FRIDAY, SEPT. 18
Fall 2026 | ISSUE 2 WHAT’S INSIDE:
Photo Page
A&C
Battle of Plattsburgh Festival
Cardinal Creative: Abbigail Bruno
Saxby’s Cafe Holds Grand Opening BY GRANT TERWILLIGER Editor-in-Chief
Saxby’s Experiential Learning Cafe, SUNY Plattsburgh’s newest food option, opened its doors September 9 with an opening ceremony that included campus community members President Alexander Enyedi, Vice President Karen McGrath and Student CEO Ashlee Morris. Saxby’s on SUNY Plattsburgh’s campus is the 30th location that the Philadelphia based chain has opened and it is the first partnership between Sodexo and Saxby’s. Saxby’s is an Experiential Learning Cafe, meaning that the cafe is completely run by students. The inaugural cafe team includes 31 members. CEO and founder of Saxby’s Nick Bayer said that he is in awe of the fact that 100% of student CEO’s have graduated from college and have gone off to get promoted into leadership positions seven times faster than an average college graduate. “We describe Saxby’s as an education company that is disguised as a coffee company,” Bayer said. “Our mission as a company is to make life better, and we do that certainly with great cold brew, but more importantly, we do that by empowering and supporting the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.” Alexander Enyedi, SUNY Plattsburgh’s president, said that he looks forward to seeing the cafe become a vibrant gathering place and an incubator for student leadership. “The decisions are real that happen in this space. The responsibilities are real and because the work is real, the learning will be both deeper and incredibly impactful,” Enyedi said. “Students from every major will be eligible to participate and regardless of their field of study, they will gain skills that will serve them throughout their careers.” Enyedi said that students will learn critical thinking skills, communication, adaptability, teamwork, resilience and the ability to lead others. Students will have the opportunity to learn leadership, make financial decisions and take responsibility in customer satisfaction while earring academic credit towards their degrees. Enyedi said that the cafe is an opportu-
GRANT TERWILLIGER/Cardinal Points
Student CEO Ashlee Morris cuts the opening ceremony ribbon officially opening Saxby’s to the campus community. nity for students to discover what they are capable of accomplishing and prepare not only for their first job, but opportunities and challenges throughout their careers. Enyedi congratulated Student CEO Morris and Justin Thomas, student vice president of campus marketing. “Ashlee and Justin, you are our trailblazers, and you will shape what this cafe and this experience will become. We are so proud of you, and most importantly, we look forward to seeing where your leadership takes this team,” Enyedi said. The cafe allows students to learn by trying and sometimes failing. Vice President McGrath said that making mistakes is okay because it allows for growth along the way. The relationships that students build and the sense of belonging students develop is an important part of success, McGrath said.
“I think food is this incredible way of bringing people together. Some of the best conversations happen over that cup of coffee or over lunch, breakfast, or dinner,” Mcgrath said. “We gather around food to celebrate, to catch up, to make new friends, to work through an idea or sometimes just take a break from everything else going on in our life.” Ellen Wilson, president and chief operating officer of Sodexo campus services, said that the best partnerships begin with listening carefully, thinking differently and creating solutions that enrich the community, all of which Saxby’s reflects. Wilson expressed her gratitude for Thomas, the inaugural members of Saxby’s and Morris. “Ashlee, you’ve already demonstrated tremendous commitment through the CEO camp, onboarding, training, and preparing your team for today,”
Wilson said. “You now have the exciting opportunity to lead this team and create a very successful and lasting program.” Morris went through around five or six interviews for the position of student CEO and a culminating interview with Bayer before she was offered the position. Bayer said that he knew she would be the perfect fit for the position after two minutes of interviewing her because of her positive attitude. Morris learned that leadership isn’t only about making decisions, but uplifting others. “It’s about creating an environment where other people can learn, contribute, and feel supported. I’m really grateful that I get to learn alongside a team of people from my own campus,” Morris said.
CAFE > 2
Late Night Builds Environmental Awareness BY CHRISTIAN TUFINO Staff Writer
Lights shine on the Olive Ridley’s stage as students Kaiser Beckford and Taygin Jump welcome participants to the first Late Night for The Planet of the semester on Sept. 9. The talk show held three segments with each having a special guest talk about the environment based on their different specialization. The first guest introduced was Lawyer Claudia Braymer who specializes in environmental law. Braymer brought her expertise in environmental law to raise awareness to her non-profit organization Protect the Adirondacks. Representing the organization, she spoke about their mission to protect local wetlands, old growth forests, and the Adirondack park. The organization’s current goal is to focus effort into protecting the Central Adirondacks. “It’s 36,000 acres of land owned by private landowners, and it’s up for sale, it’s called the Whitney Park land,” Braymer said. “It has 22 lakes and ponds, 100 miles of underdeveloped shoreline, and we’ve been advocating for the state to purchase that land to add it to the forest preserve.” After Braymers segment the second guest speaker, Gary Henry of Ausable Freshwater Center, held his segment. Henry uses his multiple degrees in geology and decades of experience in stream restoration to ad-
up to create a 130 foot bridge. “According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this was probably one of the most important stream crossings in the Lake Champlain Basin, with respect to the landlocked Atlantic Salmon,” Henry said. The last segment introduced Associate Professor Mary Alldred of Center for Earth and Environmental Science of SUNY Plattsburgh. Alldred shared her experience at Notre Dame Environmental Research Center and her work in salt water marshes in New York. She said she plans to use her expertise in combination with facilities at SUNY Plattsburgh to share her knowledge with future environmental scientists. “I come here and interview, and we have planning, and we have geology, and we have environmental science, and we have ecology, and it’s all in the same center,” Alldred said. “I interviewed all over the country that year, and I hadn’t seen a program like that before, it’s amazing.” Hosts Beckford and Jump urged people to get inProvided by Late Night for the Planet volved with their community and use their resources. Late Night for the Planet promotional graphic. “The Adirondacks is an important place,” Beckford said. “And that’s why we have professionals vance the science and stewardship of the Adiron- like the ones we saw tonight protecting it and doing dacks as the director of stream conservation at the things to improve it, keep it beautiful.” Ausable Freshwater Center. Henry and his team recently finished a project in the North Branch Bouquet River in Lewis that took the river that was being shoehorned by 16-foot culEmail CHRISTIAN TUFINO verts, prominently used by salmon, and opened it cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
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▪ Editor in Chief Grant Terwilliger
▪
NEWS
Friday, Sept. 18, 2026
Student Association CP Corrections There are no errors to re- SA Elects Speaker of the Senate port this week. BY GRANT TERWILLIGER Editor-in-Chief If you see an error in Cardi- The Student Association approved a speaker of the and Vice President Dominick Andre discussed nal Points, email cp@cardi- senate, the start of his Legislative Review Board Sept. 9 in the Angell College Center. nalpointsonline.com
Senator Sami Goodman was approved as this year’s speaker of the senate with nine votes and one abstention. Goodman is a double major in early childhood education, and Theater production. They started serving as a student finance board member in Fall 2025 and was appointed to a senator position in Spring 2026. Goodman is a returning senator this semester. “I got a lot done last year,” Goodman said. “I wrote and passed a student bill, I helped write the constitutional amendments, I helped resolve situations in the budget process and I’m also a current active member of both LRB and finance board.” Andre’s Legislative Review Board met for the first time and discussed what official board meetings will look like. “We are going chronologically from the 63rd legislation down,” Andre said. “We have amended the constitution multiple times in the past few years. The goal is to increase the efficiency of the SA through this board. I will have an effective vice chair of my board.” Email GRANT TERWILLIGER cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
ANYA KERN/Cardinal Points
Senator Shawna Wright gives a senator report Sept. 9.
BE OUR STUDENT ASSOCIATION REPORTER! Attend SA meetings and write about what happens
Editorial Board Editor in Chief Grant Terwilliger
Managing Editor Adam Blanchard
News Editor Grant Terwilliger
Arts & Culture Editor
Multimedia Editor Sydney Blake
Opinion Editor Grant Terwilliger
Web Editor Evan Rando
Photography Editor Anya Kern
Contact Editor-in-Chief Grant Terwilliger at Gterw002@plattsburgh.edu for more info
Cafe
Adam Blanchard
Continued from page 1
Morris said that so far it’s been a unique experience being a part of something from the beginning and a special way to start her senior year. Morris has been working over the last few months preparing and organizing operations for the opening of Saxby’s. “My vision is for Saxby’s. To become a cornerstone of campus,” Morris said. “A place where students can stop in before class, grab a cold brew with a friend, sit down and get some work done, or just have somewhere to go during a busy day.”
Graphics Editor Kimora DeCoteau Faculty Adviser Jack Downs
Contact CP cp@cardinalpointsonline.com 118 Ward Hall SUNY Plattsburgh Plattsburgh, NY
GRANT TERWILLIGER/Cardinal Points
President Alexander Enyedi, Student CEO Ashlee Morris and Burghy pose with Saxby’s employees.
Email GRANT TERWILLIGER cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
Kimora DeCoteau is Cardinal Points graphics editor and a member of Saxby’s. DeCoteau did not influence the coverage of this article.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 18, 2026
Cardinal Creatives: Abbigail Bruno
Bruno creates detailed work through years of experience BY ADAM BLANCHARD Managing Editor
Abbigail Bruno, art major at SUNY Plattsburgh, has developed a realistic art style inspired by scientific illustration. Art has been passed down in Bruno’s family, with her interest developing at a young age competing with her sister. “Every time she’d make something, I’d be like, ‘Oh I want to make that,’” Bruno said. “As I progressed, I just started to love it more and more.” Bruno said art commissions were another step she took toward taking art seriously. She started working on commissions six years ago, with the majority of commissions being for pet portraiture. “Commission work is so special to me because I get to share my work with people while also creating a lasting memory for my clients,” Bruno said. Now in her senior year, Bruno has honed in on wildlife illustrations, but the path to finding her style wasn’t always clear. With a concentration in drawing, Bruno worked to master charcoal as one of her go-to media. Much of Bruno’s recent artwork has been influenced by scientists rather than artists. She looks at scientific illustrators Lauren Richelieu and Carl Brenders to draw inspiration. In previous semesters, Bruno hadn’t fully developed her style. She said her subject matter was all over the place, causing her to struggle creatively. “I kind of hit a rut halfway through my junior year and I was in a spot where I was falling out of love with art,” Bruno said. “It was just a lot of stress and a lot of pressure.”
Abbigail Bruno beside her artwork, “Amur Leopard,” in the lobby of the Myers Fine Arts Building. Bruno discovered scientific illustrations, reigniting her passion for art. “I’ve always loved animals more than I like people. That’s how it’s always been, and so it catered to that anyway,” Bruno said. Bruno’s detail-oriented approach requires a reference. She reaches out to photographers to acquire images suitable for an accurate scientific illustration. Bruno said she typically starts by drawing background elements like in her piece in
the Myers Lobby Gallery, “Amur Leopard.” When working in color, Bruno starts with dark colors, then goes to light colors, making many of her art pieces have darker tones. To achieve texture in her charcoal pieces, Bruno works subtractively. “I’d take a very fine point eraser, and I’d erase some of those strokes back in so that it’d layer nicely,” Bruno said. “It’s a lot of push and pull. I’m going back and forth with the pencil and real-
ly deepening those shadows and pulling back out the highlights.” Bruno has had her artwork in Malone’s Downtown Artist Cellar, Albany’s Best of SUNY, and SUNY Plattsburgh’s Studio Select exhibits. Bruno is also the president of the Plattsburgh Association of the Visual Arts. She said most of her time in her role is spent trying to get more people involved in the arts. Bruno also handles communications with mural
ADAM BLANCHARD/Cardinal Points
commission requests and organizes events for students to attend. Bruno hopes to attend graduate school at Rhode Island School of Art Design and land a job as an art education teacher at the collegiate level. Bruno’s current series, “What Meets the Eye,” focuses on how the rod and cone cells of an animal’s eyes perceive the world based on colors they can or can’t see. The animal in the foreground will look like how humans
see them, while the backgrounds will depict how animals see the world around them. Bruno said she will submit this series to the graduate program she is applying to. To see more of Bruno’s work, visit her art Instagram, @artwork_byB.
Email ADAM BLANCAHRD cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
Thrive Fest highlights academic resources BY KHAELLE HARRIS Staff Writer
SUNY Plattsburgh’s Thrive Fest brought together campus departments, student support services, community organizations and community resources on Sept. 10, giving students the opportunity to learn about resources available both on and off campus while interacting with the staff behind them. For Kristina Moquin, Mental health counselor in the Student Health and Counseling Center, having that accessibility is one of the most valuable parts of the event. “So many times a lot of our work just keeps us in the center,” Moquin said.
“At events like this, we actually get to get out and meet other people from other departments and see the other students who don’t just come in to see us.” Moquin said that the event also gave students an opportunity to become familiar with the services available to them. Sophomore Taliyah Younger attended because her professor assigned it for class, but gained something from it. Younger said it was her first time learning about the many resources represented on campus. She said the self-care packages at the Trio Student Support Services table stood out to her the most.
Sophomore Sylvester Davis also attended because of a class assignment. Before coming to the event, Davis said that he wasn’t familiar with the events like Thrive Fest because he hasn’t been involved in many activities on campus. He said that he liked that each organization had its own table and was organized. Davis said he was also drawn to TRIO’s self-care table. Davis said he felt that more students should attend events like Thrive Fest. For Sciria Thompson, a junior at SUNY Plattsburgh, attending was a way to be more involved on campus.
Thompson, who works in Student Support Services, said that she was already familiar with events like Thrive Fest through her own work, but said the event showed her how much SUNY Plattsburgh has to offer. Thompson said events like Thrive Fest give students an opportunity to see change, develop conversations and become more connected to campus life. The resources represented at Thrive fest also extended beyond the campus. Emily Stanley, Community Impact Manager at Planned Parenthood of the North Country New York, said events like Thrive Fest give students an opportu-
Khaelle Harris/Cardinal Points
Thrive Fest, held in Amitie Plaza. nity to learn about services available to them when they need support. Stanley said Planned Parenthood offers resources including its Sexual Assault Services program and works with the campus community
to connect people with support. Stanley said she hopes students leave the event knowing the organization is nearby and that its services are accessible to everyone. THRIVE > 4
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▪ Arts & Culture Editor Adam Blanchard
▪
ARTS & CULTURE
Friday, Sept. 18, 2026
Bruno’s scientific illustrations Artwork by Abbigail Bruno
“Bali Mynas” (Impending Obituaries #1), 2026, Char- “West African Slender-Snouted Crocodile” (Impending Obituaries #4), 2026, Watercolor on paper, 20”x 30” coal on paper, 30”x 48”
“Monochromat” (What Meets the Eye #1), 2026, Colored pencil on paper, 14”x 20” “Kihansi Spray Toad” (Impending Obituaries #3), 2026, Watercolor on paper, 20”x 30”
THRIVE BY GRYPHON AKRIDGE-PHILLIPS STAFF WRITER
Aries (March 21 – April 19)
Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
Gemini (May 21 – June 20)
Cancer (June 21 – July 22)
You may receive unexpected help with a problem.
Important news or messages will come to your attention. Be careful in how you use this information.
You may be in an emotional time in your life. Think through every action twice before committing.
An important message may soon come to you through a dream or an unexpected event.
Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22)
Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22)
Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)
Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21)
You may have control over a difficult situation, but you could quickly lose this control. There is a call for diplomacy.
There may be a positive creative endeavor in regards to a situation you find yourself in.
You may feel as if you are carrying a burden. Make certain you have not taken up someone else’s responsibilities.
You may find there is rapid movement in your life. Make sure you are prepared to take action in order to gain success.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21)
Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19)
Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18)
Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20)
Important forces may be affecting the events in your life. Be certain the path you are on is one which is positive.
Spend your money wisely. You will gain personal and financial security only after a hard struggle.
Listen and you will find out something that will help you better your life. A cycle of completion follows a job well done.
Good news is coming about a journey, a move, or a job change.
Continued from page 3
“There is no shame in taking care of your sexual health,” Stanley said. Athena Castro, writing skills specialist for TRIO Student Support Services said there appeared to be more people attending compared to previous years. Castro said that the event is important as students move further into this semester and begin facing challenges that may not be apparent during the first few weeks of school. “Around the third week, students may start feeling stressed or homesick,” Castro said. “They realize they lack resources such as textbooks, money, the right meal plan or support network.” Ariel Sookram, TRIO SSS Academic Coach said she also noticed incoming students appearing more willing to interact with different clubs, organizations and offices on campus. Sookram said events like Thrive Fest help students become familiar with the different offices on campus and the resources they offer. Email KHAELLE HARRIS cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
▪ Photography Editor Anya Kern
▪ Friday, 18 Sept., 2026
PHOTOSPREAD
Community Celebrates 212 Anniversary of Battle of Plattsburgh Photos by Grant Terwilliger
Cardinal women’s hockey rollerblades through the parade.
Parade participant juggles while riding a unicycle.
Various marching bands, local groups, and floats filled the streets of downtown for the 2026 Battle of Plattsburgh community parade. The weekend of Sept. 9 to 13 was full of events including a men’s and women’s firetruck pull, farmers and crafters markets, a classic car meet, concerts from local artists, and more.
Clinton Community College students smile as they walk along the parade route.
The U.S Army 10th Mountain Division Marching Band put on a show for parade attendees.