“I wanted a school that fit me, not a school that I had to try to fit into. A school on the East Coast that would prepare me for my professional future, but also help me with personal goals. Making lasting friendships, having tons of school spirit, and living on a beautiful campus was just as important to me as internship opportunities, class sizes, and job placement. My checklist was endless: campus ministry, choir, Fashion program, accredited Business program, program specific study abroad opportunities, safety, social events, proximity to NYC, internship placement, alumni involvement, career success, and “that feeling” of knowing that the school was right.”
Colleen is a senior from Chicago, Illinois double majoring in Business Marketing and Fashion Merchandising. During her time at Marist, she has been involved in various academic and extra-curricular activities.
Freshman year was a year of new friends and many exciting opportunities. When choosing a college, Colleen knew that she wanted a community presence, so she immediately joined Campus Ministry and soon became the cantor in Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel on campus each Sunday through her junior year. Through Campus Ministry, Colleen has worked with various organizations at Marist and in the local community. She also was able to serve as a liaison between the Admission Office and the prospective students and families, after being accepted into the Marist Ambassadors Program. The program allowed her to become a Tour Guide for the Admission Office as well as help students during individual Shadow Day experiences. Over time Colleen continued to find new ways to contribute to the Ambassador Program as an Executive Board member and also by becoming a Student Assistant for one of the Admission counselors.
With a love for adventure and travel, Colleen studied abroad in Paris the fall of her junior year. She participated in a special program curated specifically for Marist Fashion students. Together with ten other Marist students who quickly became some of her closest friends, she spent the semester studying under creative trend forecasters, affluent visual merchandisers, market focused product developers and passionate costume historians. Her study abroad experience allowed to her to travel to San Sebastian and Barcelona in Spain, Brussels, London, Dublin, Morocco, and Normandy, Biarritz, and Provins in France; and attend a VIP event at design house, Viktor & Rolf, during Paris’s Fashion’s Night Out.
Colleen returned to campus and is now a senior preparing herself for a career on the business side of fashion. She is currently interning at Modern Luxury Magazine in Manhattan while simultaneously completing two capping courses, managing a full class load, and working as the college’s Social Media Intern which evolved out of her role an Admission Office Student Assistant. By directly working under Brian Apfel, Director of Social Media and Online Initiatives, Colleen has grown her professional experiences and now works cross-departmentally to develop strategies to cover Marist events using various media platforms. In September, she even went to New York Fashion where she covered social media for Marist. Colleen loves to create experiences for people and hopes to do that through marketing and event management in the future.
Instagram: @C.Kollar
Colleen’s Top 5 To-Do’s at Marist
- Watch the sunset at the Riverfront
- Roll down the hill in front of the Library
- Attend the Giving Tree Mass in December
- Spend an afternoon reading a book on the Hancock Patio
- Make cookies as a freshman in your dorm kitchen—it’s a great way to make friends!
Colleen shares about her favorite spot on campus…
If I’m not at work or in class, you can find me in the Hancock Center. There, I am in either one of two places: the café, or the windows room. The Hancock café has a certain calmness to it that I absolutely adore. And Suzanne, the café barista is the sweetest and bubbliest person on campus. She knows almost everyone by name and remembers your “usual,” as if you are the only customer she ever has. She is someone who will make your day without even trying, and I am so thankful that she is part of the Marist community. I always make sure to stop by after the weekend to check in on how hers was and ask how her daughters are doing. Suzanne is just absolute epitome of what Marist is all about. I see her because I’m always in the windows room. The windows room is all glass and overlooks the lantern and the entryway below. I just feel like I can see the whole campus walk by but at the same time, it is a very quiet room that I can get a lot of work done in. (When I go to the Library, I tend to be more social than productive! So I had to find a new location.) The windows room is my own little Marist secret. It’s usually locked and I have to reserve it, but it is my favorite place to go and study or just relax quietly with my cookie and latté served with warmth and a smile from Suzanne.
