News

RIT is among the colleges and universities from 20 states that are participating in the Degrees When Due initiative, which aims to reach the nearly 4 million near-completers and uncredentialled completers in the United States who stopped college for financial reasons, family obligations or a variety of other reasons. By joining the initiative, RIT will learn best practices in degree reclamation and provide targeted support while re-engaging students who have paused, or “stopped out,” their studies.

Claudia Alant, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student from Niskayuna, N.Y., has worked for the Writing Commons for five semesters. According to Alant, being a peer consultant for the commons is “one of the coolest jobs an undergraduate student can have” on campus.

Members of RIT Esports and Public Safety are answering the “Call of Duty” to raise money for mental health awareness Nov. 23. The RIT Esports Call of Duty team will compete against members of RIT Public Safety in a two vs. two tournament of the video game. Ticket proceeds will support the office of Counseling and Psychological Services.

The Gap Year Entrepreneurial Fellowship allows SOIS students to take time off of school to focus on personal business ventures while still working toward their degrees. Students in the fellowship also receive a $15,000 award to create the time and space needed to build their businesses.

Meet Gap Year Fellow Amanda Zaremski, CEO of WinutRx, a patient-centric medical tool for mobile devices used to personalize nutrition and medication tracking for people diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.

Meet Gap Year Fellow Sam Cammarata, co-founder and co-owner of Aesthetician Labs, an artist-owned video game collective which focuses on producing games that are “aesthetic, juicy, and satisfying to play.”

Meet Gap Year Fellow Jeremiah Gryczka, owner of Mountain House Media, a digital media production and advertising agency that acts as a creative partner for its clients by helping to improve visibility of their businesses and by stimulating creative growth.

Meet Gap Year Fellow Zack Evans, co-founder and co-CEO of Librex Fulfillment, a third-party logistics company that helps international and local e-commerce businesses reach their customer base in the American and Canadian markets.

RIT alumnus Thomas Macias will share his experience co-starring in the award-winning film Guest Artist with Jeff Daniels during a screening and Q&A event Nov. 18 at RIT’s Panara Theater. Macias is a Brighton native who graduated from RIT in 2013 with an applied arts and sciences degree.

SOIS launched the inaugural Napier Leadership Experience with a day-long leadership retreat during which Sharon D. Napier ’04 MS (service leadership and innovation), chair and founder of Partners + Napier, delivered an interactive presentation to the students to show them how to own their personal brands.

Looking to learn more about the roots of American deaf culture, fourth-year student Grace Bradford went on a study abroad trip to France. From June 24 to July 4, the ASL/English interpretation and School of Individualized Study double major traveled with other NTID students to Paris, Reims, La Balme-les-Grottes and Lyon.

The Catholic Courier features Hannah McGroarty, an applied arts and sciences major, who received the Girl Scout Gold Award for her project organizing a used-uniform closet at a local Catholic school.