Momentum

During a wood processing course last fall, Morrisville State College students Lena Hanes and Paige Biviano learned important lessons: Building furniture takes a long time, demands lots of patience and requires seemingly endless sanding.   In a masonry class, Calvin Desforges realized how much precision goes into leveling and squaring off blocks to build the foundation of a home.    

Morrisville State College is tapping into the renaissance of the craft brewing industry in New York State, with a new curriculum and four-year degree program that includes hands-on brewing experience at the Copper Turret restaurant and a line of Morrisville-branded beers that will be available to the public. Taps at the Copper Turret Restaurant and Brewhouse will begin pouring craft beers made on-site later this summer.  

The first time Christine Barta-Gallagher wrote a paper for a Morrisville State College class, she cried. “It was overwhelming,” she said. “It took me days to write that paper. For me to sit down and type 2,000 words was really difficult.”

Morrisville State College senior Byron Evans hadn’t yet chosen a major when he first arrived on campus in 2013, let alone thought about joining the men’s cross country team. Four years later, his name is etched all over the college’s record books.

Imagine if homework consisted of operating chainsaws, wielding axes and log rolling. That’s exactly the case for members of Morrisville’s woods sports team.

“I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.” John D. Rockefeller  In the midst of adversity, four Morrisville State College colleagues found a silver lining.

Every summer growing up, Hayley Cosgrove looked forward to attending The Great New York State Fair so she could admire Morrisville’s elegant stable of Belgians. Cosgrove fondly admired the graceful draft horses as they competed in the show ring, wishing she could be right alongside them.     Thanks to a one-of-kind internship at Morrisville, Cosgrove’s dream came true last summer.

His interest in business and economics began at an early age. By the time he was 18, Christopher Scalzo was hatching ideas, examining investment strategies and conjuring up plans to run his own company. His first big business plan was a home run—financing for a tool and die company. Others followed. As news of his business and entrepreneurial savvy spread, friends and colleagues turned to him for advice about finances and marketing.