Brice Paey Profile

Progress Report

I've decided that my story will be on Brice Paey, a senior thrower for the UNH men's track & field team. Paey enjoyed a dominant winter season for the indoor track & field team, highlighted by his first place finish in shot put at the New England championships. The team has already begun competing outdoors, with two home meets in early April.

My initial research on Paey began with this article from The New Hampshire (the online archive sucks, so I had to link to the PDF version on Issuu).

http://issuu.com/tnhstaff/docs/issue31_2012
(page 19)

Key facts I learned from the article:
- Paey is from nearby Milton, N.H. and went to St. Thomas Aquinas High School, giving his story a local aspect.

- He didn't start taking shot put seriously until his senior year of high school.

- Paey owns the UNH shot put record, with a throw of 18.29 meters. According to UNHWildcats.com, the record came during the 2009-10 season at the Dartmouth Indoor Classic.

- He redshirted the 2010-11 season due to academic field trips.

- He wants to continue throwing past college, which begs the question, where else can a thrower compete, besides the Olympics, past college?

The other source from that article is the UNH track & field coach Jim Boulanger, who is an obvious choice for a source. I have interviews with both Paey and Boulanger later this week.

UNHWildcats.com also has a profile page for each athlete that competes at UNH. Paey's contains plenty of useful information, including past performances, records and even a little personal bio.

http://unhwildcats.com/sports/mtrack/2011-12/bios/paey%20brice%20yurj

Other sources could include Paey's teammates, former coaches and even his parents, who I'm sure are at most of his home meets. The interview with Paey later this week should yield some secondary sources.

How to Joggle

Peter T. Paul Construction

 

 

Tuesday: The Whole Shebang

Wednesday: Drive slow

Thursday: Don't get too close

Friday: Working on the top floor

Saturday: Stoke's still bigger

Sunday: Cautious overkill

Monday: Closing time

Work study job gives select students chance to work with president Huddleston

For many students at the University of New Hampshire, president Mark Huddleston may be an unrecognizable figure, as most do not have the chance to interact with Huddleston over the course of their time at UNH. But for sophomore Lauren Myette, Huddleston is more than just an administrative figurehead. 

Myette is a work study office assistant in the president's office, where she sees Huddleston whenever he is not away on business. She is responsible for a number of tasks, including working with the the UNH foundation board, which deals with private support for the university. 

Myette started working at the office, located on the second floor of Thompson Hall, this past September. 

"I had a friend who was a senior last year who was looking for a sophomore this year to replace her for this year to work for the next two years of being at UNH and I took the job," Myette said. 

As one of just five student office assistants, Myette has the unique opportunity of working with Huddleston on a near-day-to-day basis. In her second semester of working at the office, Myette has learned Huddleston is more personable than people may think. 

"Once you get to know him, he's very sweet," Myette said. "The office is a lot like a family, so everyone is very close and he always is very kind and generous and we even got a gift from him for Christmas, all the girls that work there. So he goes out of his way to make sure that we feel comfortable working there." 

While Huddleston is often away to attend conferences, alumni events and the like, Myette says that he is very friendly when he's in the office. 

"He travels a lot, but when he is in there, he's always interacting with everyone who works in the office," Myette said. 

One fact many people may not know about Huddleston is that the president is actually a pilot in his spare time. He even took two of the office employees in a plane ride to Nantucket recently. 

As for Myette, the job in the president's office has given her valuable experience in a professional setting. 

"It makes me a more diverse worker, because I had never worked in an office setting before, so that's definitely broadened my horizons," she said. "I've never had a position where I would work with someone that has such high power. It's not like I'm just working for a professor or a dean's office. … I'm basically representing him and his office, so if I look bad or I make a mistake on his part, that makes him look bad." 

Myette says that many people do not understand what the president's office actually does, as many students and parents call with inquiries about housing academic services, class registration and admissions. 

"I think they underestimate what we do," Myette said "It's actually just being in charge of the people that have donated so much money. For example, with the Peter T. Paul school, we've had to stay in contact with him since he's committed to the new school and we have to stay and have relationships with the foundation board that keeps this school running and keep giving us donations. Because if we're not appreciative of them, then they won't help us at all. I think people don't understand that. When they leave UNH and they have a successful business like [Paul], they want to give back to the university that made them like that. So it's important that we stay in close relationships with them." 

'What A Wonderful World' Soundslide Project