You’re invited to join the Marist Alumni Book Club!
You’re invited to join the Marist Alumni Book Club! In this online community, alumni can connect with each other and enjoy books related to lifelong learning, social issues, literature, psychology, and other user-submitted ideas. There is no cost to participate — you just have to get a copy of the book to enjoy. You can sign up at https://www.pbc.guru/marist or keep reading to learn more.How it works:The book club will connect through a private online forum where people can discuss the current book and network with each other. The group will spend two months on each book, so you'll have plenty of time to read.Why should you join?1. Connect with fellow alumni2. Be a part of a lifelong learning community3. Reading is good for you! What will we read?We will vote among several options each period and select a book based on reader interests. Previous books have included Educated by Tara Westover and The Power by Naomi Alderman.How do I invite a friend to the book club?You can send a friend the sign-up link: https://www.pbc.guru/marist. The more the merrier!How often will books be read, what is the time commitment, and what are the expectations?We will spend about two months on each book. We will read books highlighting lifelong learning and personal growth, novels, and other books that take an average of nine hours to read cover to cover. If you have between one and two hours a week to read, you can make it happen!Will there be any in-person meetings of the book club?No, the book club will be entirely online. You can participate anywhere you have Internet access and on days and times that are convenient for you.Is there any cost to participate?Participation is free!How do book club discussions work?The book club will be moderated by a PBC Guru moderator who manages the forum and provides additional content related to the book. The moderator will pose questions to the group, share relevant articles, and facilitate conversation about topics in the book. Members will be encouraged to post and share as well. This format allows for ongoing conversation and makes it easy for readers to connect with each other through the forum.Marist has enlisted PBC Guru to manage the club and moderate the forums. They will help make this program a great experience for all participants. Please email them at info@pbc.guru with any questions or visit their website at http://www.pbc.guru to see more of what they do.
Each year the Marist Alumni Association presents the Alumni Leadership Award to two graduating seniors at the College’s Baccalaureate. The 2021 recipients of the award are Natalie D. Ford ’21 and Zachary F. Jacobs ’21.
Each year the Marist Alumni Association presents the Alumni Leadership Award to two graduating seniors at the College’s Baccalaureate. The 2021 recipients of the award are Natalie D. Ford ’21 and Zachary F. Jacobs ’21. Ford, from Madison, MS, majored in fashion design. At Marist, she was president of the Class of 2021 and volunteered on the 2021 Commencement Committee, in Campus Ministry, at New York Fashion Week, in the Marist Community Garden, and as a tour guide with Ars et Fides.In addition, she worked as a campus tour guide and ambassador, a fashion design studio assistant, and a sales associate at Lily Rain.Jacobs, from Holliston, MA, majored in athletic training. He volunteered with Campus Ministry, the New York Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, the WWCGP Cycling Classic, National Athletic Trainers Association District 2 and the Student Leadership Committee and served as president of the Marian Hall Resident Student Council. His paid work experience includes clinical internships at five schools/organizations in the Hudson Valley and serving as a Marist tour guide and admission greeter as well as a Marist peer student tutor.Nominations for the award can be made by employees of Marist who are also graduates of the College. Alumni Leadership Award recipients over the past five years:2016 — Janie Pierson & Nicholas Bayer2017 — Irene Elias & Nicholas Marengo2018 — Brooke DiPalma & Alec Lee2019 — Lauren Vecchio & Matthew Marotti2020 — Jillian Kaczmarek & Spencer Hogan
Although the Class of 1970 and 1971 Reunion Committees opted to postpone their 50th reunions, Marist hosted a successful outdoor and COVID-safe Homecoming and Reunion on Oct. 23.
Although the Class of 1970 and 1971 Reunion Committees opted to postpone their 50th reunions, Marist hosted a successful outdoor and COVID-safe Homecoming and Reunion on Oct. 23. The day included Marist Singers and Band alumni performing with current student Singers and Band members, the Theatre Hall of Fame induction, the Morehead State vs. Marist football game, and four tents celebrating affinity groups on campus: the Student Government Association, the Study Abroad Program, the Marist Music Program, and the Fashion Department. The day ended with a reunion celebration for all classes under a large tent on the Marist Green.Photos by Al Nowak/On Location StudiosAlumni Join Marist Band and Singers at Homecoming 2021 Homecoming and Reunion Picnic 2021 Marist vs. Morehead State Homecoming and Reunion 2021 Theatre Hall of Fame 2021 .carousel {
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Julie Cullinane Kinney ’90 and author Jeff Kinney take Marist alumni inside his best-selling series Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
More than 250 alumni and friends along with their families got an exclusive look inside the evolution of the best-selling book series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” thanks to the generosity of Marist alumna Julie Cullinane Kinney ’90 and her husband, Jeff, the creator of the series. In a virtual presentation Oct. 15, Julie and Jeff shared the origins of the 16-book cartoon series featuring hapless middle-schooler Greg Heffley that has become an international sensation. The ticket price to the Marist-only event included a signed copy of Jeff’s newest book, Big Shot, published in October. All proceeds from the event, organized by the Marist Alumni Relations Office, benefited the Marist Alumni Legacy Scholarship Fund, raising more than $10,000. Special thanks go to Julie and Jeff for making the event possible. Julie interviewed Jeff about the evolution of the series Diary of a Wimpy Kid in a virtual program from their bookstore, An Unlikely Story, in Plainville, MA.Since the first Wimpy Kid book made its debut in 2007, more than 250 million copies have been published in 79 editions in 65 languages. The Wimpy Kid series has been a constant on the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists and has remained on the New York Times children’s series best-seller list for more than 657 weeks. The series has won a number of regional and national awards including two Children’s Choice Book Awards and six Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for Favorite Book. Jeff Kinney was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people and is also the creator of Poptropica, named one of Time’s 50 Best Websites. The Disney+ movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid premiered in early December.Jeff and Julie took part in the Zoom program from their bookstore, An Unlikely Story, in Plainville, MA. Julie, a communications major in college and a former reporter and editor for a Massachusetts newspaper, interviewed Jeff for the Marist audience. She noted it was the first time she had interviewed him live for a virtual event. Then Jeff took live questions and gave a tour of his studio on the top floor of the bookstore, where his awards are on view.Jeff, a graduate of the University of Maryland, had been developing the book for a year when he and Julie began dating in 1999. He kept a journal jammed with notes and sketches that captured not only memories from his youth but also some of the couple’s early dating experiences. He continued writing and drawing for the next seven years as they dated, married, and had two sons, and as he worked full time as a software programmer. “It proves that you can do two things at once,” he noted, “that you can have your day job and pay your rent and you can also chase a rock-star dream in your spare time.” His dream was to be a newspaper cartoonist like Charles Schulz, the creator of Charlie Brown and "Peanuts.” For three years Jeff tried to make it happen. But “nobody liked my stuff,” he said. Then he decided to try something different. He bought a ticket to Comic Con, a comic convention in New York City, planning to show his sample packet around to editors there. But the convention had oversold its tickets and sent everyone away. While on a bus tour of New York City just for kicks, Jeff noticed that Billy Joel was playing a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden. He called Julie saying he wanted to stay overnight to go to the concert. A huge Billy Joel fan herself, she encouraged him to go for it. “Billy Joel was our thing at Marist in the ’80s,” she said.He managed to get a ticket and went to the show. The next day, he was able to get into the Comic Con. An editor who saw his work said it was exactly what he was looking for. “So it was thanks to Billy Joel that I got to be a published author,” Jeff said.Throughout the presentation the Zoom chat room bubbled over with questions for Jeff. What inspired him to write the Wimpy Kid series?“My own childhood,” he said. “I was reading Harry Potter at the time. I was like, “Man, this is really good writing, it’s a good story.” But I did think Harry was very, very different than I was as a kid. I did think there might be an appetite for a character who was not so perfect and not so heroic as Harry.”He said his newest Wimpy Kid book, Big Shot, shows what it’s like to be in athletics but not be a star athlete. “I think it’s important that a kid can see himself.”Earlier, he had elaborated on the appeal of his wimpy protagonist.“Greg is a messy character. When kids read kids’ books, the character is usually aspirational. They’re heroic. Like think of Harry Potter, characters like that. They’re the hero that we want to be. And Greg isn’t, really. You know, books can be mirrors and windows, right? Windows, you see into another world. That’s Harry Potter. Mirrors are books where you see yourself. That’s Wimpy Kid. And I think a lot of kids are messy.”Another young fan asked where Greg’s memorable nickname “Ploopy” came from.“Ploopy was a nickname that my older sister came up with for me,” Jeff explained. “And for some reason, it just got me. It made me so mad, like it would make my ears turn red.”He got over it, though. “We’ve made our peace. And I’m making money off of her calling me ‘Ploopy.’ So I think I won that situation.”
