Undergrads Doing Research!

Before it gets too crowded, presenters check out other students' work. 

Last Wednesday, the weather was beautiful at Fordham. Eddie’s Parade looked like a beach with the number of people lounging and sunbathing. On Wednesdays, a lot of students don't have classes, so it was the perfect day to just kick back and relax. It was glorious. I, however, staying inside most of the day doing something else fantastic: the 8^th Annual Fordham Undergraduate Research Symposium. Now before you think I am being sarcastic, hear me out.

One of my favorite posters is a thesis that will
take the form of a stand-up comedy routine. 

Some of the tote bags being handed out, with copies of the
Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal in the background. 

There were 322 undergraduate students presenting research at the symposium. Some did independent research using grants, and others submitted research papers they had done for a class or their theses. Students gave oral presentations as well as poster presentations to peers, alumni, professors, deans, and anyone else who cared to drop by the McGinley ballroom where it was held. Even the people who arrived for the free sandwiches and fruit (and cafeteria cookies!) stayed to learn more about research in all manner of disciplines. Students talked about HGH in diabetic patient treatments, raising Deaf children, nanoscale drug delivery systems, and how early New Amsterdam/New York became a melting pot among a multitude of other things. Watching classmates present on their work is a lot of fun because, oftentimes, you forget how brilliant the people surrounding you are.

Participants and their research mentors received fair trade tote bags as this year’s gift. Fordham has a working relationship with the Amani Project, and the bags helped pay for school fees for Tibetan children who wouldn't otherwise be able to attend. All in all, it was a great way to spend the day, and there was still time after to enjoy the great weather. 

On a personal note, this is my final blog entry. I have written for I Am a Fordham Ram since the very beginning of my sophomore year (September 24, 2012, to be exact). It's been a pleasure to talk about some of my favorite things at Fordham and to talk to students who reached out after finding my email on the profile pages. Most readers are probably in the midst of making their college decisions, which is really, really hard. Everyone writing for this blog remembers that and may be going through the same process with grad school and jobs, so please look at our profiles and send us emails if you have questions that haven't yet been answered. We would be glad to talk with you-- that's really why we are here. So long, good luck, and I hope to see you at an alumni event in 4-10 years. 

Club Spotlight: Fordham Experimental Theatre Umbrella Groups

Fordham Experimental Theatre, or FET, is one of our three theater groups on the Rose Hill campus. This group puts on two student directed plays or musicals a semester, as well as a Playwrights’ Festival which includes 3-4 short student written one act shows. As if that weren’t enough, FET also consists of four umbrella groups: Fordham Standup, Free Pizza Sketch Comedy, Stranded In Pittsburgh (Improv Comedy), and Verbal Essences (Spoken Word). Each group performs a few times each semester, meaning there’s never a dull weekend in the Blackbox Theatre, which FET calls home.

Stranded in Pittsburgh, Fordham's Improv Comedy Troupe
In the background is the back wall of the Blackbox, featuring signatures of members after they have graduated.

Cartoons of each comedian in Fordham Standup, drawn by member James Murtagh

Each group meets weekly to prepare their shows and critique one another’s work. They also are not limited to just performing at Fordham, but they often take advantage of our location and perform around New York City. Stranded in Pittsburgh has competed at the College Improv Tournament in Manhattan (and were awarded 2nd place in 2013!). They also recently held a joint show in the Blackbox with Quipfire!, Princeton’s Improv Team. Fordham Standup members frequently perform at Gotham Comedy club, as well as at various open Mic Nights around the city. 

Verbal Essences member Adam Seighman performing a spoken word poem!

Each group holds auditions every semester to take on new members, and even if you don’t hear the stage calling your name, the shows are a great way to spend a Friday or Saturday night! My friends and I go to a show almost every weekend, and I have yet to miss a Standup show. Fordham is full of so many talented, funny people, and FET is a great way for students to showcase their talents!

Weekend Update

Amazing architecture

Megan McLaughlin

This weekend I headed to one of my favorite spots in NYC: the Cloisters. Located at the very top of Manhattan in Fort Tryon Park, the Cloisters is a medieval museum housed in five medieval French abbeys reassembled into a single building. It's like a tiny piece of Europe that’s accessible by the A train.

Who says you can't eat cheap in New York?

Madeline McDermott

On Friday, I used an Amazon local deal to get half-off brick oven pizza in Manhattan at a restaurant named L'asso. Afterward, I went to support my friend and fellow Ram Nicole do stand-up comedy at The Village Lantern in Soho.

Caroline McCue
This past weekend, I went to the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center!  My Grandma is a big fan of the Philharmonic and had two extra tickets.  I brought my best friend and roommate, Lauren.  We got all dressed up and went to dinner at PJ Clarke's, right across from the theatre.  The Philharmonic was an orchestra made up of mostly string instruments and it was truly beautiful, the music was so relaxing!  It was a great night filled with friends, food and music, and I would recommend going before you graduate!

Enjoying a beautiful performance

Caroline Lebranti

Loved catching up in Philly

One of the best parts about studying abroad is becoming friends with people from schools all over the country. This past weekend I took the bus down to Philadelphia with a couple of friends to have a study abroad reunion. Lucky for me, Fordham is so close to great transportation options that visiting them is almost too easy! We did all things touristy like visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art (and ran up the Rocky steps), went ice skating at Penn’s Landing, saw Independence Hall, and even went to a Kevin Devine (a Fordham alum!) concert at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. It was a great weekend and made me realize how easy it is to take weekend trips out of NYC. Places like Philly or New Haven and plenty of skiing or hiking trails in upstate New York are about two hours away, and Boston and Washington DC are about four hours away. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever find yourself sick of NYC, but it’s nice to know that the option to get away is always there!

College students love the snow too!

Claire McGonigle

After track practice on Saturday, my friends and I wanted to spend a little time together and relax so we decided to play in the snow! After a busy week of school work, it was fun to be together and do something silly. Another group of people were building a fort so we all decided to get a snowball fight going which was great!

Back to School, Back to the UCB

For me, going back to Fordham at the end of August for the new school year means a whole new year of going on exciting adventures around New York City, which includes waiting in line for a free comedy show. So on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, my friends and I took the subway down to Chelsea to get standby tickets at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre for their most popular long-form improvisational show.

The Upright Citizens Brigade logo

Founded by Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, and Amy Poehler in the late ‘90s, the Upright Citizens Brigade offers arguably the best comedy in the city for the cheapest price – the perfect situation for college students. Top-notch improvisers train and perform at the UCB, and many have gone onto have great successes in television and film. Even the most successful graduates of the UCB return to perform constantly, so you never know who will pop in at your show!

Waiting for standby tickets towards the front of the line!

On this Sunday, we saw an incredibly talented group of improvisers, including Saturday Night Live alum Horatio Sanz, at the free 9:30PM show. You cannot book your tickets in advance for this particular performance, and it draws a very large crowd, so we had to get there hours before to secure our spots in the standby line. Our wait was long and rainy, but the show was hilarious as usual and so worth the wait.

My ticket for the show. Being 13th in line is a success!

Being able to hop on the D-train or the Ram Van on a Sunday to see some of the best comedy in the country for a reasonable price is one of the many reasons I love Fordham so much. New York is truly my campus!

Weekend Update

Hello everyone! Happy Monday. This is a busy time at Fordham. This past Thursday would have been our last day of classes, but we had so many snow days this past winter that we added a make-up schedule to the end of the semester. So students are balancing attending their last few courses as well as starting to study for finals, not to mention just doing all of those last things you want to do before leaving for the summer! Check out what some of our students did below.

Deirdre Hynes

Even though most of my weekend was spent studying for finals, my friends & I were able to make the best of it by studying & writing our papers outside Keating on Edward's Parade, where we could enjoy the sunshine and nice weather while still being productive. Plus, it was easy to play a quick game of frisbee when we needed a break! 

Laura Bellows

My friends and I took the D train (a 10-minute walk up Fordham Road from the Rose Hill campus) to Yankee Stadium for a night game. We didn't have to worry about getting out of the game late because Fordham's Ram Van was outside the D train to drive us back down Fordham Road to campus. This off-campus shuttle service is available to all students seven days a week from 10pm-5am and the Ram Van doesn't leave the stop to bring students back to campus until another Ram Van has arrived. It's free too!

Jillian Diehl

On Saturday night, I took advantage of some of the free entertainment you can find on many weekends here on campus. I have friends in both Fordham Experimental Theatre's Improv and Sketch Comedy clubs, so I attended their last show together for the year, which I loved. It was one of their best yet! Then a folk band called the Keating Steps, started by a talented group of friends at Fordham, performed on their designated spot...You guessed it! The steps of Keating Hall, our grandest and most picturesque building on campus. They played a few of their original songs as well as covering a few old favorites, and a good time was had by all. As the rain fell, I felt truly grateful to be surrounded by my awesome friends, with great music, in my favorite place.

Stand-Up and Take a Bow

I met Amanda Pell first semester of my freshman year. We had a few honors classes together, but I had never seen her preform stand-up before. Rodrigue’s, a student-run coffee house on campus, held an open mic night and I went to see her perform. Since she joined the Fordham stand-up troupe, I make a point to see her sets. Amanda’s comedy is always a great break from homework and since we're roommates, this happens a lot!

Year: Junior

Major: American Studies
Hometown: Point Pleasant, New Jersey
Clubs/Internships: FET (Fordham Experimental Theatre), Fordham Stand-up, WFUV production and videography intern, Opinion Columnist for The Ram, The Daily Show with John Stewart intern, Business Development Institute social media coordinator and event intern, WPLJ promotions intern.

Tell me why you decided to join stand-up comedy at Fordham.

Going to the Blackbox and seeing comedy shows was one of my favorite ways to get out and meet people freshman year. I was already into comedy and had done a little stand up. I wanted to keep pursuing my interests in comedy and get more involved in FET [Fordham Experimental Theatre].

How would you describe your experience with Fordham Stand-up?

It’s super cool; getting recognized around campus after shows is really great. Freshmen year, I knew who these other performers were, but they didn’t know me. Now it’s the other way around. I walk around, and people say “Hey, I loved your set!” It’s fantastic.

What is your favorite part about stand-up?

I like writing stand-up because it engages the left brain and the right brain. The comedy part is really creative, but figuring out how to put a set together is like a puzzle. You have to figure out the timing, vocabulary, laugh breaks. It’s always a struggle; it can be very frustrating, but making people laugh is the most rewarding thing.

Do you think Fordham offers opportunities for comedy that you wouldn’t have elsewhere?

Collins Auditorium houses the Blackbox as well as
the philosophy department. (Source: Forham.edu)

Absolutely. I didn’t want to come to Fordham initially, but once I got here, I realized that Fordham had a whole bunch of things that not only do I love but I wouldn’t have been able to find anywhere else. My major [American Studies] is very unique and fits my interests well. Fordham and Rose Hill in particular is so unique because we get a grassroots, underdog pulling for the little guy kind of vibe, especially in the Blackbox theater. We’re all at RH doing something different, and I think that it almost makes us work harder at comedy. We are the only stand up troupe that I’ve ever heard of. We really play off each other and help each other figure out what jokes work and what needs to be fixed.

If you could have any job in the world following your graduation from Fordham, what would it be?

Because I intern at the Daily Show now, I would love to work as a writer’s assistant. But I would also be more than willing to work as a correspondent or, if John is going to retire anytime soon, they have my phone number. Any job in late night comedy, though, would be incredible.

Do you have any advice for the high school juniors and seniors who are interested in the performing arts, comedy, or TV?

The fact of the matter is—even at Fordham where most performing arts are at the Lincoln Center campus—we have a huge talent pool at Rose Hill. Being at a program that is specifically for what you want to do is great, but it is not necessary for success. Your best performing experiences will come from outside the classroom. The difference between who won't be successful and who will be is who spends their free hour on Facebook and who spends it writing a set.