Enjoying Marvelous Mondays? Thank Samantha Louis, MSCP ’25.
Samantha Louis, MSCP ’25, stands outside Mellon Center. Louis is the graduate assistant for Chatham University’s Office of Student Engagement. (Mick Stinelli)
If you’ve recently enjoyed Marvelous Mondays, the weekly activity and hangout session often held in the Carriage House lounge, you have Samantha Louis, MSCP ’25, to thank.
That’s because Louis is the graduate assistant in the Office of Student Engagement, the entity that oversees student groups and campus events, among other things.
One of her main responsibilities is programming Marvelous Mondays, bringing in ideas like crafting friendship bracelets, petting therapy dogs, and eating yummy snacks.
“I always get nervous that people aren’t going to show up for events,” Louis said during an interview in Carriage House in January.
“When the event actually goes on, and I see there’s a crowd of people out there, and people are enjoying the event and seeing how much fun this is— that really touches my heart.”
In addition to planning Marvelous Mondays, she posts on the Student Engagement Instagram page, writes the Screaming Squirrel newsletter, and manages the front desk attendants at the Carriage House.
Students smile during a plant sale in the Carriage House in March 2023. The event was part of last year’s Marvelous Mondays programming. (Kyle Ferreira ’24)
Louis took the job with Student Engagement after deciding to come to Chatham University to pursue a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology degree. She applied to most of the graduate assistantships that were open at the time.
“I wanted to get a graduate assistantship mostly because it helps out with money,” she said. The tuition reduction and stipend that came with the position have allowed Louis to pursue a masters degree without taking out loans, she said. “A lot of schools don’t offer graduate assistantships as good as Chatham does.”
Another benefit: working at Chatham allows her to be on campus all day, rather than traveling constantly between a job and classes.
It’s also helped her meet and socialize with new people at the University, something she said could be difficult for some graduate students to do outside of their individual programs. But she’s made plenty of good connections with the people in her psychology classes, too.
“Every student that’s in my program is so welcoming, and they genuinely are nice human beings,” she said. “They’re all very intelligent, and the professors are the same exact way. They want you to do well.”
Louis said she sees the position as a way to promote self-care activities, which are a passion for the second-semester graduate student as she plans to go into vocational counseling for colleges once she graduates.
“I understand how stressful a semester can be. I mean, I just graduated from undergrad this past May,” she said. “And I understand how much [more] difficult it can be if you don’t take care of yourself. I try to make Marvelous Mondays a space for people to come in and relax their minds, to do some sort of activity that’s not necessarily mentally taxing.”
If you have questions for the Office of Student Engagement or have an idea for Marvelous Mondays, email studentengagement@chatham.edu. Find information about upcoming events on my.chatham.edu.