I've mentioned before that I'm involved in a lot of things at Fitchburg State. One of the things I am most proud to be a part of is Greek life.

It's funny to think about when I came to Fitchburg State as a freshman, I was sure of one thing; I was not joining a fraternity. In my mind, that kind of organization just wasn't for someone like me. I was independent and didn't need something like "brotherhood" or any of that stuff. It just wasn't for me. Now, having become involved with a fraternity, I cannot imagine my life without it.

This past weekend I was given the distinct pleasure of participating in the the third annual Center For Diversity And Inclusiveness (CDI) Retreat at Camp Woodstock in Woodstock, CT. CDI oversees the Latin American Student Organization (LASO), Black Student Union (BSU), Asian Culture Society (ACS), Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) and World Integrated Nations (WIN).

The center is expanding soon, creating Chaverim, a Jewish student society and Focus On Faith, an interfaith organization that looks to discuss religions in all forms. CDI is run by Jamie Cochran, a wonderful woman who always greets with hugs, not handshakes.

SAT or ACT, that is the question.

Which leads to another question. What are the application requirements of the colleges you’re thinking about applying to? Most will accept either test score, but it’s definitely something you should look into before deciding which test to take. 

Let's see how the tests stack up: 

Here at Fitchburg State, I am an English major. For a lot of people, that merits a few different responses. One of them is "good for you doing what you want to do." Another is "So when did you decide you wanted to be unemployed?" The latter annoys me to no end as you can imagine. Most people imagine English majors to skip around, quoting poems and drinking copious amounts of coffee/tea in shops. The reality is that Fitchburg State's English program is wonderfully quirky and educational!

Choosing a college is a big decision and can be overwhelming for many people. Students want to make sure they are going to fit in, feel comfortable, get a good education and graduate with a degree that will help them get a good job when they enter the job market.

To help in this decision making process, here are 10 questions you should ask yourself when choosing a college: 

Hello again! I am incredibly happy to be back and I look forward to everything that I will write about this year. I had a wonderful summer working at a camp that taught me so much and I look forward to bringing some of those lessons into play here at Fitchburg State!

Whether you're a Frank Sinatra or Sublime fan, everyone knows the classic tale of school being out for the summer and finally getting a chance to relax. As my final "kid summer" comes to a close, my last summer not having a big-kid job, I realized that summer break is not what it used to be when I was younger.

I now work 40 hours a week on campus, and like myself many others are working just as much as I am on top of taking classes. Summers in college is a time to make as much money as possible so you do not end up broke in the middle of the semester or trying to catch up on your class load.

When I entered college, I didn’t give so much as a passing thought to studying abroad. I was far too frightened by the idea of flying and living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. When I discovered that Fitchburg State offered a summer program in Italy, the one place in the world I wanted to visit the most, I came up with a variety of fears and excuses in my head as to why I shouldn’t go. However, the only reason I needed to make my decision was that I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Brig. Gen. Frederick A. Henry’s long and storied military career has taken him across the U.S. and Europe, but he’s never forgotten the lessons he learned as an undergraduate at Fitchburg State. 

He grew up in an inner city environment in Cambridge, where by his own admission he wasn’t a strong student. 

“I constantly went off the reservation,” Gen. Henry recalled. “I would always go on another path.” 

As a teen, Gen. Henry was a part of the Upward Bound program, where he was encouraged to try attending Fitchburg State; if the experience didn’t work out, he was told, he could consider joining the Navy. 

Fitchburg State would prove a transformative experience.

For Ben DeTour ‘13, college was about taking full advantage of each and every opportunity. 

The Fitchburg State senior was just wrapping up his final semester of an internship at National Geographic Television in Washington, D.C. last spring when he had the chance to meet an alumnus whom he had been hoping to connect with for months. The two hit it off and a short time later, DeTour, originally from Belchertown, had a full-time job.