ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (Oct. 10, 2021) — Last Friday, the university’s Board of Trustees discussed moving the Center for Student Wellness, currently in Doyle Hall, to Serra House.
“A financing strategy for moving the center from Doyle to Serra House… was positively received by trustees and the university is proceeding with a plan to relocate the Center for Student Wellness to the Serra House,” communications officer Tom Missel told The Intrepid Wednesday.
Student Government Association originally passed a Serra House recommendation to administrators in 2018.
“The logistics of the formal plan are being worked out,” SGA president Meghan Hall said Wednesday.
The recommendation addressed student needs for a welcoming location for counseling and health services. It also raised concerns about the name of the structure, due to namesake St. Junípero Serra’s evangelical practices that forced Native Americans to convert to Catholicism.
The university says the board made progress during last weekend’s board meetings but have yet to form a timeline for changes.
Hello, I’m Nic. I’m going to be the news editor for The Intrepid this coming year, working alongside incoming editor-in-chief Anthony Goss.
You may not know what The Intrepid is. As far as I’m concerned, it’s better if you don’t. If that is the case, please allow me to introduce you.
But first, let me tell you a little bit about myself.
The first thing you should know about me— I’m currently sitting and writing this piece from the cluttered upstairs space that once was my childhood bedroom. I’m not sure how I ever called home this mess of a room, or how I was ever productive within its four-ish walls.
For a long time, this room was a microcosm of my life: Messy and cluttered. But I began to learn the art of prioritization. My definition of prioritization is to focus on the things that matter—and clear the mind of things (and people) that don’t.
Second— I love talking to people. One of my favorite pastimes is hearing others’ perspectives on life and learning from the stories they tell.
Recently, I’ve noticed it’s better to be positive or say nothing at all than to be negative and bring everyone down. I’m lucky that most of the interactions I have in any given day are 99 percent positive. That’s a very good thing when talking to people is your job.
Third— I’ve always had a knack for producing stuff. When I was a kid, I wanted to produce a documentary on the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, NY, so I shot footage of cows, and carnival rides, and ice cream stands. I bought stock music. I was going to produce my doc with Windows Movie Maker (throwback to Windows XP).
I still want to go back and finish it, but I can never find the time.
Other random things: I’m a struggling vegetarian. I’m a football addict. I’m an up-and-coming jazz pianist and drummer. And I don’t take myself too seriously.
However, I am serious about journalism. That’s where The Intrepid enters the chat. Let me explain.
When I first arrived at St. Bonaventure, I certainly wasn’t thinking, man, I’m going to be news editor for The Intrepid someday. Woo!
In fact, I wasn’t thinking at all about the many opportunities of which I would eventually take advantage during my first year at St. Bonaventure. That’s the amazing part about being a journalist at Bonas: there are so many options and so many ways to develop our craft.
At that point, I only knew was I wanted to make a difference.
I was introduced to The Intrepid at the annual campus Club Fair, an event where each club receives a fold-up table, some poster board, and an open mic to tell students about themselves. I, looking for journalism outlets, stumbled upon The Intrepid, and former editor-in-chief Jeff Uveino (who now works for the Bradford Era).
Jeff’s message was clear: write what you want to, whenever you want to.
And while that remains at the heart of everything The Intrepid stands for, I always felt something was missing within that message. There was some missing code that would unlock greatness in what we do.
I realize now that “What you want, whenever you want” is far too selfish an approach. That’s why the secret sauce to our approach will be to care about others as well, because that’s ultimately what serious journalism boils down to.
Don’t get me wrong, we’ll have fun. The more fun we have doing our job, the more content we’ll bring you. We’ll be creative, too. I’ll be reaching out to every single person who wants to try something new. I want to talk to them and learn from them.
“I realize now that ‘What you want, whenever you want’ is far too selfish an approach.”
— Nic Gelyon
But, first and foremost, we are going to care about you, the audience.
We’ll care about you as much as I’ll care about the stories I write and edit, as much as I still care about that documentary I tried to create when I was 14. In other words—you are the priority. Because you matter.
And I assure you, our writers, photographers, and content creators will feel the same.
I don’t know what this year will look like. I don’t know how big our staff will be, what types of projects we’ll get ourselves into, or what forms of content we’ll deliver to you.
But I am certain about one thing: We’ll have the secret sauce. (Actually—the secret sauce is just barbeque and mustard.)
ST. BONAVENTURE, NY — St. Bonaventure University’s Jandoli School of Communication will award a new student scholarship beginning in 2021, with the creation of the George Floyd Memorial/The Intrepid Scholarship.
Tony Lee, a 2013 Bona’s graduate and founder of The Intrepid, established the scholarship in response to Floyd’s death on May 25, and the movement that has resulted from it.
“The date itself has a lasting impact on me,” Lee said. “I wanted to have a lasting impact and make this not just a moment in time that we remember in history, but have a profound impact.”
The scholarship will be awarded based on academic merit and financial need, and will be received by a Jandoli student who is Black, indigenous or a person of color (BIPOC).
“I wanted to empower and provide effort to the next generation of journalists,” Lee said. “There is such an important need for communicators. People who can do it in an articulate and unbiased way, and also be able to report facts without any fear of retaliation or public outcry.”
Lee, who works at STARZ as its paid director of social, recalled some of the classes that he took during his time at SBU, and how the Jandoli school not only prepared him for a career in media, but shaped the way that he viewed the field.
“One of the most important things I learned at SBU is that you don’t need to have an established platform, you already have one on your phone,” Lee said. “Whatever type of message you want to share, don’t let fear stop you from doing that.”
Of the $5,250 donated (as a tribute to the day Floyd died), half will be awarded during the 2020-21 academic year in the form of an annual scholarship, and half will be awarded as an endowed scholarship that the school plans to give each year moving forward.
Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli school, said he was grateful for Lee’s desire to make an impact. He also stressed the importance of diversity among communicators.
“(Lee) reached out and said that this is something he could do that could really bring positive change for people, particularly those from underrepresented groups,” Chimbel said. “One of the challenges of systemic racism is educational opportunities. I think it’s really important that newsrooms and communication companies have a diverse pool of candidates to choose from, and a diverse workforce so that they can be inclusive of different viewpoints.”
Chimbel stressed the importance of being able to help students afford the cost of higher education, which is a concern for many. This scholarship, he said, is just the latest example of Jandoli alumni giving back to their alma mater.
“One of the things that distinguishes the Jandoli school is how passionate people are about it,” Chimbel said. “Some people have the financial means to give money, while others are able to mentor students and come to campus to speak. It’s really inspiring to me to see how much our alumni care about the school and want to give back, and also because a lot of them had the same done for them.”
Lee said that he was proud that he could contact SBU and quickly make the scholarship happen, and hopes that he can help a new generation of journalists get their voices heard.
“Now is time more than ever to tell incredible stories with incredible details and historical significance,” Lee said. “I want the candidate to know that their voice not only can be heard, but should be heard.”
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