Valentine’s Day is a holiday dedicated to celebrating love and all things sweet. February 14th is a perfect day to reflect on our special relationships and all of the ways that we spread love to those around us. 

The concept of love however, is not contained to one particular notion. Some of the purest forms of love entail acts that challenge popular traditions often associated with today. While a card, box of chocolates, or bouquet of flowers speak volumes, it is interesting to explore other unique and meaningful ways to share the love this Valentine’s Day. Many SUNY Oswego students take the initiative to spread love and positivity all year long, and their altruistic efforts launch a continuous reaction of kindness within our community. 

One program that inspires our students to give back through generous acts of volunteer work is Adopt a Grandparent. This organization supplies transportation to student volunteers, bringing them to local nursing homes where they spend time with their residents and help organize a variety of activities intended to help them relax, have fun, and form special connections with one another. 

Bradley Stoyell, a sophomore at SUNY Oswego, kindly took the time to answer a few questions about his experience as a group leader for the Adopt a Grandparent Program. His reflection on the many meaningful opportunities he has gained through this position can give us all an important reminder of the abundance of different types of love we can display in this world. 

Bradley explained the work that Adopt a Grandparent does with Saint Luke’s nursing home and emphasized the significance of the special bonds created between their residents and the student volunteers. He shared how positive their group experiences are while working with a kind staff who cares deeply for their residents and how rewarding building these relations can be.

When asked about his most memorable experience spreading love in the Oswego community, Stoyell shared a story about the time he and a friend noticed a flustered elderly woman at a local gas station who could not find her way home. He explained that through his experience with Adopt a Grandparent, he’s worked with a variety of residents suffering from dementia or other cognitive loss which allowed him to recognize similar symptoms in this woman. By staying calm, he was able to retrieve her address and get her home safely. Bradley shared, “this was a huge way of spreading love in the community because I was able to see how loved she felt at that moment.”

Valentine’s Day can have many different meanings, but taking the time to recognize our students who continuously spread love and care within our community feels extra meaningful. The selfless work that is completed by student volunteers like Bradely Stoyell allows for a happier, safer, and more loving environment and that, is a beautiful thing. While February 14th only comes once a year, let’s follow in Bradely’s footsteps and dedicate more time to sharing smiles year round and giving a new meaning to the word love. 

On Friday January 31st and Saturday February 1st, the SUNY Oswego Office of Sustainability hosted a pop-up thrift store in Hewitt Union. Over 1,800 pounds of donated goods from Residence Halls were sold. These items included clothing, dorm necessities, and garments to keep warm! All proceeds went to purchasing trees to plant for Arbor Day on April 24th.

The 15th Annual Louis B. O’Donnell Media Summit is approaching quickly I hope to see everyone there!

October 23rd in Waterman Theatre, Tyler Hall doors open at 2:30 pm the event starts at 3 pm

Hey guys! I’m Michelle Borukhov and I am currently a senior here at SUNY Oswego. I am a graphic design major with a double minor in communication and social interaction and business administration. I live in Queens, New York and New York City is and always will be my home. Some of my favorite things to do are arts and crafts, dancing, cheerleading, hang out with friends, and just have an overall good time. Here at SUNY Oswego, I have participated on the Oswego State Cheerleading team, where we got 10th in the country at NCA Collegiate Nationals, and currently work at Pathfinder Dining Hall. Both experiences have shaped me into the person I am now and will always be a huge part of my time here at Oswego. After the end of my time here in Oswego in May 2020, I have not decided whether I want to continue my studies at a graduate school or enter the workforce. My main interests are advertising and social media marketing. I would like to combine my love for art and business in a position that could be both fun and rewarding. I would love to work in a company that has to do with sports or makeup. I have been very interested in both and having a job that has something to do with them would be the dream. I know that living in the city definitely has its perks at working at a cool company that has what I want.

Better late then never but: Hey guys my name is Brittany. I am a senior at Oswego studying broadcasting with hopes to work for Disney some day and when I graduate in May, I want to go to grad school after. I have a strong passion for Photography and love to watch movies.

My name is Gabriele Candela, and I am from Long Island, New York. Some of my hobbies include dancing, painting, and photography. This is my first semester as a social media intern for the Office of Communications and Marketing. I’m currently in my sophomore year as a Graphic Design major, with minors in Arts Management and Spanish. My many involvements on campus are hopefully leading me to the path I want to take one day, which would to work as a Graphic Designer in a marketing firm. Currently, I am the graphic designer for American Marketing Association, as well as for the Media Summit. Having this internship is another great opportunity for me to highlight my interests and talents, in a more modern and technological way which is very exciting. Becoming involved on campus from the very beginning of my college years is something that was very important to me, in preparing myself for a career one day.

When you think of any city in the world, what comes to mind? Is it the physical buildings themselves, the architecture, or do you think of the people and the culture itself that surrounds it?

I’m spending this semester living and studying abroad as a part of CAPA London’s global education program. If you asked me a few weeks ago what immediately came to mind when I think of London, I’d probably have said Big Ben, the London Eye, or the London Bridge (which I have since realized that I’ve been envisioning the Tower Bridge and not at all the London Bridge). I chose to study here mainly for the vast arts culture that exists within the city, so of course it was art that made me start asking my previously stated questions.

As I visited the Tate Modern last week, the exhibit that had tremendous impact on me personally was Naoya Hatakeyama’s ‘Living Cities’. The focus of the exhibit was structures and how the human occupancy can completely change the perspective of a city. Do the buildings in these places still carry the same meaning if the city is completely vacant? Are older buildings that people don’t use anymore worth preserving if society gains no use from them? Hatakeyama stressed how millennials seem to believe that older buildings have less functionality than the newer ones, therefore making them worth less.

As I walk amongst the 19th century buildings next to sleek modern architecture, I notice how the stress on older buildings comes as a testament to the people who lived before. We continue preserving these works in an attempt to keep alive the spirit of those that came before. Those who created the structures and lived in them. It reminds us as human beings that there were people before and there will be people after. That those who previously occupied these spaces were not so dissimilar to us. As I wandered through Bath last week and stood on the edge of the Roman Baths where the Romans used to undergo hygiene treatments, I couldn’t help but think about the modern spa that was built not too far away.

And then there are the testaments to modern culture. The locals who walk the streets, the street performers that frequent tube stations, the bustling markets in Camden and Greenwich, the chatter in the pubs near my home. London’s people are passionate about causes close to home. Whether that be the lives they lead day by day, or in larger issues like Brexit or climate change. Being a city that had to almost completely rebuild after the bombings of World War 2, London is a city that isn’t afraid of fighting for a better world. While this can be seen radically during protests outside parliment or around global oil companies, its also seen in the art seen on the streets made by names like Banksy and Bambi.

So to answer my previous question, I believe the value we place in cities comes hand in hand with the value we place in the human spirit. The cities themselves are testiments of those who live there now and those from the past. Even as my experience in London continues to unfold, I am happy to developing my own meaning of this city through these experiences and the incredible people I’ve met so far.

As I reflect on my last four years of college in the short 2 weeks that I have left here I started to think about how much has changed over the past four years. When I graduated high school in 2015 I had no idea what to expect when I entered college.

My first few days of college seem to fly by so fast until there were some days that felt like they would never end. Those long days turned to slow weeks that then turned into fast months to then a quick years. And before I knew it I didn’t know where all the time had gone.

I wouldn’t take back any of the decisions and choices I’ve made in college because they helped me start to understand myself apart from my family and everything I had become so familiar with over the past 18 years before entering college.

Now fours years have past and at the age of 22 I feel like I’ve made a full circle. Packing up my life in boxes and bags, saying goodbye to old friends,  and leaving a place I’ve become so familiar with.

It might seem scary at times but I’m feeling the same anxiousness and excitedness I felt four years ago when I had no idea how my life was going to change.

For those of you who are graduating I am sure you might feel the same and for those who are just beginning… make the most of your time here in college because you will never truly be this young again.