Teachers together, friends forever: Paige Stathis of Breezy Point, N.Y. (left) and Erin O’Sullivan of Rockaway Beach, N.Y. will graduate from Mount Saint Mary College this May.
The COVID-19 pandemic had been hitting hard for about a year and a half by August 29, 2021, when freshmen and longtime friends Erin O’Sullivan and Paige Stathis moved into Mount Saint Mary College’s Sakac Hall.
Students and their families wore protective masks as they lugged clothing, TVs, and food into their residence halls. With classes beginning the next day – online for the first two weeks, then face-to-face for the foreseeable future – the uncertainty of the pandemic and the excitement of starting a new chapter in their lives mixed into a bittersweet brew.
O’Sullivan, from Rockaway Beach, N.Y., was looking forward to life on campus, having spent much of her senior year in high school learning from home.
“I’m excited to get back to a schedule every day,” she said. “Getting up in the morning, getting ready, and walking to class – that’s nice; it’s what I’ve wanted.”
Now as seniors preparing to graduate this May, all that seems like a lifetime ago for the pair of aspiring teachers. “After that first semester, we met a whole new, amazing group of friends,” O’Sullivan explained. “It’s turned into a really different experience.”
A lot has changed in these four years, from the end of the pandemic to taking on new classes and activities. But one thing has remained the same: Stathis and O’Sullivan’s dedication to the teaching profession.
On that mercifully cool summer morning in 2021, Stathis, a Childhood Education student from Breezy Point, N.Y., started building the career she had idolized since she was a child. “My mom’s a teacher and I always really enjoyed it,” she explained. “From a young age, I wanted to become a teacher.”
Four years later, those words still ring true.
“I said [in 2021] that teaching is what I always wanted to do, and I still love it,” said Stathis. “The fieldwork is very involved. Coming in, I didn’t know I would be expected to work with students four or five days a week, and that’s been really nice. We got a jumpstart into the profession.”
The duo has done hands-on fieldwork together at a variety of local schools, including Gidney Avenue Memorial School in Newburgh. Another favorite is Bishop Dunn Memorial School, located right on the Mount’s campus.
“We have a whole elementary school on campus and we get to be involved with it,” said Stathis. “It’s ideal – everyone knows you as a Mount student there.”
Looking back at their time at the Mount, Stathis and O’Sullivan will miss the friends they made these last four years, as well as their professors, including English professors Rob Wakeman and Marie-Therese Sulit.
“The people definitely made this college experience what it is,” said Stathis.
O’Sullivan agreed, adding, “I just know we’ll all still be friends with everyone after we graduate.”