Messina College welcomes its inaugural class
A few nerves. A bit of anxiety. Some faint traces of trepidation. And a lot of excitement.
Pretty much a normal first few days at college for the 110 students in the inaugural class of Boston College’s new Messina College.
Students and their parents arrived on July 7 for Move In Day, which included an orientation program featuring remarks by Messina College Dean Erick Berrelleza, S.J., Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley, and Office of Undergraduate Admission Senior Associate Director Stephen Koo, who helped lead Messina recruitment efforts.
“The campus feels like a complete transformation has taken place,” said Fr. Berrelleza, about a week before students arrived, as crews painted, cleaned, and landscaped the renovated student center and dining room—just one of many projects coming to a close on the former Pine Manor College campus.
“After so many conversations about creating a space that is inviting for our students, over time, seeing that actual transformation now has been a really fun part of my job,” Fr. Berrelleza said.
Messina College Dean Erick Berrelleza, S.J., and Baldwin welcomed members of the inaugural class. (Frank Curran)
Messina College is part of the University’s $100 million Pine Manor Institute for Student Success initiative to enhance educational opportunity for underrepresented, first-generation students, and marks the first time BC will offer an associate’s degree. In all, Messina will enroll approximately 200 students who will live in dormitories on the campus.
Aligned with BC’s Core Curriculum, Messina offers the majors of applied data science, applied psychology and human development, general business, and health sciences. With their degree, students can apply to earn their bachelor’s degrees at BC or other four-year colleges and universities; or go on to other programs focused on specialized skills, careers, or public service.
The inaugural class, drawn largely from Boston, other gateway cities in Massachusetts, as well as from some additional states across the country, will spend the next few weeks engaged in the First Year Discovery Seminar, a focal point of other University programs to prepare students for the workload, challenges, and conversations they will encounter.
“We are working with partners across the University so the seminar builds that bridge that helps these students transition to Boston College and get acclimated to this space,” Fr. Berrelleza said. “We will have them involved and engaged in their formation from social, spiritual, and physical standpoints—who they are as people—in addition to their growth academically and intellectually.”
“Like a door opening”
For many students, the idea of attending Messina College wasn’t on their radar screens a year ago. But throughout last fall, BC admission staff began getting the word out to high school guidance counselors.
Ana Sampaio of Framingham is a health sciences major who plans to study nursing and work as a NICU nurse. She recalled when a guidance counselor at Keefe Regional Technical High School told her about BC’s new college.
“I was completely amazed,” said Sampaio, a native of Brazil. “I was like, ‘OK, I want to go there.’”
“I have always dreamt of going to Boston College. I’m looking forward to classes. I want to see what to expect and what the homework will look like. I want to stay focused. I feel like you experience every emotion getting started. What I’m feeling the most right now is excitement.”
For someone who is always looking for new opportunities, Sampaio said Messina College was a perfect fit for her academic and career goals.
“I always try to stay a step ahead and look at every opportunity and go after them, so when I heard about Boston College opening Messina College, that was a big motivator for me,” said Sampaio, who is already a certified nursing assistant. “It was like a door opening.”
Patrick Elvariste of Roxbury, who graduated from Cathedral High School in Boston’s South End, is studying data science. He learned of Messina when Dean for Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid Grant Gosselin met with students.
“I couldn’t believe it. I have always dreamt of going to Boston College,” said Elvariste. “I’m looking forward to classes. I want to see what to expect and what the homework will look like. I want to stay focused. I feel like you experience every emotion getting started. What I’m feeling the most right now is excitement.”
Jiewen Zhang of Newton is majoring in general business to build on what she has learned working at her parents’ food wholesale business, where she often serves as their translator.
“When I am working with my father, I see the outside world I did not see while I was in high school,” said Zhang, a native of China who graduated from Newton South High School. “Helping him work out customer issues is hard, but it has given me the chance to learn more about business.”
“I want to be a positive force”
While simmering humidity greeted the new students, the weather could not dampen the excitement.
“I am looking forward to college life,” said Zhang. “It looks very freeing even though we will be spending a lot of time studying. I am looking forward to the dorms. I have never lived away from my home and family. I look forward to getting to know the other people in our class.”
Rochelli Silverio of Lawrence, who is studying general business, said she appreciates that the program was designed for students like her.
“I have always heard about BC. A lot of my teachers went to BC,” she said. “When I heard about Messina College, it was great that it was part of BC, but also for people like me who are first generation, immigrants, people who might be defined as ‘other,’” said Silverio, who is from the Dominican Republic.
One of six children, Silverio said she’s looking forward to “having my own place to study, all the support they have for us here, and working hard, like my mother, who works so hard for our family.”
Excitement was running high among faculty as well.
Associate Professor of the Practice of English Amy Alvarez came from West Virginia University. Earlier in her career, she was a teacher for eight years at Boston’s Day and Evening Academy, part of the Boston Public Schools.
“I saw this position as an opportunity to use my skills as a public school teacher and university professor to serve a group of students I have worked with throughout my career,” said Alvarez, who recently published her first volume of poetry. “At West Virginia University, I worked with first-generation college students. In Boston, I worked primarily with students of color. This job is at the center of everything that is important to me as an educator.”
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Biology Antonio Serrato-Capuchina, formerly of Boston University, earned a doctorate in genetics from the University of North Carolina and did postdoctoral work at Harvard University. A native of Mexico who was 12 when his family moved to the U.S., Serrato-Capuchina said he’s excited to support students and hopes to give them the tools that will make their own educational journeys less of an uphill battle than his.
As the first in his family to go to college, he had to overcome not only financial hardship, but also a lack of experience and institutional knowledge about how higher education works. He saw the position at Messina as the perfect combination of teaching and outreach.
“I have constantly been involved in educational outreach,” said Serrato-Capuchina. “My mentality is shaped by my own academic path, which was way harder than it should have been. But I have always been a go-getter and I hope to share what I’ve learned with our students. I want to be a positive force and uplift our students and their communities.”
For more on Messina College, see bc.edu/messina.