Have you noticed the strange parade of students walking further than the Nursing Building? Most of those students are education majors making their way to St. Joseph’s Hall. This building was originally a grade school and high school that the Adrian Dominican Sisters ran. Later on in the building’s time, the basement of the building housed a Montessori preschool. Currently, the ground floor is where the literacy center is located. The building was donated to Siena by the Adrian Dominican Sisters at no cost.

In speaking with SHU President Peg Albert and Vice President for Academic Affairs Sister Sharon Weber, I found that the renovation cost $1.6 million for the first floor. This whole project was made possible by many small donations and one large donation from Mary Spencer.

As you reach the front entrance, you look up and see the original doors standing tall and ornate. As you pass through them and look down the hallway, you see multiple classrooms filled with light and the latest technology. The chairs and tables are moved around to create different types of grouping for small discussion. Walking into the building is surreal after being cramped alongside the theater program.

St. Joseph’s Hall has brought a lot of excitement to the education students on campus. Although the walk is long, most of us agree that we are excited to be in our own space. Before the start of the semester, our professors informed us that it would be about a 10-minute walk from the PAC. On beautiful days like those in early fall, those 10 minutes seem to fly by; however, predictions have been made that once the winter months hit, it will become a slightly longer 10 minutes.

Now, the association between Siena and the Adrian Dominican Sisters is even stronger. This building is another way for us as students to remember where we come from. This further connection to our roots emphasizes our need to reflect on how Dominican thought has shaped our school. This building has become a legacy of its own. The very building where students were taught to read and write, college students are learning how to teach reading and writing. The Education Department has been extremely blessed to have this opportunity to move into such an amazing space.

As I closed my conversation with Sister Peg and Sister Sharon, I asked them to give the education majors advice. Sister Peg said to, “Educate the whole person-mind, body, and spirit.” She also advised us to, “be sensitive to the needs of each student.”

There is truly nothing more important than looking at the whole person and making sure that all parts of us are addressed. Sister Sharon added a prayer that, “we may be blessed with students that will teach us as much as we teach them.”

For all students – whatever your major may be – can take these ideas to heart as well. We all can look to acknowledge the whole person and learn from others.