From the President For the past three years, President Susan Engelkemeyer has given a student the opportunity to be “President for a Day.” In exchange, Dr. Engelkemeyer follows the student’s schedule. This year, the honor went to Emily Barden ’18. Read about both of their experiences below.
President for a Day
My Day as a Student
by Emily Barden
by Susan Engelkemeyer
My day as president was one of the best days I have had at Nichols. The opportunity to learn more about the operations and inner workings of our school as well as to learn more about President Engelkemeyer and her position, was one that I could not pass up. I am thankful for applying and will encourage anyone to apply in the subsequent years.
On April 4, I traded places with junior Emily Barden who was selected to be “President for a Day.” I wanted to live the day as Emily does, so that included taking on her schedule while she assumed mine.
I began the day presenting to the President’s Council on the changes I would like to implement that would benefit current students, staff/faculty, future students, and alumni. That was a great experience on its own. I presented to a group of very remarkable and vital members of our institution and it was very rewarding hearing their input as well as the questions they had for me. From there, I had various meetings where I learned about and discussed enrollment, marketing, fundraising within our capital campaign, the honors program, and other plans Nichols has in store. I even had the opportunity to call various alumni who have recently created their own endowed scholarships and thank them for their contribution. The conversations I had with the alumni I spoke to were very interesting and it was great to hear that they have all given back to Nichols because they are so thankful for their time on the Hill. My day was amazing, to say the least. I loved learning about the various responsibilities President Engelkemeyer has, the different departments she works with, and how valuable her role is. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to switch places with the president and hope many others decide to apply next year.
Emily’s Tuesday schedule includes two required business core classes. My first class of the day was Operations Management with Professor Art Duhaime. I taught operations management for 14 years at Babson College, so it brought back fond memories of discussing supply chain and inventory management issues and methods. I had fun giving a brief presentation on operations in the news with classmates Isabella, Daisy, and Alexandra.
M A G A Z I N E Vo l u m e 1 1 , I s s u e 2 Summer 2017
EDITOR Susan Veshi VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT Bill Pieczynski CONTRIBUTORS Brent Broszeit, Pete DiVito, Jim Douglas, Megan Fields ’17, Rae Glispin, Lorraine Martinelle, Jenna McAssey ’19, Jillian Riches, Ron Schachter, Len Suprise, Molly Thienel DESIGN Steve Belleville PRINTING Puritan Capital, Hollis, NH
My second class was Business, Government, and Regulations with Professor Paul Lambert. The preparation for this class involved reading and watching an eye-opening video on supplements. The lack of regulation and quality control for these products is startling. No trips to the supplement stores for me anytime soon! Both classes were interesting and great learning experiences. My afternoon included working in Student Life, and getting in trouble with Dean PJ Boggio for emailing on my phone while I was working. While there, I enjoyed chatting with Kathy, Carmen, DJ, and Andrew, and seeing students come through for their interviews for orientation leader. But the highlight of my day was a scheduled workout in the weight room with women’s ice hockey. The team was very welcoming and took their workout quite seriously. Not wanting to look like someone my age, I was determined to keep up. It felt good at the time, but I had to nearly crawl up the stairs to bed Tuesday night, and my thighs were still killing me the next day. One lesson I’ve learned is that age 20 was so very long ago. It also reminded me why I chose equestrian sports as a young person–the horse does all the hard work! Looking back on the experience, I am excited about the lessons I learned and the students I met and am already looking forward to the experience next year!
Reprinted from President Engelkemeyer’s blog, Direct Connections from the Hill.
COVER PHOTO Dan Vaillancourt Patrick O’Connor Photography Shrewsbury, MA
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