- I've been playing music since 4th grade, and my main instruments are the guitar and the tuba. I was a member of the Siena Pep Band when I was a student here, and was known across campus as "Tuba Thom."
- I was never involved with any kind of service before coming to Siena as a student, but shortly after arriving here, it became pretty much my whole life! I got involved with the Mentoring Program and the Franciscan Center for Service and Advocacy during my freshman year, and my involvement with those groups and the people I met along the way helped Siena feel like home very quickly. Through the Mentoring Program, I was a "Big" for three kids from different parts of Albany across my four years (and four summer camps!) with the program. That experience made me fall in love with the transformative and relationship-building aspects of service, and I was hooked!
- I never studied abroad, but I participated in five different week-long trips while I was a student here. I went to Mexico City with Dr. Malloy-Madrid's Spanish class, and I went to Nicaragua (twice), Puerto Rico, and Philadelphia through the FCSA's service-immersion trips.
- On our Philadelphia trip, we worked at the St. Francis Inn, a Franciscan soup kitchen in a neighborhood called Kensington. I had such an amazing experience there that I decided to go back for a year after I graduated from Siena with the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry year-of-service program. During my year at the Inn, I was a full-time volunteer working on a variety of tasks, such as donation pickups, helping to facilitate the service of meals, coordinating volunteer groups, and helping to run a job placement program for our guests. Siena has had a long, wonderful relationship with the St. Francis Inn, and I've been able to bring several groups of Siena students down there since I've been back on campus. If you're interested in joining us for a trip, let me know!
- After my year in Philly, I applied and was accepted to the first step of formation (think "training") to become a Franciscan Friar down in Silver Spring, MD. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot and grew a ton, but after several months I ultimately realized that it wasn't where I was meant to be. I'm endlessly grateful for the relationships I've had with the friars on campus and beyond, and many of them have been irreplaceable friends and mentors. But who knows, in another life there might've been a "Brother Thom" walking around campus!
- I met my freshman year roommate, Matt, at a Siena Accepted Students' Day in February of our senior year of high school. Not only did we live together all four years of college, we are STILL roommates and we're still best friends! You never know who's going to wind up being family!
- Some of my favorite Siena memories come from being in rehearsals and on stage for Mr. Siena. I competed the show my sophomore and junior years before winning it my senior year with a Siena-themed rendition of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads." I made some life-long friends through that goofy show, and sharing the stage with such Siena legends as Fr. Dennis, Anto Pelliccia, Zach Brimmer, and countless others is one of the greatest honors of my life! Special shoutout to all of the students who have kept the tradition alive and have kept raising a ton of money for Habitat for Humanity!
- I love working in SALD (Student Activities and Leadership Development) for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is definitely being able to help out with New Student Orientation. I was a SAINT Orientation Leader for three years, and I'm a self-described "Orientation Sicko." New Student Move-In Day is my favorite day of the year - I get to campus before 5:00 am to start setting up and to get "in the zone." No matter how long the days get, I never run out of energy during SAINTs Training and Orientation!
- I love to watch any and all sports, from baseball to kabaddi (look it up if you don't know it!), but my favorite team of all is the Buffalo Bills. I lived in Buffalo for ten years when I was a kid, and I even have a Bills-themed tattoo; the quote "Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?" from Marv Levy, the coach of the '90s Bills. Additionally, basketball has been one of my favorite hobbies for most of my life. When I was a Siena student, I used to practically live in the MAC playing pickup games and shooting around, and I was able to dunk for several years (though I think those days are behind me!).
- I have five tattoos total, all on my right arm:
- the aforementioned Bills tattoo
- the phrase "Pax et Bonum" (latin for "Peace and Good," St. Francis' greeting)
- an image of St. Francis from the soup kitchen where I worked
- a pair of moose antlers (partly as a tribute to the Adirondacks and partly because I've been compared to a moose by many people because of my size)
- a bouquet of hydrangeas, shamrocks, and birch leaves (representing my mom, dad, and brother, respectively)
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