Together, we exceeded our goal and raised over $45,000 from nearly 200 donors—more than twice the previous year’s amount!
Thank you to all the students, alumni, parents, board members, faculty, staff and friends whose commitment makes Macaulay such an extraordinary institution.
If you would like to support our students, we invite you to make a donation today.
The Brooklyn Museum iwill be presenting the special exhibition Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving from February 8 – May 12, 2019!
This show will present, for the first time in the United States, a collection of Kahlo’s clothing and other personal possessions which were rediscovered and inventoried in 2004 after being locked away since her death in 1954. The exhibition will also include important paintings, drawings, and photographs of the artist from the celebrated Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art.
Advance Ticket Sales Begin On December 3rd
HOW IT WORKS:
Macaulay Honors College students and staff are eligible to purchase 1 discounted ticket to Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving. Click here for the ticketing website and enter code MACFRIDA at checkout to apply your discount. Please click “Not a Member” on the initial landing page and proceed to choose your tickets and enter the discount code on the checkout page.
Please note that everyone must show a valid school ID upon ticket redemption at the Museum. You may also purchase discounted tickets in person by presenting a valid school ID at the Membership Desk.
The museum anticipates high demand for tickets and recommends that you book early to ensure your desired date.
For more information please contact the Brooklyn Museum at 718.638.5000.
By Sebastian Leung
Thank you notes have many different purposes and can be sent for many reasons. For most people, thank you notes are generally sent after an after someone writes you a letter of recommendation, an interview, an informational interview, or finishing an internship.
Thank you notes are useful for several reasons. Firstly, as might be expected,
they are a way to show your gratitude towards a person or company who has done something for you. Secondly, thank you notes show people that you care about them or their company. It will leave a positive and lasting impression about you. Thirdly, thank you notes help you keep in touch with a professional and allow you to stay in touch with them in case other opportunities to work with them come up.
Different Thank You Notes for Different Occasions
There are several different occasions when you should send a professional thank you note. Here is a link with formats to different thank you notes. Below are a few common occasions to send thank you notes for.
Thank you notes can be sent after interviews to show your appreciation towards the person who interviewed you. Within your thank you note to the interviewer, it may be helpful to reference moments that came up during your interview and to mention anything you forgot during the interview.
It may help after the interview to take notes after the interview while all moments are fresh in your mind. You’ll be thanking yourself when you’re back home on your computer writing that very personal thank you note.
After finishing an internship or a job, writing a thank you note to your supervisor or boss is generally a good move to make. In your thank you note, simply express your gratitude to the person you worked for. You can explain briefly your favorite moments and what you learned from the position. Ultimately, it can be helpful to provide your contact information. By doing this, you can ask to connect on job search sites (like LinkedIn) or even be notified of future opportunities.
Letters of recommendation are super important nowadays, and can be a big help in securing a job, internship or a spot in graduate school. This is why you should always write a thank you note to someone who writes a recommendation for you. These thank you notes can be very straightforward, just thanking the person for taking the time to recommend you. However, the people who write your recommendation most likely worked with you previously or served as a mentor or teacher, so it might be helpful to add some personal touches to the note.
Extra Tips
Thank you notes are useful for leaving a good impression, so don’t wait to send a thank you note. If you’re sending an email, send it by end of day. If you’re mailing a letter, date it and try to have it mailed out also by the end of the day. The more you wait, the less effective the note will be.
You don’t want to send someone a mini-novel as a thank you note, but you should keep it long enough to add some sincere, personal notes to the person you are thanking.
Handwritten letters are more personal. If you can’t send one, an email is fine, but always opt for a handwritten, mailed letter if possible.
Signing your name usually adds a personal touch to the note, so you should usually try to print or handwrite your letter, sign it, then mail it out.
A Simple Template
Here is a simple, short template that I like to use, generally after an interview. Feel free to use it and personalize it any way necessary.
Date
Attn: [First Name Last Name]
Company Name
Street Address
City, State ZIP
Dear [insert Mr./Mrs. Last name here],
Thank you for [be specific in your thanks, sound appreciative for specific things].
[Here, mention specific moments during the interview or certain things you learned about them or their company and refer to how your skills may be beneficial to them.] I truly enjoyed learning about your company, and I’m confident I’d fit seamlessly within your culture and can truly help accomplish your upcoming goals.
[Conclude by reiterating your thanks and bringing up the possibility of working together in the future] Again, thank you for the opportunity to learn about [be specific] and for the warm hospitality extended to me. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Your Full Name
—-
Still need help composing the perfect cover letter? Email Gianina Chrisman at Gianina.Chrisman@mhc.cuny.edu or Jamie Ruden at Jamie.Ruden@mhc.cuny.edu to make an appointment.
Interested in writing a blog for the Career Development blog? It’s open to Macaulay students and alums. If you would like to contribute or have any questions, feel free to email Jamie.Ruden@mhc.cuny.edu.
Macaulay students spend most of the day on their home campus. Coming together for clubs and activities, students can build body and mind, become leaders, extend networks, and strengthen the Macaulay community. One example is the Macaulay Photography Club. Maisha Kamal ‘19 (Brooklyn), explains how the group has enhanced her time at Macaulay.
What pushed you to join the photography club? Where did your interest come from?
I have always liked photography (my dad gave me a DSLR when I was in high school and I thought it was the coolest thing) so I was really curious about the club. I also wanted to improve my skills and I figured joining was the perfect way to do it.
How has the photography club made a difference in your college (and Macaulay) experience as a whole?
Photography club gave me some of my closest friends at Macaulay. It has also taught me a lot about running a club and organizing club events. The biggest Macaulay event of the year, the winter semiformal, is co-hosted by photography club, and I loved being a part of that process every year. Helping plan the event taught me management skills, and also how to budget my money better.
What major events and activities have the photography club participated in the course of this past year?
We always plan the semiformal. We also always host a High Line/Whitney scavenger hunt event in the beginning of the school year as a bonding experience. For those who want to learn about the craft of photography we also host a photography basics workshop.
What was the photography club’s (or your own) biggest accomplishment?
One of the biggest accomplishments of the club is our arts magazine. It’s a way for people to showcase their creativity. The first year it came out (when I was a freshman) we didn’t have a ton of submissions, but in the second and third years had almost 50+. It’s been really nice to see the magazine grow, and we always encourage students to submit as many photos/works as they can.
What are your hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the club’s future?
Sustainability is always something I’m hoping for. I want to have left a good enough foundation for the club to continue succeeding after I graduate. I want it to continue to be involved with Macaulay events and put out an awesome magazine. And I also hope that people will form friendships in the club like the ones I have in my four years.
From its opening in the fall of 2001, Macaulay Honors College adhered to a policy — spelled out in its charter — that restricted admission to exceptional students who enrolled directly from high school. Transfer students weren’t allowed.
Creating a new, highly selective college that offered financial and academic support to New York’s most promising students was a landmark in The City University of New York’s broad efforts in those years to raise its standards as a top-flight public university. But Macaulay’s faculty have long had reservations about the honors college’s unusual no-transfers policy. Excluding nontraditional students — those whose lives after high school were sidetracked by life circumstances, for instance, or immigrants who opted to start their American education at a community college — seemed inconsistent with CUNY’s mission of expanding access to education for students from diverse backgrounds and experience.
That point of view gained traction in recent years and now, for the first time, Macaulay has enrolled a small number of community college students in a bid to add diversity to the honors college and expand opportunities to deserving students who, for a variety of reasons, have taken indirect routes to college. Under a pilot program called Macaulay Bridge, 18 carefully selected sophomores — 10 from Bronx Community College and eight from Borough of Manhattan Community College — will earn their associate’s degrees in the spring and then continue as Macaulay at Lehman College students.
All 18 students are members of minority groups; most are Hispanic or black and a few are immigrants or children of immigrants from countries including India, Yemen and the West African nation of The Gambia. Macaulay’s overall enrollment, in comparison, is currently about 50 percent white, 34 percent Asian, 9 percent Hispanic and 7 percent black.
“The Macaulay Honors College is one of the jewels of CUNY, and we’re excited by the prospects for increasing access to it for a diverse group of transfer students,” said Interim Chancellor Vita C. Rabinowitz. “Building a bridge between our community colleges and Macaulay reflects our core mission of expanding educational opportunity for New Yorkers.”
Macaulay Dean Mary C. Pearl said, “Our motivation is to make Macaulay a school that represents every segment of New York and better reflects the demographic profile of the senior colleges from which we draw. The diversity of our Macaulay Bridge students in terms of ethnic background, age and life experience not only expands opportunity for them, but we think it’s just a better education for all Macaulay students — the more diverse our classes are.”
Traditional Macaulay students apply as high school seniors to any of the eight CUNY senior colleges, which partner with the honors college and serve as the students’ home campuses.
Admissions decisions are made by the senior colleges, and accepted students are granted free tuition and other benefits, both financial and academic — from free laptops to personalized mentoring and priority course registration. Macaulay’s 2,000 students take most of their courses on their home campuses and come together for Macaulay seminars throughout their four years. They earn joint bachelor degrees from their senior colleges and the honors college.
Admission to Macaulay is highly competitive and attracts high school students with Ivy-level credentials. Last year about 8 percent of its 6,217 applicants were accepted and those admitted had average GPAs of 94.4 and SAT scores of 1416. But barring transfer students has been a blind spot with an unintended effect, Pearl said: “While schools like Vassar, Wesleyan and Columbia have been accepting CUNY community college students as transfers, here was CUNY’s own honors college not having access to them.”
Joseph Ugoretz, Macaulay’s senior associate dean and chief academic officer, added: “Our traditional model of a Macaulay student is 18 years old, just out of high school. But there are really strong, academically talented students at the community colleges for whom life got in the way, for whatever reason: The death of a parent, the birth of a child, immigration status. We wanted those students to have the chance to get the package of benefits and creative, rigorous education we provide at Macaulay. Also this is a group of students with a rich diversity of experience that many of our students don’t have when they come to us. So the program is good for them, and they’re good for the program.”
Named dean in 2016, Pearl advanced the long-simmering idea of opening the door to exceptional community college students. She garnered support from the Macaulay board, CUNY leaders — and, crucially, funding from the Petrie Foundation and the Mellon Foundation — for a pilot program that would cover tuition and other support for up to 20 students. Lehman College, which had the smallest number of Macaulay students at 20, agreed to double its cohort, and BCC and BMCC were chosen as the pipeline campuses.
An effort to identify and recruit potential applicants began in the fall of 2017. First-year BCC and BMCC students with GPAs above 3.5 were invited to apply to a program that promised “an extraordinary and highly personalized undergraduate experience” with the financial support to allow them to graduate “debt-free and ready to lead.” The requirements included recommendations, writing samples and interviews, a rigorous process that eventually produced the 18 Macaulay Bridge scholars.
The first challenge for the students was a summer program that compressed the first two Macaulay seminar courses into an intensive six weeks. This fall, the students are continuing in their associate’s degree programs on their home campuses while taking the third Macaulay seminar at Lehman. The pilot program provides the students with all the support and financial benefits afforded traditional Macaulay students, along with a special adviser and a writing coach.
“We consider them Macaulay at Lehman students now — we wanted them as early as possible to grow in the culture of Macaulay,” Pearl said. “For a long time, one of the obstacles to accepting transfer students was that we want all our students to take four signature Macaulay seminars in their first four semesters. If they transfer in, they’ve missed that first year. So we designed the Bridge seminar over the summer to catch them up so they can join the sophomores. We’re saying to them, ‘Let’s get you mixed right in with the Macaulay students while you’re still in community college.’ The reception from Macaulay students has been nothing but positive. They like the idea of meeting and talking to these students.”
Typical of the Macaulay Bridge students is 29-year-old Rohan Sharma. After immigrating with his family from India when he was 11, Sharma was a high-achieving student at Forest Hills High School who would have been a strong contender for a Macaulay scholarship. “But I had to drop out when I was 16, after my father died and I had to get a job to support my mother. My goal became getting a security-guard license and just a regular life. For 10 years I worked every kind of job. A couple of years ago my mother said, ‘We’re a little comfortable now, maybe you should try school.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t think it’s for me, it’s been too long.’ But I thought about it and decided to go back to school at BMCC.”
Sharma earned a high GPA his first semester and received an email inviting him to apply to a special Macaulay Honors College program. “I looked at the requirements and thought I must have gotten this must by mistake,” he said. “But I thought, why not?” He was thrilled — and astonished — when he was accepted. “I’m completely the nontraditional Macaulay student,” Sharma said during a recent roundtable discussion with half a dozen other Bridge students. “For them to tap into this demographic of students who are very talented but are never heard of because of their lack of credentials, I think it’s beautiful.”
Carlos Perez-Valle, 25, was class valedictorian at Monsignor Scanlan High School in the Bronx in 2010 but his family’s financial difficulties put a hold on his college education that turned out to last seven years. “Typically you go to college, and then you start your career, but it was the other way around for me,” he said. “I worked for educational nonprofits and eventually became a senior program specialist for a small community tutoring program serving the Mexican-American community. I grew with this organization, but I realized I was hitting a plateau, and in order to grow I had to go back to school.”
Perez-Valle recalls hoping to be accepted by Macaulay when he was in high school; eight years later, he’s found his way there through another route. “It’s the kind of college experience I always thought I would have — what I dreamed about when I was in high school,” he said.
Sahar Alsaidi, another Bridge scholar, grew up in Yemen and graduated high school three years ago as her country’s seventh-highest ranked student. But Yemen’s civil war, and its culture, disrupted her education. Her family fled, first to Jordan and then to the United States. “My dream was always to be a doctor,” said Alsaidi, who now lives in the Bronx. “But some members of my family said, ‘You’re a good student but it’s not your country, and you don’t know the language. You should just stay home and find someone to marry you.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not going to do that. I want to achieve my goals.’ ”
Alsaidi enrolled in BMCC and the CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP). “I learned English and started taking classes,” she said. “I was so scared, but I challenged myself. And I got A’s. I was so excited that I was the same student here as I was at home. When they emailed me about Macaulay I didn’t think I would get it. I was so happy when they said I was accepted.”
Lena Nelson may be Macaulay’s most nontraditional student: She’s 31, the mother of an eight-year-old son, and came to New York from Jamaica two years ago hoping to finally go to college. “I wanted to go to Lehman, but I didn’t have SATs so they advised me to go to a two-year college and then transfer,” Nelson said. She started at Bronx Community College in the fall of 2017 and was invited to apply to the Macaulay Bridge program after earning straight A’s her first semester. She takes her classes at night and on weekends, works full-time as a guard at a Manhattan art gallery, and says she envisions her dreams in a way she never could.
“My passion has always been to go into health care administration,” she said. “It’s a fusion of business and health, and bio, which I love. After my bachelor’s I’m going to move on to my masters and then my doctorate—that’s not an if, that’s a definite.”
As a group, the Macaulay Bridge scholars have impressed their Lehman professors with their maturity and determination. “What’s missing from this bunch entirely is any feeling of entitlement,” said Anna Purves, an English Department faculty member who taught one of the summer Bridge classes. “Some are recent arrivals who have to handle this huge navigation of a new country and the city. And all of them had to handle the intensive summer program that demanded they do so much more and so much faster than usual. They’re climbing a much steeper mountain than the regular Macaulay students.”
Pearl, Macaulay’s dean, recalls accompanying the Bridge students to a performance of Shakespeare in the Park’s “Othello” as part of the summer’s “Arts in New York” seminar. “They gave a presentation before going to the play,” Pearl said. “And I was so impressed by their comfort with ideas, their pleasure in discussing the universality of the story. That’s when I really thought, yes, these are honors students.”
The City University of New York is the nation’s leading urban public university. Founded in 1847, CUNY counts 13 Nobel Prize and 24 MacArthur (“Genius”) grant winners among its alumni. CUNY students, alumni and faculty have garnered scores of other prestigious honors over the years in recognition of historic contributions to the advancement of the sciences, business, the arts and myriad other fields. The University comprises 25 institutions: 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, CUNY Graduate Center, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, CUNY School of Law, CUNY School of Professional Studies and CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. The University serves more than 275,000 degree-seeking students. CUNY offers online baccalaureate and master’s degrees through the School of Professional Studies.
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How to Get Involved in your College Campus
By: Megan Manlunas
There may be plenty of reasons why you couldn’t secure an internship. However, getting an internship at Goldman Sachs isn’t the only thing you can do to make your resume outstanding. Employers love a well-rounded person. There are many activities that you can do during the school semester and during the long breaks. Although CUNY students are mostly commuters, it’s still easy to get involved in your respective campuses. Macaulay students have a wide range of options at their home campus and at the Macaulay campus, that’s double the options!
Joining a club may be the number one way to get more involved on your college campus. You’ll be able to meet people with the same interests and goals as you. You can also take on leadership roles within the club, which will enhance your resume and show employers you are willing to take charge and approach things head on. The Macaulay Honors College has many student groups and clubs that you can check out on Club Macaulay. If your campus (or Macaulay) doesn’t have a club that you’re interested in, start one! Odds are, there are more people out there who are interested in the same thing.
Participating in student government is one way to get leadership skills, meet new people, and be involved in decision making processes. Becoming a part of your student government can also give you the skills that are transferable to the workplace. It will be beneficial for you to join committees that are related to the field and industry you want to work for in the future. For example, becoming treasurer is a great opportunity if you’re trying to find a career in the accounting and finance field. Make sure to keep your eyes open for these potential opportunities!
Instead of sitting at home doing nothing, bored out of your mind, during the summer – why not volunteer? It’s an easy way to stay engaged during the summer, especially when you’re volunteering for a cause you truly believe in. This summer, Macaulay students had the opportunity to volunteer in Puerto Rico where they had the chance to engage in service and learn about the island’s biodiversity. It was a great and successful trip! You can check this article for ideas on where college students can volunteer. This is also a great way to get your Macaulay volunteer hours in for the semester!
(image retrieved from the Official Macaulay Honors College Instagram – @macaulayhonors)
Need a different way to stay active and fit? Join an intramural sport! Joining a sports team is an easy way to get exercise and enjoy it. You may also create friendships and bonds will all your teammates that last for a lifetime. Did you know Macaulay has its very own Quidditch team – the only sports team to represent Macaulay! You can check out their page for more information on how to join. Make sure you also check your individual campus’ athletic center for announcements on intramural sport team openings.
Tutoring is a great way to keep your mind in shape, while driving other students towards success. A lot of campus colleges will hire tutors, which is an easy way to make money (especially if you’re really passionate about a subject). If you the tutoring schedule at your respective campus isn’t as flexible as you like, you can also be a private tutor and tutor on your own time.
A lot of colleges offer students the option to do work-study. If you’re looking to get paid and work for your college there are a variety of jobs that can be available depending on your campus. Options for work-study include a lot of admin jobs such as being a receptionist at a department or working in your school’s library.
However, if you’re still looking for an internship over getting involved on campus, Macaulay Career Development has services to help you look for an internship, enhance your resume and more set up an appointment here.
On NOVEMBER 28th Macaulay will join #CUNYTUESDAY – a 24-hour online giving campaign. Our goal is $35,000 to support Student Clubs & Activities.
We will provide you with social media graphics, links to our give page, and instructions for building a fundraising page.
For now, please sign up to be part of Giving Tuesday, and help us by providing some information about you and your club!
We wanted to know more about what it’s like being involved in a student club, so we asked Sarah Dunford ’19 (City), Director of the Macaulay Theater Club a few questions. Here’s what she had to say…
What pushed you to join/ tryout for the Theater Club?
Theater has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up watching Broadway shows and listening to cast recordings with my family, and I’ve been performing in school and community productions since elementary school. When I got to college, Macaulay Theater Club seemed like a natural fit.
How has the Theater Club made a difference in your college (and Macaulay) experience as a whole?
I’ve been a part of the Macaulay Theater Club since my first semester and participated in every Macaulay Theater Club performance since then. I’ve assistant-directed for two semesters, and this semester I am directing my second show. It’s been an extremely rewarding experience for me because it’s truly a collaborative effort. The club is open to all CUNY students, no matter their major or prior experience with theater. We are able to use each cast member’s skills in a unique way, and it’s especially fulfilling as a director to watch how all of the pieces come together.
What major events has the Theater Club participated in over the course of this past year?
Macaulay Theater Club typically does a musical in the fall and a play in the spring. Last semester, we performed “Fairy Tale Courtroom” by Dana Proulx. It’s a twist on common fairy tales, with the Big Bad Wolf and the Wicked Witch being put on trial. It was a very cute show, and lots of fun to work on. This coming semester, we are performing “Godspell”, with a book by John-Michael Tebelak and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. The cast has been putting lots of hard work into it, and we’re super excited to put it in front of an audience this November!
What was the Theater Club’s (or your own) biggest accomplishment?
Our biggest accomplishment hasn’t been one particular event, but the trajectory of the club overall. When I first joined as a freshman, Macaulay Theater Club was just starting out the former directors, Jessica and Anthony, had founded the club the semester prior. There have been plenty of challenges that the club has overcome since then. We’ve had situations where we didn’t have enough cast members to fill all necessary roles; we’ve also had to make do with a limited budget and resources. But the club is really growing. We have a cast of 14 this semester, which is more than we’ve ever had in the past. And we have been building up our collection of props and costumes, so we have more options to pull from for any given show.
What are your hopes and aspirations for the club’s future?
This is actually my last semester with Macaulay Theater Club, since I am working on some set design projects at my home campus in the spring. My assistant director Robin has a clear vision for how she wants to proceed with the club. She wants to focus on building up a creative team — designating people as choreographer, music director, tech director, social media/advertising director, and so on. I trust that the club is in good hands, and I’m very excited to come back and see future productions!
By Sebastian Leung
Hooray! You’ve just attended a career fair and you met some potential employers. Maybe you received some tips about your resume or your LinkedIn, but you’re pretty much done, right? Nope! Not so fast. One of the most important parts of the career fair is the time right after it. Here are a few things to do after the career fair that’ll help you stand out.
*Tip: When receiving business cards, you can write on the back a note regarding something specific the recruiter mentioned that you can use in your thank you note. It showcases you’re an active listener and were engaged in the conversation. A great way to stand out!*
The best thing to do after a career fair is to just stay active and take advantage of any opportunities you may have gained from the fair. Connect with recruiters, learn more about the companies, and soon you’ll land some interviews.
Our next Career Fair will be the Health Science Resource Fair on Friday, November 9th from 10am – 3pm. You can RSVP here.
Macaulay students spend most of the day on their home campus. Coming together for clubs and activities, students can build body and mind, become leaders, extend networks, and strengthen the Macaulay community. One example is Macaulay Marauders, the college’s quidditch team. President Ashley-Mei Torrenti ‘19 (Baruch), explains how the group has enhanced her time at Macaulay.
What pushed you to join/ tryout for the Macaulay Quidditch team?
I originally met the Marauders at the Club Fair at John Jay two years ago. I was immediately drawn to the group because there were so many of them and they all looked like they were having so much fun (the jerseys were also really cool). One of the first people to talk to me, Samara Lugo, ended up becoming my captain, my treasurer, and my close friend. After learning about the sport, they invited me to their first practice and I went on a whim. It was super exhausting that first day, but when I went home I realized I really enjoyed it and I couldn’t wait until I could see these crazy people again.
How has the Macaulay Marauders made a difference in your college (and Macaulay) experience as a whole?
The Macaulay Marauders has had an incredible impact on my life for so many different reasons. I don’t even think words are enough to express how much I love this club and this team. I found a community where I felt that I could be myself, grow out of my shell, and become a club leader for three years now. I gained a lot of confidence when it comes to trying new things; I learned to take things less seriously, but also take responsibility when needed. Quidditch challenges you in so many different ways, not just the sport, but the whole idea of it. I learned to have fun and I gained a family out of it. Whenever I’m struggling with anything, I feel like I can turn to my teammates for support. Additionally, if I am ever having a really rough week, our Sunday practices are like my refresh button. I can go to practice really upset, but within an hour I feel like I can do anything. It’s the sport, but also the people that have made this difference. My current treasurer, Kay Kelly, once said, “The Marauders made a community out of a commuter school,” and that really resonated with me.
What major events and/or tournaments have the Macaulay Marauders participated in this past year?
The Marauders have participated in a lot of tournaments against schools such as Hofstra, Stony Brook, NYU, Emerson, Texas, and a lot more. Overall, we did amazing last year and we even made Day 2 at the USQ Cup 11 which is equivalent to Nationals. This is the first time we have done this in about 5 or 6 years and we accomplished this with a lot of new members as well.
What was the Macaulay Marauders (or your own) biggest accomplishment?
Making Day 2 was potentially one of our great accomplishments. Additionally, we were able to meet our own personal goal as a club by co-hosting the Yule Ball. This was the first time that our club managed to host such a large event and we learned a lot through the process. We’ve enjoyed it so much that we have begun planning for this year’s Yule Ball and even our own version of the Macaulay Olympics (Triwizard Tournament) in addition to continuing our service initiative to teach young students how to play Kidditch which is the more downplayed form of Quidditch.
What are your hopes and aspirations for the team’s future?
We have so many hopes for this team. I think something that is really unique about our club is that every year’s leadership, both Executive board, and captains, we all continue to build our team while reinforcing our foundation because we want our club to last. Every decision we make as a team, we consider how it will impact the future and always plan as though our club will continue on for years. We are competing at the Northeast Regionals Championships in Rochester this year against Boston University, Hofstra, and Clark University in the hopes of earning a spot to USQ Cup 12 (Nationals). We hope to run Yule Ball again, to plan our Triwizard Tournament, to host a Macaulay-wide clothing drive in honor of Dobby the house elf, we hope to continue to teach people our sport, and we hope to continue as a team. The Macaulay Marauders has built a network like no other, whenever I meet people who are also in the quidditch community, it creates an immediate bond. I have made some incredible friends and built amazing relationships.
