The summer home of the Buffalo Bills and the younger cousin to Wegman's, St. John Fisher takes on some of the more beautiful aspects that come with living in New York State. As I watch the Fisher Facebook page throughout Great Beginnings and watch my own personal countdown (53 days), I think back to this time last year when I was anticipating my first year at Fisher, preparing my school books and making sure I had dorm essentials.
To me, the idea of St. John Fisher was more impressive than I thought any college could ever be, but that simply wasn’t true. In reality, it surpassed it by leaps and bounds. I couldn’t have imagined something up as wonderful as Fisher.
I’m anxious for the school year to start and to see all the fresh new faces glittering among campus. I’m ready to get back to the friends I made and now miss. I’m even ready to be getting up for my 8 a.m. Money & Banking class.
But as I look forward and backward, I try to figure out just what made my first year at Fisher so perfect. Luckily, I can share with you why I think St. John Fisher College is literally the definition of perfect.
Obviously, the food.
If you haven’t heard of the amazing food at St. John Fisher, then I would make sure you are researching the right college, because that’s all people talk about when discussing how great the school is. In addition to the dining hall which is all-you-can-eat, Fisher has three more dining options: Cardinal Café and The Fishbowl, Cyber Café and Pioch Commons Café. From fresh smoothies (made with actual fruit and yogurt), to a cheeseburger on a glazed donut roll, your options are all over the place. The only problem is, the freshman 15 no longer a maybe, it's a certainty.
The events.
Throughout the year, Fisher puts on a tremendous number of events. Sometimes weekly, sometimes daily. Especially in the first month, it’s hard to have a night where you have “nothing to do.” My personal favorites were the hypnotist Eric Mina and BINGO, but there were some I couldn’t even make, like Teddi.
Teddi.
The hype begins by Thanksgiving and doesn’t stop until February 21 at 8 p.m., when it's all over for another 365 days. This unique program has raised over a million dollars for children with cancer since its founding in 1982. To find out more about the Teddi Dance for Love and the Teddi Project, visit the website.
The small class sizes.
This aspect has been wonderful for me. Not only has it allowed me to actually feel like I am part of a class and not a lecture, but it has allowed me to become close with some of my professors when that opportunity might not have presented itself otherwise. My smallest class was a class of about five and my largest, 30.
The immense number of clubs.
One thing I will regret from my first year is not having been more involved on campus. My first year, I joined one club and had a work-study. I haven't even started my second year, and I am already part of two more clubs and part of the e-board for both. This has presented me with opportunities I would have never expected. I have been able to work closely with alum whose footsteps I am following.
The odd number of extremely attractive people.
Walking around campus, you can either gawk at the beauty of the campus, or you can gawk at the beauty of the people walking around the campus. Never in my life have I been in a place with so many attractive human beings all at the same time. I mean, it's nice to show up to a class you wouldn't typically enjoy when you're sitting next to someone who is half-human, half-God.
The sports teams.
For a D3 school, we have amazing sport teams. Fisher football is one that falls into the spotlight regularly, especially during the Courage Bowl, but we cannot forget about all of the other sport teams, including the track & field teams, field hockey and the softball team, who had exceptional seasons. Part of the experience of being at St. John Fisher is making sure you make it to some home games and maybe even some away games.
Pittsford.
In my opinion, there isn’t a more beautiful place in Rochester than Pittsford. The village offers the trademark quiet and quaint town, while the plaza (which has the absolutely most beautiful Wegmans you will ever see) allows you to have the benefits of living in the middle of a big city without feeling like you’re in a big city. But if you don’t absolutely love Pittsford, you still have a few more areas to choose from, such as Brighton, Henrietta and Victor.
The fact that you are home.
There is nothing more exciting, and nothing more scary, than moving into college on your first day of school. But when it comes to St. John Fisher, it was moving from one home into the next. It’s hard to put words to the feeling of being able to call your college a home away from home, but that’s exactly what it is. I think my parents started to get a little upset when I would head back to fisher, and I would say things like “What time am I going home?” We are only about halfway through the summer, and I am already ready to go back. Not because I don’t want to be home, but because I want to be at my other “home.”
