discarded several things I had written, and then wrote anew, and then edited again, then would have a heart to heart talk about something, and then would write again. It was a tedious and often disheartening process that, at times, made me doubt whether I would ever even get the application in the mail on time. I would wager that by the end of that period, from the beginning of August until mid November when the application was due, Dr. Riga and I spent well over 100 hours on those darn words on a page. And by the time it was due, I really believed I could win. I mean, I had volunteered for a civil rights organization, Catholic Charities, Roswell Park and the Erie County Bar Association. I had a very high cumulative grade point average, and my essays had been edited by one of the most intelligent people I had ever met.
"Three weeks later, the Truman committee announced the winners on their Web site. Not only did I not win, I didn’t even place. Here I was thinking I had done great things, and the girl who had won not only had a more impressive resume than me, but she had also swam the English Channel the previous summer to raise money for AIDS research - I’ll let that sink in - I had done some volunteering, she had swam a cold and dangerous body of water on her own to raise money and awareness about one of the most serious health crisis of our age. I had been outgunned from the start.
"Once again, I was crestfallen. I had done, I thought, a very good job, and yet again I had failed. Luckily, I ran into Dr. Bruce Dierenfield, who is the new director of the Honors Program and who has been an American history professor here. I told him about my failure, and my disappointment, and, luckily, he was there to give me some of the same advice as Dowling.
"'Eric,' he said, 'nobody cares how many times you fail. Think about it,' he said, 'nobody cares that Lincoln lost elections before he was president, or that Kennedy’s administration was riddled with policy failures. The only thing anyone cares about is that one time - just that one time that you happen to succeed. That’s why you have to keep trying, because if you try often enough, and don’t let yourself get discouraged, eventually you will be successful.'
"What Dr. Dierenfield had done was re-iterate and finally teach me that failure was one of the most important things in life, and just looking back at the application process, I knew he was right. First, in the process of failing at the Truman, I learned that I was the kind of person who was so stubborn, and so determined, that I was not going to give up just because it was difficult. What’s more, I realized that I had learned enough about myself, and enough about writing, to keep trying for scholarships and awards that no one like me had any business applying for - and I’ve kept trying for these things ever since. Some of them I’ve won, most of them I have lost.
"Still, I always learned more out of my failures than my successes. Failing to plan one club event always gave me insight into planning the next, writing one paper that didn’t quite work always helped me write the next paper a little bit better, and stopping after 15 miles of running when I was planning to run 20 always left me having run 15 miles more than I would have had I not run at all.
"And so, class of 2006, that is finally the only thing I can say to you. I don’t know much about life beyond Canisius, but I’ve heard that it’s hard, and I’m willing to bet that we’re all going to fail. The key is to fail the right way. And so I urge you, if you didn’t get into the program you wanted to for next year, or if you didn’t get the job that you wanted, keep trying. Ten years from now nobody is going to remember how many times you tried for a goal and didn’t succeed, but with perseverance, I’m willing to bet that 10 years, 20 years and 30 years from now our class will be among the happiest and successful collection of people that you will find anywhere.
"With that, I’d like to say to the class of 2006 Congratulations, Good luck, and may you have a lifetime of perseverance and success ahead of you."
Photo Galleries
2008 Ghana Trip
2007 Boston Trip
2006 New York City Trip
Senior Honors Reception
Annual Honors Banquet
Jeopardy Contest
Ghana, West Africa Spring Break 2008
Trip to Boston, May 11-14, 2007
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Trip to Boston, May 11-14, 2007
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Honors Post Journal
Download the Honors Post Journal or see below for selected articles from past editions.
Summer 2009 (.pdf)
Download the Honors Post Journal or see below for selected articles from past editions.
Summer 2009 (.pdf)
October 2007 (.pdf)
March 2007 (.pdf)
December 2006 (.pdf)
October 2006(.pdf)
June 2006 (.pdf)
March 2006 (.pdf)
Graduates Recieve Fulbright Awards
December 2006 (.pdf)
October 2006(.pdf)
June 2006 (.pdf)
March 2006 (.pdf)
The Honors Post-Journal Staff
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Editor-in-Chief Layout Editor |
Staff Writers |
Graduates Recieve Fulbright Awards
Melanie D. Horton '06, Elise A. Garvey ’07, and Adam Walters '08 are the recipients of prestigious J. William Fulbright Scholarships.
Melanie Horton graduated from Canisius College in 2006 with a dual major in Spanish and finance. Canisius faculty members Nancy J. Rosenbloom, PhD, professor of history, and Julia L. Wescott, PhD, professor of modern languages, served as mentors during Horton’s application process.
Horton’s Fulbright to Mexico is affiliated with the Garcia-Robles Binational Business Grant Program. She will use her scholarship to investigate the role that culture plays in the Mexican workplace with the hope of improving Mexican-American business relations by promoting tolerance, understanding and future prosperity. According to Horton, “Recognition of cultural differences and values by both business partners in international business is essential to successful negotiations.”
Horton worked in a Mexico-based company dedicated to international business and take MBA courses in either Mexico City or Monterrey.
She taught English language and American culture to high school students in Asturias, Spain for the 2006-07 school year through a North American Auxiliar de Conversación grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain.
Horton graduated summa cum laude from Canisius College and upon graduation received the college’s City of Oviedo Excellence in Spanish Award. A member of the All-College Honors Program, Horton was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Nu, Beta Gamma Sigma and DiGamma Honor Societies. She served as the senior representative of the All-College Honors Program Council and was a member of the Honors Journal staff.
Horton also served as president of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), was co-chair of the annual International Fest, and worked as a peer tutor in business and Spanish, where she specialized in working with ESL students. During her senior year, she represented Canisius College at the 2005 Fair Trade Futures Conference in Chicago, IL.
As a sophomore, Horton spent the summer in Morelia, Michoácan, Mexico through the college’s MexiCanisius Program. She studied Spanish grammar and Mexican history at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicholás de Hidalgo. During her junior year, she spent a semester in Oviedo, Spain, where she studied history, Spanish phonetics, grammar and art history at the Universidad de Oviedo at Campus Milan.
Horton plans to pursue a career as a cultural analyst with a concentration in Mexican studies.
Elise Garvey graduate from Canisius in 2007 with a triple major in Political Science, International Relations and Spanish, with a European Studies minor. John D. Occhipinti, PhD, professor of political science, and Timothy H. Wadkins, PhD, associate professor of religious studies and theology, served as Garvey’s mentors during the application process.
Garvey traveled to Ukraine to explore the development of a response to human trafficking in the country on the domestic and international levels. “I will look at how the government of Ukraine is working with intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to develop policy and law, and whether this cooperation is formulating a response that is both effective and appropriate in its creation and application,” said Garvey.
A member of the All-College Honors Program at Canisius, she was inducted into the DiGamma and Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Societies. Garvey served as president of the International Affairs Society; diversity chair for the Undergraduate Student Association (USA); committee coordinator for International Fest; foreign minister for the college’s European Union Simulation Team (EuroSim) and a Canisius service intern and volunteer for Journey’s End Refugee Services. Garvey received a Delegate Award of Excellence at the Lake Erie International Model United Nations Corporation (LEIMUN) Collegiate Conference in both 2005 and 2006.
She spent the spring 2006 semester in Ukraine studying Ukrainian Political History and Sociology, Ukrainian and Russian Language and Eastern European Economics at the Yuri Fedkovych National University in Chernivtsi through a Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship. She also attended the 2006 EuroSim Conference in the Czech Republic, and in 2005, traveled to El Salvador and Honduras on a religious studies immersion trip to study the development of Christianity. She completed a Russian language and culture immersion course in the Russian Federation in 2004.
Garvey received the Woodrow Wilson Award from the Political Science Department and the International Relations Award for Global Understanding and Involvement from the International Relations Department at the college’s Honors Convocation held on Friday, April 27, 2007.
A 2008 graduate of Canisius College, Adam Walters will use his Fulbright Scholarship to undertake an independent study in Lima, Peru, where he is affiliated with the Universidad ESAN. Walters will examine governmental and non-governmental responses toward the emerging issues of climate change in the country, specifically in relation to the retreat of Peru’s Andean Glaciers.
“Responding to glacier retreat is an urgent concern for government and population alike, as Peru is one of the first nations to face the severe consequences of climate change,” explained Walters.
Walters’ independent study will build upon preliminary research that he conducted for his senior honors thesis at Canisius, which evaluated the individual reactions of several South American governments to climate change, and the impact of governmental and non-governmental organizations on national policies.
While at Canisius, Walters majored in international relations and Spanish, with a Latin American concentration. He also studied abroad in Mexico and Spain, and was involved in many extracurricular activities. Walters was president of the International Affairs Society; president of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honors society; a member of the Model United Nations group; and served on the Student Senate Finance Committee. As a volunteer at Journey’s End Refugee Services of Western New York, he helped refugee families resettled in their new country and organized events to acclimate them in their new community.
Jonathan M. DiCicco, PhD, assistant professor of political science; Christopher R. Lee, PhD, associate professor of religious studies and theology; and Ronald M. Rivas, PhD, assistant professor of management/marketing, mentored Walters during his Fulbright application process.
The J. William Fulbright Scholarship is named for Senator J. William Fulbright and is the U.S. government’s premier scholarship program. It is designed to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges, which providing recipients with tuition, fees, travel and research fund for a full year.
 | |
| Melanie Horton '07 |
Horton’s Fulbright to Mexico is affiliated with the Garcia-Robles Binational Business Grant Program. She will use her scholarship to investigate the role that culture plays in the Mexican workplace with the hope of improving Mexican-American business relations by promoting tolerance, understanding and future prosperity. According to Horton, “Recognition of cultural differences and values by both business partners in international business is essential to successful negotiations.”
Horton worked in a Mexico-based company dedicated to international business and take MBA courses in either Mexico City or Monterrey.
She taught English language and American culture to high school students in Asturias, Spain for the 2006-07 school year through a North American Auxiliar de Conversación grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain.
Horton graduated summa cum laude from Canisius College and upon graduation received the college’s City of Oviedo Excellence in Spanish Award. A member of the All-College Honors Program, Horton was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Nu, Beta Gamma Sigma and DiGamma Honor Societies. She served as the senior representative of the All-College Honors Program Council and was a member of the Honors Journal staff.
Horton also served as president of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), was co-chair of the annual International Fest, and worked as a peer tutor in business and Spanish, where she specialized in working with ESL students. During her senior year, she represented Canisius College at the 2005 Fair Trade Futures Conference in Chicago, IL.
As a sophomore, Horton spent the summer in Morelia, Michoácan, Mexico through the college’s MexiCanisius Program. She studied Spanish grammar and Mexican history at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicholás de Hidalgo. During her junior year, she spent a semester in Oviedo, Spain, where she studied history, Spanish phonetics, grammar and art history at the Universidad de Oviedo at Campus Milan.
Horton plans to pursue a career as a cultural analyst with a concentration in Mexican studies.
 | |
| Elise Garvey '07 |
Garvey traveled to Ukraine to explore the development of a response to human trafficking in the country on the domestic and international levels. “I will look at how the government of Ukraine is working with intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to develop policy and law, and whether this cooperation is formulating a response that is both effective and appropriate in its creation and application,” said Garvey.
A member of the All-College Honors Program at Canisius, she was inducted into the DiGamma and Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Societies. Garvey served as president of the International Affairs Society; diversity chair for the Undergraduate Student Association (USA); committee coordinator for International Fest; foreign minister for the college’s European Union Simulation Team (EuroSim) and a Canisius service intern and volunteer for Journey’s End Refugee Services. Garvey received a Delegate Award of Excellence at the Lake Erie International Model United Nations Corporation (LEIMUN) Collegiate Conference in both 2005 and 2006.
She spent the spring 2006 semester in Ukraine studying Ukrainian Political History and Sociology, Ukrainian and Russian Language and Eastern European Economics at the Yuri Fedkovych National University in Chernivtsi through a Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship. She also attended the 2006 EuroSim Conference in the Czech Republic, and in 2005, traveled to El Salvador and Honduras on a religious studies immersion trip to study the development of Christianity. She completed a Russian language and culture immersion course in the Russian Federation in 2004.
Garvey received the Woodrow Wilson Award from the Political Science Department and the International Relations Award for Global Understanding and Involvement from the International Relations Department at the college’s Honors Convocation held on Friday, April 27, 2007.
 | |
| Adam Walters '08 |
“Responding to glacier retreat is an urgent concern for government and population alike, as Peru is one of the first nations to face the severe consequences of climate change,” explained Walters.
Walters’ independent study will build upon preliminary research that he conducted for his senior honors thesis at Canisius, which evaluated the individual reactions of several South American governments to climate change, and the impact of governmental and non-governmental organizations on national policies.
While at Canisius, Walters majored in international relations and Spanish, with a Latin American concentration. He also studied abroad in Mexico and Spain, and was involved in many extracurricular activities. Walters was president of the International Affairs Society; president of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honors society; a member of the Model United Nations group; and served on the Student Senate Finance Committee. As a volunteer at Journey’s End Refugee Services of Western New York, he helped refugee families resettled in their new country and organized events to acclimate them in their new community.
Jonathan M. DiCicco, PhD, assistant professor of political science; Christopher R. Lee, PhD, associate professor of religious studies and theology; and Ronald M. Rivas, PhD, assistant professor of management/marketing, mentored Walters during his Fulbright application process.
The J. William Fulbright Scholarship is named for Senator J. William Fulbright and is the U.S. government’s premier scholarship program. It is designed to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges, which providing recipients with tuition, fees, travel and research fund for a full year.