State of Student Life

Anthony Garrison-Engbrecht, Vice President for Student Life,  updated our community about the current state of Student Life at Saint Mary’s

Kamryn Sobel
Associate Editor 

On March 3rd, Anthony Garrison-Engbrecht, the Vice President for Student Life, updated the Saint Mary’s community on the current state of student life at his State of Student Life event. 

According to the Student Life homepage, the overall goals of the department are listed as follows: “Integrated learning experiences that empower students to become engaged, global, and ethical persons. We encourage you to take a personal approach to the student experience, build self-confidence, provide reasonable boundaries that encourage respect for the individual and individual difference while motivating critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, and unparalleled creativity.”

Anthony began by emphasizing the importance of rejuvenating student life post COVID with approaching challenges and opportunities to be sustainable in future years at Saint Mary’s. The main initiatives Garrison-Engbrecht said he is concerned with are advocating for staff and creatively approaching current students needs, assessing out how to restore, sustain and grow the campus amidst Covid-19, and figuring out how to maintain and grow the staff at Saint Mary’s. Along with his hopes and concerns for the College, Anthony highlighted current student events, such as the tailgate prior to the Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary’s, in order to prove that students are capable of having such events in the future. 

Other goals that Garrison-Engbrecht  touched upon were enhancing various areas and aspects that affect student life. Specifically, he talked about utilizing places where students gather and honoring the space Saint Mary’s currently has in order to enhance these services that meet the needs of students. In terms of student needs and hopes to better understand, Student Life is also advocating for additional staffing within Health and Wellness in order to help Saint Mary’s students with additional resources. Garrison-Engbrechtalso recognized the importance of working with campus partners to better prepare students for the work force and placement in the future as well as providing resources for students to take a break from academics. Support for students in other areas, such as food insecurity, were also discussed during the meeting. 

Garrison-Engbrecht concluded by encouraging event attendees to, “Inspire a vibrant campus life and engaged student body, celebrate traditions and create a sense of community.” 

Sources:

https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/student-life