' Change comes to campus “I don t remember really being aware of too many changes during my frst few years on the hill. Of course it was during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights marches and we were aware of and interested in all those issues but we were also wrapped up in our own little world of college life...at least I was. Life really changed senior year. The calendar changed, Zurn opened, and I went out to student teach. We now had intersession and left school at Christmas and didn t have to be back until the end of January. The opening of Zurn made me feel like I was in a big school. I had to go between TWO buildings for classes and had to leave notes for classmates on TWO bulletin boards now. What confusion. - Jane Carney The campus was a sheltered and very town and gown place during our frst two years. ' ” “ ‘ ’ ’ I spent little time beyond the gates at the bottom of the hill except for weekend mixers or basketball games at Gannon and occasional shopping excursions into Erie. By junior year, those gates opened, literally and fguratively. This was due both to Sister Carolyns visionary leadership and the hyper ’60s world outside ’ which had fnally reached Mercyhurst. For the frst time, we were allowed to take classes at Gannon. The college bought the Baldwin apartments and juniors and seniors didn t have to live in the dorms—we could now live in ” the sisters around to monitor us when our boyfriends came by. - Linda Salem Burtis “I think 1968 was the beginning of what Mercyhurst is today. We saw Zurn Hall built for our senior year, more male faculty, a very few male students taking courses—though they were not matriculated at Mercyhurst, and the Sisters went from their old traditional habits to a more modifed version. I thought they looked GREAT! It was a feeling of moving toward a new and modern beginning. - Paula Blood Pitts ” apartments with kitchens. This gave us freedom to come and go without curfews and without
“ My major was history with emphasis on American History. The three who taught my history classes were Sister Loretta, Dr. Garvey, and Mr. Kubiak. Each brought a very unique teaching style to the classroom. And each had a very diferent approach to teaching. All three of them had a profound impact on my Mercyhurst experience. - Stephanie Lucas Basile ” ” - “I loved Barbara Weigert, who was in charge of the education program. Barry McAndrew was wonderful in English and Sister Mary Matthew, she was a gem. Dr. Bryan, Dr. Lincourt, Barry all came at the same time. That was exciting. Jeanne Keim Phillips Of all my teachers, Sister Mary Charles and Dr. Haas (who was from Austria, but taught Spanish) stand out the most. Sister Charles was brilliant, kind, and patient. She was my chemistry teacher. If it weren t for Dr. Haas being a sponsor for the American Student International Service, I would never have “ ’ ” thought of going to Europe after freshman year, much less staying there to live and work both in Switzerland at diferent resorts and then in Copenhagen, Denmark. - Shirley Miller Schilling Many of us took Dr. Donatelli's Aristotle class during intersession so we wouldn t have such a load during our last term. It turned out to be one of my most memorable classes. Aristotle's philosophy intertwined with Dr. D's philosophy “ ' of life really impacted me. To this day, I still think about the things I learned in this class. Jane Carney ” - ’ “I dealt with Sister Carolyn because of being a class ofcer and on student council. She was a wonderful, very charismatic, very caring person, but very soft-spoken. She didn t need to raise her voice. Sister Carolyn was a presence that was always absolutely respected. - Jeanne Keim Phillips ”
- proofreader and voice actor (with her own business, Edit Perfect/Voice Perfect). Active in her parish church, she also graduated from an intense three year Church Stephanie Lucas Basile Stephanie married Dennis Christenson and they raised four children before his death in 2006. In 2012, she met and married another amazing man – George Basile. Since graduating, she’s been a news reporter, a facilitator, a trainer, a community education coordinator for a school district in Kentucky, a consultant in community education for the Kentucky Department of Education, a Girl Scout leader, a Band Booster President, a political activist, a magazine editor and story editor, and a CCD teacher and coordinator. She’s currently a writer, editor, Ministry Institute sponsored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The Basiles traveled across Croatia three years ago to explore the villages where her grandparents grew up.
Peggy Meagher Pietraszek Margaret “Peggy” Meagher Pietraszek earned her degree in elementary education and served as editor of the Praeterita yearbook. She also holds a master’s degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Now retired, she was formerly a teacher and team leader in the Millcreek School District and Libertyville (Illinois) School District. She taught English in Tokyo and was a member of the board of directors for the American School in Japan for four years. She and her husband, Henry, spend summers in Chicago and winters in Naples, Florida. She now serves as a Mercyhurst Trustee, carrying on her parents’ long association with the school. Her father, the late Erie newsman Joseph E. Meagher, was among the frst lay advisory board members at Mercyhurst, and her mother, Marie, was a member of the original Carpe Diem Society. 11
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