The transition from high school to college is a significant milestone in a student's life. This transition can be fraught with challenges, with one of the most prevalent being the "summer melt" phenomenon. Summer melt is the phenomenon where students who intend to enroll in college – who may have even made a deposit or attended a summer orientation – fail to matriculate in the fall, often due to various barriers encountered during the summer months. According to a study from Harvard University, the rates of summer melt range from 10 to 40% of college-intending students, meaning that hundreds of thousands of students are likely melting away over the summer.

Summer break is a time of relaxation and rejuvenation for many college students, but it can present challenges for colleges and universities striving to maintain engagement during this downtime. With students scattered across the globe and many campus activities on hold, how can colleges keep their communities connected and involved? We'll explore how institutions can maintain engagement during summer break and keep their students connected, inspired, and informed.

I think a lot of us can agree that COVID created some kind of time warp where 2020 feels both like a lifetime ago and somehow also like it was just yesterday. In the evolving education landscape, classroom images can quickly become outdated and when VSB reached out to update their mask-free image gallery for the first time since pre-COVID I was pretty excited to jump into the classroom and get to work.

At the end of January, Villanova University hosted their 9th Annual Women in Tech Conference and asked me to document this impressive event. A chance to document women doing incredible work in the technology field (or any field for that matter)? YES PLEASE.

As the year draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on all the interesting jobs and people I’ve gotten to work with this year. 2023 has been a unique journey – one filled with incredible opportunities, challenges, and growth. As a professional photographer, I have been fortunate to work with a diverse array of businesses and universities, each with its own distinct story to tell.

If you are involved in the business side of things for any sort of big business, non profit, or educational institution, then annual reports are nothing new to you. The yearly publication — whether produced in digital or print (or both!) — is a showcase of your institution.

Universities and colleges have a lot on their plate when it comes time to select a new leader.

One of my newer clients — Chestnut Hill College — recently went through this exact process when their beloved president of thirty years retired. After a thorough search, CHC appointed Dr. William W. Latimer as their new president.

One of the many reasons I love my job is because of the many ways that projects come together. My creativity often feeds off of the unpredictability of photo shoots — will the weather hold out? Will the subjects show? It’s a lot of nimble problem solving and thinking on my feet. It’s not unusual for me to be thinking about my next shot while I’m still clicking away at my current one.

Back To School has long been a marker of change for students and parents alike. Growing up in my house, when the hydrangea in the front yard started to bloom, we knew those yellow school buses would not be far behind. The first day of school — from kindergarten all the way until senior year of high school — was always equal parts excitement and nerve racking for me. While I was always ready for the start of a new school year, the end of summer was always bittersweet.