We heard about the houses as sophomores, and we had had contact with some Marianist brothers. It didn’t seem too hard — share some meals and prayers. Last year we lived at 57 Woodland, and we stayed together for this year.
Many of us met at Callings, a Campus Ministry summer program for incoming first-years. I came to UD for the usual reason — it felt special. Callings is part of that. Lots of schools have good academics and dining halls, but here there is something more. Callings encouraged asking questions: “Who do I want to be?” “How can I make a difference?” “How can I connect my studies with my faith and values?”
We are pursuing a variety of majors: accounting and entrepreneurship (Michael Keller), entrepreneurship and international business (Collin Seventy), exercise physiology (Mark Bugada and me), international studies (Nicholas Dalton and Bradley Petrella, who’s also a Spanish major) and mechanical engineering (Steve Miller).
And our interests and activities are varied: Flyer News sports editor, Pershing Rifles, president of the New Abolition Movement, president of the Food Recovery Network, EMT squad, captain of men’s Ultimate Frisbee, and Dayton Civic Scholars. And, as a community, we do service and host events.
A mission statement is asked of each of the Marianist student communities. Ours is, “The community of 340 Stonemill is committed to following Mary’s example by identifying and responding to opportunities to serve in communities across Dayton with glad hearts.”
With our individual studies and activities, it takes some effort to do things as a community. But we usually gather to pray in the evening on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. We have a meal together on Tuesday night, and, breakfast together on Thursday.
On Thursday night we also get together. We don’t pray. We don’t eat. We just hang out.