“If you are looking for a school that is equal parts academics, faith, and sisterhood, then Saint Mary’s is the school for you.”
A Broad Perspective
Youngstown, Ohio, native Colleen Lowry ’11 fell in love with Saint Mary’s on her first College visit. Academically and socially, it was a perfect fit.
Now, with her chosen major of sociology, Colleen is the vice president of the Sociology Club, a member of the Class Gift Campaign, and participates in the Notre Dame College Democrats club.
Colleen loves being at a small campus where the professors are always available and willing to guide students through their classes and projects. She says, “Each professor has different interests and does unique research. This makes them more accessible to groups of students that have varying sociological interests.” Sociology majors explore global social issues, such as the impact of multinational mass media, and everythings from colonialization and war to immigration patterns.
As a junior, Colleen is still deciding where her future lies, but she plans on attending graduate school. She looks forward to her senior year and is currently in the process of choosing a topic for her senior comprehensive project. Each major program requires a culminating senior comprehensive experience through which students demonstrate what they’ve learned in their four years at Saint Mary’s. Senior comprehensives range from completing an exam, to writing a novel, to presenting significant research on a topic of the student’s choice.
In the meantime, Colleen continues to enjoy her classes. Her favorites include Sociological Statistics and Political Participation. In the past, Colleen worked on a project related to the 2008 presidential elections. She was able to combine her interest in sociology with her interest in politics. She explains, “Sociology gives me the freedom to see the world from a different perspective and apply things I am interested in and learning in all of my other classes to sociology.”
—Sarah Sheppard '11