Student Profiles

Scholarship Helps Student Find His Way

“The SBS Opportunity Scholarship really helped me out last semester,” says Aaron Manier ’08 (psychology). “Money was tight, as I wasn’t able to work as much as I might have due to extracurricular and personal activities. The scholarship ensured my financial survival.”

Last year the endowment for the SBS Opportunity Fund, which is funded by alumni gifts, allowed Dean Janet Rifkin to grant 10 Opportunity Scholarships. She intends to award more in the future. “The need is enormous,” she says. “That’s why we must grow the endowment so that more students who have achieved outstanding academic success can benefit.” Besides increasing the number of awards presented each spring, Rifkin is also determined to increase the amount of the award—currently averaging $1000. If you are interested in contributing to the fund, please contact Saige Reisler, director of development (413.545.7187) or give online now.

Manier is a wonderful example of the type of student who is deserving of an Opportunity Scholarship. He volunteers at the Amherst Survival Center, and is a recipient of the Class of 1941 Humanitarian Award as well as the Citizen Scholars Program Scholarship through Commonwealth College. His academics are strong, resulting in membership in Phi Beta Kappa and the Psi Chi National Honor Society in psychology.

“I often find that students become so absorbed in notions of career, of future plans, or of financial stability, that the educational aspect of the academic experience becomes secondary to what is going to be accomplished after [graduation],” Manier says. “I have tried to keep an open mind and an open heart, allowing my educational and personal experiences to shape me, rather than the other way around. If you come to UMass Amherst with preconceived notions about who you are and what you want to become, then you just put a box over your head that keeps you from truly experiencing the wealth of opportunities on this campus.” 

Before UMass Amherst, Manier attended Emerson College with the intent of becoming a professional actor. “For two years I worked on my acting chops, but due to financial reasons I had to leave. I worked for a couple of years, did significant personal inquiry and contemplation, ultimately deciding that acting was far too egotistic of a profession to pursue. While I love art, I don’t like the field, so when I decided to return to school, I chose UMass Amherst because it has tremendous opportunities and because I could afford to pay for it on my own.”

Manier says his initial attraction to psychology was based on his stereotype of the field as a helping profession. “I soon discovered,” he says, “that it is a vast scientific field. My educational experience through the psychology department, as well as my work in other sciences, has really developed my capacity for scientific inquiry. While I had previously explored artistic endeavors, UMass Amherst has helped me round out my overall being to the balance integration of art and science. This balance, I think, will help me move forward in clinical psychology by allowing me to integrate appropriate artistic and practical applications with the science of human behavior in a helping capacity.”

“If you apply yourself at UMass Amherst,” says Manier, “there is plenty to do, see and learn, but it’s not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. There’s boatloads of bureaucratic red tape and forms and signatures and numbers, but beneath all of that is a wealth of opportunity. The faculty is dedicated to learning; the Five-College program is a tremendous resource as it gives students access to five campuses of professors. The area is beautiful, and the culture is incredibly progressive which really supports the process of learning and development.”

Manier is well prepared for entry into “this challenging and hopefully rewarding field,” he thinks. “My chosen field is incredibly competitive, and I hope it will support my goals of continuing to develop my own awareness, appreciation and compassion for life. I’d like to attend graduate school, too, but life is so much bigger that just the next A.”  

March 6, 2008