At St. Mike’s, Lucas Carpigano has found outlets where he can express himself—and a community that encourages him to keep going.
Lucas is entering his third year at Rotman Commerce, specializing in marketing. It will be his third year working for The Mike, St. Michael’s student newspaper. He has been recognized with St. Michael’s Leadership in Student Publication Award for his journalistic endeavours.
Wanting to try putting his thoughts into words, he joined The Mike in his first year as a staff writer. With his passion for athletics, he covered mostly sports.
He remembers struggling with a headline and the editor-in-chief gave him some direction, not only with the headline, but insight into how The Mike operates. “Her advice has helped with my writing and understanding how The Mike works,” says Lucas.
Wanting to further his experience at the newspaper, he was elected sports editor in his second year. In this role, he expanded the sports section and recruited more writers. He will continue in this role in the coming year and is looking forward to increasing The Mike’s coverage of the Varsity Blues and St. Mike’s intramural sports. As a sports enthusiast, he’s also played on St. Michael’s intramural soccer team, which made it to the semifinals last year.
With most of his classes on the opposite side of Queen’s Park, he enjoys coming to campus for The Mike-related business like meetings or picking up the latest issue of the paper. While on campus he enjoys strolling through the quad and taking in the historic buildings and beautiful grounds.
“Walking around St. Mike’s and meeting many different people has opened my eyes to how diverse the campus is,” he says.
As a practising Catholic, Lucas chose St. Mike’s for its Catholic roots. He was also encouraged by St. Mike’s commitment to inclusivity and welcoming students of all religions and backgrounds.
“When I first came to university, I was nervous about meeting new people and how I was going to fit in. But as I grew as a student, I felt more included and realized all the people around me are really nice and supportive,” he says.
Orientation week was pivotal in making him feel included in the St. Michael’s community. He remembers taking part in the cheer-off among the different University of Toronto colleges. “St. Mike’s was always the loudest, not only because we’re the biggest college, but we’re also the best,” he says.
Wanting to have a role in welcoming new students to St. Michael’s, he served as an orientation leader last year. He wanted to expand on that experience and to lend his marketing talents to this year’s orientation by designing the logo for the week. Using the orientation’s theme of SMC TV, he designed a graphic that will be printed on more than 1400 t-shirts.
Lucas is grateful for the students and staff he’s met on his St. Michael’s journey.
“I’ve found a community that is there for you, cheering you on and helping you succeed,” he says.