On October 6, 2009, Zach Thielke posted an opinion piece to TommieMedia.com highlighting the importance of new first-year students making connections with the St. Thomas community. Those connections are critical and I want to share how they can be formed for our first-year students that do not live on campus.

Dear Michelle,

Our names are Enzo Randazzo and Matthew Malicki. We’re two seminarians at St. John Vianney Seminary which is on the campus of the University of St. Thomas where you just performed on Saturday night. We want to thank you and let you know that we were deeply moved that night because of your show.

One issue that we always find ourselves dealing with at the beginning of each school year is the behavior of students in our St. Paul campus neighborhood.

Students have a lot of energy, and especially at the end of the week they are ready to relax, to get together with friends and to party – and that’s fine. Neighbors know that is going to happen. They once were college students, too, and they know there always will be a certain level of activity.

Dear St. Thomas Students:
We hope you had a great summer and want to welcome you back to this neighborhood for fall semester! The key word in that previous sentence being “neighborhood”. While you are here, aspiring to higher thinking and planning your future, we ask that you consider your actions when walking, biking or just [...]