As a member of the Ultimate Frisbee team, an eco-representative, a member of Campus Ecology, a piano player for the Jazz Ensemble, on top of taking eight classes, (among other things) Stephen Day’s involvement on the Keene State College campus does not go unnoticed to many.
Unlike other students, KSC senior Stephen Day embraces the task of keeping his schedule as busy and as challenging as possible.
The 21-year-old senior, Environmental Studies major and Geography minor from Salem, New Hampshire, pushes himself to the extreme both academically and in the extra-curricular sense.
“I picked up the extra classes and one thing led to another. It’s more of me just finding my niche of what I’m actually good at, I just like to find my own way of doing things,” Day said.
Photo Illustration by Brian Cantore: KSC Senior Stephen Day plays the piano. Day is also involved with the Frisbee team and studies woodworking as an independent study.
Not only is Day involved with clubs on campus, he also brought his own interest to the table as well.
As someone who works at a brewery back home, he developed woodworking as an independent study.
This involves advanced woodworking to create tap handles. On a different note, athletics also play a part in his life.
There’s no question that when it comes to varsity level college sports, there is a huge time commitment.
This is why Day decided he wanted to continue being involved with athletics, but not to the extent of it being his entire life.
“Through high school, I was an athlete. I played varsity baseball all four years, so baseball was my life and then I came here and decided not to try out for the team and kind of focus on my studies,” Day continued, “So that’s why I picked up Ultimate Frisbee because it’s just as competitive but because it’s a club team it doesn’t affect your academics if you miss practice.”
Captain of the Ultimate Frisbee team, KSC senior Jesse Stirtan met Day through his involvement with the Frisbee team.
Through this process they have become close friends and Stirtan shared his impression of Day.
“Stephen is very enthusiastic about what he wants and what he likes to do. He will strive to push himself to do whatever he wants. Even if that thing is not necessarily the right thing, he will still push as hard as he can because he thinks it’s right,” Stirtan said.
Aside from having an influence on his peers, Day has also made a significant impact on some of the faculty members here at KSC.
Environmental Studies Associate Professor, Doctor William Fleeger, has had the pleasure of having Day in a total of three classes so far.
He has had him in his junior/senior seminar sequence, and for an issue management class.
Fleeger has been able to evaluate Stephen in his role as a student for a substantial amount of time now.
“What I really value about Steve’s presence in the classroom is that he’s a serious student. I think he’s taken advantage of the opportunity to do not only what’s expected for the course, but also to go beyond that and to sort of expand his own knowledge in areas that are of interest to him,” Fleeger said.
Through discovering what interests him in the classroom, he takes that topic and does abstract or extensive research on it.
He encourages other students to do the same.
“If you have any chance to get into any abstract research or any research experiences, whether it’s paid or not, just try to get involved with it,” Day said.
Day worked a paid internship for seven weeks full-time out in Hancock, New Hampshire at the Harris Center for Conservation Education.
During this internship, Day was able to work closely with Fleeger. Throughout this process, Fleeger learned even more about Day and his strength of character.
“I think the one experience where I had the best opportunity to view Steve’s character as an individual was with the internship. What I saw in Steve’s participation in that group [of four students] is that he really brought that seriousness and purpose to our effort,” Fleeger said.
Day has also worked closely with Campus Sustainability Officer Mary Jensen.
He started working with her last year as an eco-representative.
She described eco-reps as peer educators working to inform students about their impact on campus resources. Through her experiences with Day, she has gathered the same impression as the many others who work with Day.
“I think Stephen’s always really enthusiastic about what he’s doing and his enthusiasm is contagious, so the other students enjoy working with him,” Jensen said.
Keeping himself involved and trying a variety of different activities seems to be what Day has pushed himself to do during his time here at KSC and as a result, he has been recognized by many as a student of admirable value.
Some might question how he’s able to manage it all.
His close friend Stirtan was able to sum it up in a simplistic way: “How he handles all this is just from a strict love for what he does.”
Sabrina Lapointe can be contacted at slapointe@keene-equinox.com