Interviews:
1. Brandon Heard, face-to-face interview, 12/9/15 2. Brooke DiPalma, telephone interview, 12/13/15 3. Nick Titolo, face-to-face interview, 12/13/15 Print Sources: 1. Marist SGA, “St Jude Shake it Off Up 'til Dawn by Marist College,” YouTube, 10/24/14; (accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWx8glD_pOM, 12/13/15) 2. “Mary Engelbreit Quotes (Author of The Snow Queen),” Goodreads, 2015 (accessed at www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/19054.Mary_Engelbreit, 12/13/15) 3. “St. Jude Up ‘til Dawn- Marist College,” Facebook, 2015 (accessed at https://www.facebook.com/UTDMarist/info?tab=page_info, 12/13/15) |
“Mary Engelbreit once said, “If you don't like something, change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. I’ve always used this quote throughout times of stress.”
Throughout his experiences of being an Orientation Leader, Student Government Association representative, abroad student in Australia and Executive Director for St. Jude’s Up Till Dawn, Brandon Heard has experienced more than typical of what a normal Marist College undergraduate student does in their four years at college. Heard is a junior with a double major in Psychology and Business with a concentration in International Business. He is also considering the possibility of having a double emphasis in Marketing. He plans to run in hopes of achieving the role of Student Body President, after losing with Goodman Lepota to Timos Pietris the year prior. “I want to mold Marist into the prestigious school that it should be which will emphasize college pride and a physical presence as students on campus,” Heard said. “I want to motivate students to be more involved on campus and gain more diverse experiences because Marist strives to increase student involvement to be globalized citizens in the community.” “I first met Brandon when I ran for class of 2018 president and won,” says Marist College sophomore Brooke DiPalma. “From last September to May, I was in the senate and currently am now. Brandon served on the senate with me and took on the Multicultural Affairs community and was appointed Resident Senator. We always went to Senate meetings together, and his personality and passion always motivated our meetings. He’s always positive in what he does, is understanding in his perspectives and aware of the Marist community.” Heard said that running last year for a Vice President position was extremely stressful and required a lot of energy. “After taking two and a half years of student government experience and creating plans and ideas for Marist, I was so eager and motivated to run with Goodman Lepota that I didn’t consider the fact that I was going abroad.” This past fall semester of 2015, Heard traveled to Australia and remained there for four and a half months, while interning at an environmental and sustainable company to help restore the environment. “There’s no way to fully articulate the knowledge you gain from exploring different cultures and the world and it changes you forever for the good,” said Heard. “Australia is so fascinating because is more than just a mysterious place with kangaroos. You learn so much more and you’re doing things all the time. My experience in Australia has definitely allowed me to provide more to Marist College than ever before. Now, I have a global perspective on life to give to Marist, and handle different types of people, approach issues carefully.” Last spring, before the Supreme Court ruled same sex marriages in all states, Heard coordinated the annual student/administrative forum on the LGBTQ social issue. As a freshman, he devised the largest community in Student Government, which made “The Words They Call Me” the largest event ever held. At first, Heard did not receive much support because Student Government was not entirely sure of the response they were going to get. “I think it’s so fascinating to think how many people are afraid to talk about these social issues, however when we talk about it in a respectable and comfortable environment and come up with a solution, its nice to see how much people feel after,” said Heard. The most rewarding part of it all he said was the experience people took away from it. “He’s very driven,” said Heard’s friend and previous housemate Nick Titolo, also a junior at Marist College. “When I came freshman year [I noticed] he was very passionate, motivated and hard working. He’s been good at giving me good advice and he’s also one of the reasons why I became in student government as well as in orientation, because he was so involved.” Heard remembers one of his first experiences at Marist: “I remember freshman year coming into campus for orientation and waking up to a whole bunch of people telling me to wake up and welcome to campus, and that lasted with me for the first two semesters. I wanted to give it back and be an Orientation Leader (“OL”) to get students motivated and energized. One of the main reasons why I wanted to be an OL is because I wanted to articulate to students what makes Marist ‘Marist’. [Basically it means] students will establish their friends group and get involved in where their interests lie. Then when there is a Marist-wide event, all the groups mesh together and we all get to know one another and have fun.” Another project that Heard participated in while at Marist College is “St. Jude’s Up ‘Til Dawn”. The project consists of recruiting participants, or in this case college students, to stay awake from midnight “up until dawn” to raise awareness for the children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, showing that “no child should die in the dawn of life.” “As the Executive Director, I wanted to take a stronger yet different approach than the previous years,” said Heard. “I implemented new features, goals, and strategies to increase campus involvement and fundraise more money with children and cancer.” To promote the event, Heard, Titolo and the executive board team created a remake version of Taylor Swift’s pop hit single “Shake It Off” that featured a preview of the games and other small events that would be taking place that night, and publicized the video via YouTube to increase event attendance. At the event, Heard and the team executed three main events in order to pass the time: an obstacle course, a Marist spinoff of Jeopardy and a fashion show. “Through fun music and a lot of energy, students were able to stay up and show other children that they are supportive of them,” said Heard. “Through our efforts of publicizing, we were able to double the fundraising [profit].” “One quality I admire most about Brandon, said DiPalma, is his energy that he brings to the table no matter what day it is, whatever project he is involved in. Its something I really respect.” Besides previously interning in Australia, Heard also was an intern at a sporting event and launched a marketing campaign called “Test Your Limits” this past Spring, and through this came up with the idea of starting his own non-for-profit organization, similar to DiPalma who also founded a non-for-profit organization called P.S. I Love You Day. “It’s a marketing campaign that is offered to sporting promoters in order to motivate unprivileged athletes to get involved in paying it forward,” said Heard. He is currently in the process of creating a name and meeting with lawyers to patent the organization, so Heard could not go much in depth about it, but added that he is in contact with different people around the world including Australia, the United States, and South Africa. Heard attributes his success to two very important people in his life: James Millan and Goodman Lepota. “[Millan] was a Marist graduate and also a director for an after school program that I was involved in,” he said. “He is the reason why I visited and fell in love with Marist because when I saw the type of person Marist created him to be I wanted to be just like that.” Heard says that Lepota, former running President and friend from South Africa, is very intellectual and works extremely hard to bring out the best in people. “He really does what he has to do to help accomplish other people’s goals. I can’t ask for a better friend because we have a lot in common and where I fall short he comes through and fills those empty spaces.” And as for plans upon graduation, Heard never fails to reach for the stars. “I just recently applied to Google for their marketing position and people operations position because my goal after college is to get a lot of business experience. That way I can focus on my non-for-profit organization to better the world, and pay it forward to Marist for helping mold who I am today.” |