Alex Weitman, who was the most inspiring human being before he became my boyfriend, has impacted me the most in the past year because he allowed me to open my eyes a little bit more to joy and love.

-Valencia Mercadante ’23

Diane Hankee, campus minister. She’s helped me through a really rough time these past four years and it’s nice to be back in chapel choir and to see her passionate energy about the program, [she] really inspires me.

-Matthew Rodriguez ’22

One of my professors, Dr. Virginia Johnson. I’ve had a lot of questions about what I want to do in my life, and she’s really taken the time to walk me through it and let me know that I’m not crazy or going through a crisis of any kind.

-Grace Sammon ’23

The doctor who performed my hip surgery. I needed hip surgery and he gave me hip surgery so now I’m able to walk again without any pain.

-Alex Hartmann ’23

My mom has positively impacted me because in the fall I was going through a bit of a rough patch, and my mom was probably the only person who would constantly listen to me vent and worked so hard to pull me out of a dark place.

-Ayla Killion ’23

My parents. They have done everything they could and then some for me as I approach graduation and start the next chapter of my life. They’ve been entirely supportive in helping me with whatever I decide to do.

-Vinny Gaudino ’22

My suitemates who are also part of the track team. I think they’ve definitely made my college experience very memorable. It’s so weird because I’ve only known them for probably six months, but it feels like I’ve known them forever.

-Judith Walker ’25

My older brother. He graduated from college last year and college was kind of tough for him. He’s never been great at school, but he really powered through and he graduated. He has a full time job now and he’s doing really good. He’s going to grad school and he’s just really happy and it makes me really happy because he never gave up even though there were a lot of times when he could have.

-Emily Mandarano ’23

My dad because he was very helpful with the college application process. He was the first
to go to college in his family so he’s been very supportive throughout this entire process, and whenever I feel down he’s always someone who tells me to keep going.

-Marguerite Mcweeney ’25