All those things and more were available to students during Commuter Week 2020, an annual celebration hosted by Commuter Student Services and the Commuting Students Association at Rose Hill that took place this year in the McGinley Center from March 2 to 6. 

“This year’s theme was RamFest and featured different events based on festivals from around the world,” said Stephen J. Esposito, FCRH ’17, assistant director for leadership and commuter student services. “Oftentimes, large-scale programs on campus tend to happen during late night hours or over the weekends. This week of programming is a chance for our commuter students to celebrate and engage in campus life at Fordham in a way that fits their schedule.” 

On Monday, commuter students gathered for the “Ramchero Rodeo” in the McGinley Ballroom, which featured mechanical bull riding, Tex-Mex food, cornhole, and board games. On Tuesday, they celebrated “Frost Fest” in McGinley’s second-floor lounge, where students skated on a synthetic rink and drank hot cocoa. On Wednesday, students gathered for “RamCon,” where they competed in a Smash Bros & Pokémon GO tournament, painted superhero logos, and played Avengers and Star Wars themed board games. On Thursday, they decorated masks and participated in a Just Dance Wii competition at “Rio De Rams.” And on their last day, they attended “Rams’ Night Market,” where they dined on free international food and celebrated cultures from around the world. 

All Fordham community members were welcome. This past fall, the Commuting Students Association at Lincoln Center campus held its annual Commuter Student Appreciation Week (CSAW), the Lincoln Center counterpart to Commuter Week at Rose Hill. 

“Commuter Week is all about bringing our community closer together,” said Kaidya Adames, a senior at the Gabelli School of Business and the executive president of the Commuting Students Association. “[It’s] our way of saying: ‘We’re here, and Fordham can be our home too.'” 

Film and television major Colleen Granberg was tasked with lightening the mood as the 2018 Lady of the Manor. In a speech peppered with jabs at food, dorm life and WiFi service, she compared Encaenia to the Oscars, because it’s an honor just to be invited.

“Or at least, that is what you will tell your parents later tonight when they ask you why exactly you did not receive any prizes tonight,” she joked.

Some of the biggest laughs came from Granberg’s observation that the University’s severe weather alerts seem to always note that the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses will be open, but that the Louis Calder Center is closed.

“I don’t know where exactly the Calder Center is, but it must have the most dangerous weather conditions of all time. It’s like one of those towns in rural Alabama that doesn’t have any plows so when it snows like, half an inch, they have to shut down the whole city, except it’s in Westchester,” she said, poking fun at Fordham’s biological field station, which is located 25 miles north of the city.

“I have been let down too many times by those emails. I kind of want to go to the Calder Center just to see what’s happening there, but now I’m too spiteful. I wish everyone at the Calder Center well, but our relationship is beyond repair.”

Valedictorian Mimi Sillings, a psychology major who commuted from Pleasantville for four years, joked that ‘Fordham is my school. Metro-North is my campus.’ She implored her classmates to appreciate that the “good old days” are actually now.

Sillings said she stumbled badly in a class her first semester, but when her mother gave her a necklace that said “This too shall pass,” Sillings said it became a talisman that provided her with a surprising source of strength. At some point, it broke.

“With sadness, I presented it to her. But my mom smiled. I was taken aback. She said, ‘Don’t you see, Mimi? You don’t need the necklace anymore.’ She was right, as moms often are,” she said.

“As a freshman, ‘This too shall pass’ was reassurance that my current struggle was only temporary. Now, on the eve of our commencement, ‘This too shall pass’ is a somber reminder of time’s fleeting nature.”

Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, told students that because they’d finished classes but have not yet graduated, they were in “a thin place” –where two worlds come together and are both seen and unseen.

“In Celtic spirituality, a thin place is where the ‘distance between heaven and earth collapses,’ a sacred place where you can feel the transcendence and the immanence of God,” she said.

“It can be confusing and unsettling to be in a thin place, but it can also be transformative: This experience can jolt you to see yourself—and the world—in a new way.”

It’s a good time she said, to reconsider what it means to “become men and women for others. It is not about being nice, nor is it a feel-good marketing slogan or a form of secular social activism,” she said.

“As men and women for others, you are called to be present to and in solidarity with others; in fact, to see them not as ‘others’ who need your help but as people, as individuals, as children of God; and through this shift in focus, you see God,” she said.

If it seems overwhelming, she said, consider two pieces of advice: Do something very well, even if it’s small, that will bring about positive change, and let God’s grace enter and do the rest. And, she said, fall in love.

“I ask you to fall in love, to stay in love, to act with love, and to let love guide you in becoming true men and women for and with others,” she said.

Mast presented two students with special awards. The Claver Award, which is granted by the Jesuits of Fordham to a senior who best represents Fordham’s dedication to community service, was given to Meghan Townsend, who spent almost a year living at St. Joseph House, the soup kitchen and homeless shelter founded by Catholic activist Dorothy Day.

The Fordham College Alumni Association Award, which recognizes a senior who embodies the “Fordham spirit,” was awarded to Erin Shanahan, whom Dean Mast praised for her leadership at the student-run newspaper The Ram.

“In a period marked by the rise of fake news and increasing incivility in both our public life and on college campuses, The Ram under her leadership and guidance strove to uphold high standards of fact-based journalism, took on difficult and controversial issues with skill and nuance, and encouraged a campus atmosphere of civility and dialogue,” she said.

“I was reading the textbooks straight through in order to do well, making lists of what to finish and crossing things off when they were done,” said Baig, now a sophomore at Fordham College at Rose Hill. “It seemed organized, but did I actually understand it?”

When it took her two full days to read seven chapters for a biology test, it became clear to Baig she needed to either cut back, or regroup and seek help on how to achieve her ambitions.

Seeking A Path Forward

Through Fordham’s Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) office, Baig was introduced to Julia Escobar, then a Gabelli School junior, as someone who might be able to offer advice. Like her, Escobar was focused on completing a pre-health concentration with a major in business. When facing her own workload worries, Escobar had heard the “cut back your course load” suggestions from counselors. But she wasn’t compromising, and she advised Baig to stick to her dream, too.

“Julia took me in and said, ‘This is what it is going to be like,’” recalls Baig. “She told me, ‘Don’t let people put you down and say you can’t do it, because it definitely can get done.’ She gave me a 4-year plan on an Excel chart of how everything would go.”

And that, says Baig, was all in their first meeting. “She didn’t even know who I was!”

Over the next few months, Escobar helped guide Baig on what programs to apply for in the summer, how to get recommendation letters, and even what classes she should take and what clubs to join.

“Ultimately, I was her peer-peer resource, giving her all my knowledge so she could have a more seamless college experience,” said Escobar.

Fast forward one year, and Baig and Escobar speak gratefully of their mentor-mentee relationship and the successes it has brought them both. While the C-STEP Summer Scholars experience gave them a bit of common ground amid a student population of 15,000, staying friends has been a matter of mutual respect and admiration, the students say.

“Julia had done everything I was trying to do,” said Baig. “And she understands in a different manner than the counselors. She sees things from the perspective of a student who has walked the same path.”

From One Student to Another

You could say the importance of student-to-student support at a university is exemplified through Baig and Escobar’s story. Both were standouts at their high schools who struggled upon reaching college. Baig was a native of the Bronx who attended the Manhattan Center for Science and Math in Spanish Harlem; Escobar attended a large suburban public high school in Arvada, Colorado.

“I was valedictorian, and it was no big deal,” said Escobar. “I didn’t study much. So I come here (to Fordham) and it was like, ‘oh wow, this is tough.’ In my first semester biology, I was getting D’s across the board.”

Not one to be told she can’t achieve, Escobar took the matter into her own hands and sought out ways to raise her performance. With an app called Quizlet, she began to concentrate on trying out the scientific concepts through problems rather than reading through the material, a strategy she also passed on to Baig.

That and other strategies have worked for them both, academically. Escobar is graduating with a 3.76, and Baig’s biology scores, which she says had been in the 80s, moved into the 90s when she began to incorporate Escobar’s suggestions. She has a 3.6 overall presently.

This is not to say that it’s easy, by any means, the students emphasize. Escobar and Baig both carry heavy credit loads: Escobar, to complete a double major at the Gabelli School, has averaged 20 credits a semester; Baig has averaged 18 to 20 per semester in her combination pre-health and economics coursework at Fordham College at Rose Hill.

More important than academics has been building peer networks, said Escobar. She, too, has sought support from other students who are pursuing an equally rigorous academic schedule. As a junior, she co-founded the Business Innovations in Healthcare Club (BHIC), which consists of students engaged in any kind of business and pre-health curriculum. Escobar got Baig involved, and next semester Baig will serve on their executive board.

“We are the total nontraditionals in the Gabelli School,” said Escobar of the BHIC students. “On the business side, many students don’t understand that there are not just financial services at banks; there are also financial services at hospitals. Healthcare business administration is one of those things that is completely overlooked and that is not the sexiest of professions, but is a great profession.”

The admiration that has developed between the two women has enhanced both of their college experiences, they said. On a recent weekend, Escobar took Baig along with her to “Impressions Day” at Columbia College of Dental Medicine, which she will be attending next year after she graduates on May 21. She wanted to give Baig the chance to see if she might have an interest in dentistry.

She describes Baig as “sweet and kindhearted” in a way that she says has helped her be a more conscientious person.

And Baig says she is inspired by Escobar’s energy, generosity, and willingness to help in ways that only another student could.

“I’ve had a lot of support from adults,” said Baig, “but I feel like when it comes from a student it’s more of a practical situation.”