The Students Bursting Marist’s Bubble
Marist Burst's first event held on Friday, April 24th. Photo provided by Dr. Melissa Gaeke
One lesson students are taught while in college is to take their passions and use them to create opportunities on campus. This is exactly what Marist student Aidan Parascando ’26 is working toward with his Burst Initiative. Burst is an initiative run under Marist’s Center for Civic Engagement and Learning.
“[It] seeks to ‘burst’ the Marist bubble by fostering friendships between Marist students and local youth,” said Parascando.
The vision of the organization is dual-sided, focusing on having local middle and high school students come to Marist extracurriculars outside of school hours, as well as having Marist students attend local school events that typically have poor attendance.
Parascando is striving to “...show local youth that their passions matter and that everyone belongs within our shared community.” He hopes that, if Burst’s growth is fostered, it will help Marist become a more active part of the overall Poughkeepsie community and encourage connections with underprivileged youth, opening them up to the possibilities of college.
Recently, Burst took the first steps toward making its goal come to life through its first-ever event on April 24. The event took place on Gartland Commons Field and involved members of Marist’s Ultimate Frisbee Club. Around 20 Poughkeepsie Middle School students came to campus for about two hours, where they ran drills, played games and ate snacks.
This first event was a proof of concept for Burst and showed strong interest in the initiative, with around 40 Marist students participating. The hope is that, in the future, Burst will be able to coordinate with other clubs and activities at Marist so the local students involved can participate in different events each time they visit campus.
These events will provide local middle and high school students with a more organic sense of what Marist is like and demystify the college experience.
“Burst creates opportunities for students to become involved with the city of Poughkeepsie in a meaningful way. It allows participants to build relationships with young people and share a love of activities like music, sports, dance and others,” said Dr. Melissa Gaeke, director of Civic Engagement and Leadership.
Right now, the future of the initiative is up in the air, as founder Parascando is graduating this year. However, he and Dr. Gaeke have laid the groundwork for a meaningful program built on the principles of connection and involvement.
As Parascando put it, “An ideal Burst thrives by collaborating with various Marist groups that highlight the diverse opportunities within our school, and these groups in turn benefit from exposure and community service opportunities, while Burst handles the logistical arrangements.”