The Skinny on Scholarship Success

June 18, 2015January 28, 2015 by SUNYUlster

Student accepting award at the 2011 Scholarship Ceremony

Tips from Our Coordinator of the Scholarship Program

Overwhelmed about the thought of applying for scholarships and think you won’t win one anyway? Think again. Burnelle Roser, Associate Director & Coordinator of the Scholarship Program, shares some of the basics about scholarships that will show you how easy it really is and get you applying before you miss out on some great opportunities.

Who: You! Each year, the Ulster Community College Foundation awards over $180,000 in scholarships to more than 200 students. You might think thousands are applying and you don’t have a chance. In fact, only a small percentage of students apply so your chances are good. Scholarships are open to new students entering SUNY Ulster, returning students and those transferring to four-year colleges. “Every single student should apply,” says Burnelle.

When: Right now! The time to start thinking about scholarships for the Spring 2016 semester is December/January. The Foundation’s general scholarship application deadline for SUNY Ulster students is Feb. 6, 2015. Don’t miss out. All the deadlines are on the portal in the “Student Resources” section under “Scholarships.”

How: SUNY Ulster students should fill out the general application and essay to be considered for scholarships administered by the Foundation. You don’t have to pick and choose the ones you want to be considered for. We’ll do it for you. “Our goal is to connect students to as many of the 200 different criteria as we can,” she says. The general application is available in two formats – an electronic PDF that can be completed on a computer or a printable form. Both versions are available at: www.sunyulster.edu/foundation/scholarships/applications.

Why: Why not? We’re talking FREE money for college that doesn’t have to be paid back. With awards generally ranging from $500 to full tuition, it’s worth the few hours it may take to apply.

Remember to meet the deadlines, carefully follow all the instructions, answer the questions as candidly as possible and go for it! Stay tuned for more scholarship tips here.

Three Ways to Experience the World

June 18, 2015January 13, 2015 by SUNYUlster

Experiencing the world and connecting with other students from around the globe is easier than ever for SUNY Ulster students. It doesn’t have to be costly or out of reach. Here are three ways to make a difference in your education and life:

Academic Travel – International and Domestic – With group rates, knowledgeable instructors and special arrangements that take students to places you wouldn’t normally see, you’ll experience the world and other cultures in a different travel than ever before.

Our students have gone to the Brazilian Amazon, France, Italy and Mexico and other exciting

Design students invade London> — Design students invade London.

destinations over summer and winter breaks; have earned credits and resume experience for transferring; and made lifetime memories. Domestically, theater students travel to the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky, and more. Our trips also are open to community members so you’ll meet interesting people right from our area.

Theatre students in Louisville for the Humana Festival.

Scholarships are available for academic travel, and peer-funding through Project Travel can make domestic and international educational travel programs more accessible.

Online International Learning – Enroll in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) course at SUNY Ulster. These programs use Internet-based tools like Skype and Moodle to connect with students from other institutions around the globe, without ever leaving campus.

This spring, a new collaborative class in genetics will be offered in collaboration with an institution in

SUNY Ulster business students Skype with business students in São Paulo, Brazil.

Mexico. Through a grant, funded by Santander Bank, a student ambassador from SUNY Ulster also will have the opportunity to visit the partner class and institution during collaborative course activities. Our students have participated in COIL classes with institutions in Beirut, Lebanon; Bologna, Italy and São Paulo, Brazil.

To find out more about expanding your horizons, contact Chris Seubert, Program Coordinator of Academic Travel, (845) 687-5134, seubertc@sunyulster.edu or Richard Cattabiani, Director of International Programs, (845) 687-5135, cattabir@sunyulster.edu.

Goodbye Ulster – Hello Potsdam!

June 18, 2015January 8, 2015 by SUNYUlster

I attended SUNY Ulster Fall 2011-Fall 2013 before transferring to SUNY Potsdam. At Ulster I figured out what I wanted to do and I truly grew as a person. The opportunities I was given at Ulster and the environment there helped me pursue my education further.

As someone who did not know exactly what I wanted to do I tried out different classes at Ulster before transferring to SUNY Potsdam and am studying sociology and political science. I’m about to start my third semester at Potsdam.

Since entering Potsdam I have taken on many leadership roles. I’m on electoral board for Four College Hillel, have attended student leadership conferences, accepted to go to the American Association of University Women leadership conference, participate in SUNY Potsdam’s student government association’s Senate and am on constitution committee.

To be honest, my first semester was tough. I knew two people who also went to Ulster but were not close friends. My now fiancé transferred a semester before me from Ulster to Clarkson University which is in the same town as SUNY Potsdam so I clung to the friend group he already made but they weren’t people on my campus which still made it to be a difficult transition. My roommate was never in our dorm because she had a loaded class schedule, extracurricular activities and a group of friends. She was nice but we never became friends. I spent most of my first semester alone in my dorm drawing and watching Netflix, in the library doing homework, at Clarkson with my fiancé and his friends or in the common room on my dorm floor doing yoga. I ate almost all of my meals alone in the dining hall or student union. I hated the transition and isolation.

To my surprise, I made a solid group of friends at Ulster and we all went to different colleges and a lot of them told me they felt the same way their first semester after transferring but it would get better. After about a month of feeling completely isolated and alone on my campus I started to make one or two friends from my classes but we never did anything but study together or grab coffee. It was a start though. I walked into a Hillel meeting and automatically felt welcomed and continued to go and now hold an E-board spot as treasurer. One of the friends who transferred before me to Potsdam invited me to campus activities and to dinners with his girlfriend who also attended Ulster and now attends Potsdam. She and I hit it off really well and is now my housemate during the academic year and we hang out when we’re home on break. By the end of my first semester I started to feel more comfortable with the people and atmosphere on campus.

I fell head over heels in love with the sociology department and political science department. I applied for conferences and leadership opportunities and got almost every single one. My second semester was Fall 2014 and I went up a week early for the student leadership conference and welcome weekend, I got a job at the daycare center and took 18 credits. I started the semester strong and ended it stronger. This semester I’m looking forward to new leadership roles, all my classes being sociology and political science, finishing up my application to study abroad in Croatia, landing an internship at Child Protective Services over the summer in Kingston, getting to go to Canada with friends since Potsdam is twenty minutes from the boarder and finishing my junior year strong.

10 Theater Tidbits

July 25, 2017January 7, 2015 by Deborah Kaufman

SUNY Ulster Theatre Department Gets Ready for a Performance.

When the curtain goes up for SUNY Ulster’s Theater productions, countless hours of work by students, faculty, community members and volunteers have gone into making the show possible. Here’s a peak at 10 things that happen behind the scenes:

Did you know Theater Costumer Aletta Vett travels on average 1,500 miles a production in search of the perfect thrift-store and yard sale bargains, fabrics, accessories and wigs to costume our student performers?
Bolts of fabric. Yards and yard of thread. Packages of dye. Dress manikins. Patterns and sewing machines. These are some of the tools of the trade for costume.
The Fall 2014 production of “Six One Act Plays by Christopher Durang” had 25 actors and 44 costumes, but with the accessories and pieces like bags, jewelry and shoes that totals hundreds of items to track.
Costumes are washed every night and arranged on large racks alphabetically by the actors’ last name with each individual piece hung in the order it will be put on – just like they do on Broadway. The order takes away the stress so actors can concentrate on their performances.
SUNY Ulster students have learned how to stitch and build costumes, replace buttons, make extensions, add sequins and more by Costumer Aletta Vett, who once sewed kilts for a living in her “retirement” and has been with SUNY Ulster for nearly a decade.
Students never wear their own clothing for costumes – with the exception of large size shoes that are hard to find.
Helping in the costume shop is a course requirement for Theater Production Participation credit. Students can be found ironing costumes, organizing accessories and getting fitted in between classes.
The costumes for “Six One Act Plays by Christopher Durang” were inspired by the mid 1980s and featured bright colors – except for the mourners in “Funeral Parlor” who wore black with pearl necklaces with the exception of one outrageous mourner who wore a lavender shirt and tie.
SUNY Ulster Theatre students have plenty of fun outside the classroom too. This Halloween, students haunted the Hurley Cemetery for the Ghost Walk Tour.
Costumer Aletta Vett says she loves working with the enthusiastic students in SUNY Ulster’s Theatre Department and there’s nothing like the energy backstage after opening night. “They are flying with energy,” she says. “It’s an amazing accomplishment.”