Saint Martin’s University

I took classes here in the mid 90’s. I enjoyed it immensely. My major was Psychology. It was my plan to graduate with a Bachelor’s and work in the field.
Plans change when family dynamics shift. My special needs child needed me at home. So, I put my education on hold and stayed at home with my child.
Children grow up then what? Yes, then what? I had an empty nest. I moved around some going to classes here and there.
All I have left to get that Bachelor’s degree is one class. Just one class… HOWEVER, even though I live just down the street from St. Martian’s, probably the closest I’ve ever lived to the school. I now in all reality am chasing a dream if I go back to school.
Chasing a dream? Yes because now I’m about old enough for retirement! It’s a great dream but still, I wish it had come to fruition all those student loans and many years ago!

It’s 2014 and Saint Martins is hosting Olympia High School Class of 2014 Graduation and we can’t coordinate air conditioning after hours. What a disgrace and a terrible venue for graduation. Yelm High School pulls off the Tacoma Dome but the Capital City of Washington State High School gets stuffed in a basketball gymnasium.

History
Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash., is one of 14 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s was established in 1895 by monks of the Roman Catholic Order of Saint Benedict.
Bearing the name of Saint Martin’s College from its earliest history until it became Saint Martin’s University in 2005, Saint Martin’s patron saint is Saint Martin of Tours, a fourth century European missionary and later, Bishop of France. The university and that of its founder, Saint Martin’s Abbey, sits on 300 acres of peaceful woodlands, meadows and meandering trails. The site was selected in 1893 by Abbot Bernard Locnikar, O.S.B., of Minnesota’s Saint John’s Abbey, Saint Martin’s Abbey’s mother house. At an April 21, 1894, public auction, the parcel that would become the Saint Martin’s campus was purchased for $ 6,920.
I liked it here. Came to see celebrity Chef Symon. So much great food. My phone died so I didn’t get any cool pics! Buuut, they had a pre funk show for those with the $$$ for it. Heard they had a martini bar with cheese boards and pickled veggies.
We had a 5 course meal.
1. Pickle Board. Pickled Grapes, Yellow Beans, Beets, Cauliflower with Feta Cheese mixed with Rye Seeds and Voltaire Cheese.
Bread Board with two kinds of Bread.
2. Salad. two kinds. A Mixed Beet salad with Water Crest, Marsala Golden Raisins and a Shaved fennel Salad.
3. Spaghetti in a Bacon Tomato sauce
4. Braised Lamb Shank and Roasted Cauliflower.
5. Dessert Board. Chocolate Truffles. Sesame Cookies and Baklava.
and to end the night, as if all the Champagne and Wine were not enough…
a Shot of Ouzo.
Each course was demonstrated by Chef Symon and they did an auction also that was way out of my league. Like the $ 11,000.00 some one spent to play a round of golf with Chef Symon. very cool but yikes!

St Martin’s University… Nope. Doesn’t roll off the tongue as St Martin’s College does, that was the name of it when I attended and graduated from there. I had a lot of good professors and they took an interest in each of their students. A lot of good programs there too. It had a really good nursing degree program, but as I understand it, the program doesn’t exist anymore. I guess folks weren’t as interested in the medical field. The engineering department seems to produce more than its fair share of students.
The school requires a religion course-​I recommend taking the comparative religious studies, if it’s still offered. It’s an upper division course study and provides a student with more introspect into his/​her own beliefs as well as others. And the best part of that class: it’s not taught by a priest or brother. That’s not to say that classes taught by priests or brothers don’t make it worthwhile, but they tend to have a one sided aspect to teaching more toward the bible. I’m not catholic or christian and the school is open to all. They have to be, since they recive federal funding.
I was not a traditional student (straight from high school), but a working parent. It’s hard to schedule all your classes when working. Summer courses were offered at the military bases in accelerated form and that helped out a lot. If you want to graduate sooner than the traditional 4 years, I recommend taking courses during the summer too – if you can afford it. Yes, it’s pretty expensive and doing a work study might help defray some costs, but try to shoot for those scholarships or apply for grants early on.
The career center is a great resource in helping to find jobs for students after graduating. Sister Mary was a big help for me in editing my resume.
In all, I had a good experience there and would recommend this school.

Josefina Pilon was my transfer student advisor when I got my BA here, class of 2004, and she is AMAZING! I gave her honest, accurate information and she did the same in return. SMU was SMC at that time and has grown significantly. Yes, there has been some growing pains along the way, but I can tell you that the professors here are the best of the best. You will not find a more caring group of professionals at any other school. The staff here also work very hard to make sure that the students are taken care of… students do not see that, but why would they? :)
I am back completing my Graduate Degree… I would not be doing that if it was not worth 5 stars. Yes… It is hard… very hard. The lessons here often times are not found in the books either. And as for the Dean of Student Services, I found her very helpful this summer when I needed her. Thank you Melanie.

Sigh. I cannot believe I’m giving SMU 5 stars. Was my experience there good? Egh, not so much. Was it expensive? Oh hells yeah. BUT… did it provide me with an adequate education to get me through life, move me to DC and get me a good government job? You bet your ass it did.
I barely passed at this institution. I cannot fault the school itself. NO ONE CAN. Anyone who has crappy grades has only themselves to blame (*cough, other reviewers, *cough). When I was attending class (proud graduate of 2005), I thought «this place sucks ass. no one knows anything!» Well, there’s a reason behind that. It’s a small school with minimal funding. But looking back, that school did a lot for me. They put up with a lot of my shit. Shit you think is cool when you’re a drunken 20 year old in the dorms.
This place used to/​is run by Dean Melanie Richardson. Gag. Remember that asshole dean from the movie OLD SCHOOL? Well this is the male version of her. This lady was a trip. She totally ruined any and all experiences for me here. So yes, the uppers here blow balls but if you behave well, you won’t have to deal with them. If you don’t get drunk and go back to your dorms and smoke out with some Rangers from Ft Lewis you won’t have to deal with the administration. But to be fair, the admins here are totally self righteous and make up rules as they go along.
The highlight of SMU are their satellite campuses at McCord AFB and Ft Lewis. It’s like 97.4% cheaper than the main campus and you can work full time while you go to classes in the evening. I learned more there than I did on the main campus. I mean, I paid for the entire semester what I paid for one class. Amazing. So my advice is take classes there if you can.
Bottom line is college is what you make of it. If you don’t make the most of it, if you won’t get anything out of it. If you break all the rules, expect to be treated like a high schooler. And remember: unless you graduate from one of the IVY LEAGUE schools, a piece of paper saying you have a Bachelor’s degree will suffice in today’s world of Phoenix and online graduates. Trust me. What’s pathetic is so many people I went to college with work as baristas. I mean, do you really blame SMU for this? You went to school for 4 years and make coffee? Paid up the ass and do this? (And don’t blame the economy. You were a barista when the NASDAQ was buttah) Tisk tisk. You got a better GPA than I did and I’m rolling out here in the nation’s capitol.
For the current class: Just do things right. Don’t fuck up. Take personal responsibility. And be nice to the munks. Perfect equation for a good college edumacation.

I went to school here for two years while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I studied business here, and I really enjoyed it. The business department is full of some really neat personalities, and a lot of opportunities to get into both corporate work, private consulting (e.g. accounting), and non-​profit work. The professors are really good advisers for their students and always go the extra mile for the student that does the same.
If you’re into religious studies (and this is a Catholic school), this is an excellent place to be. Even as a Catholic school, the varying perspectives are fascinating, and the Campus Ministry group is a really kind, caring, and lovable group of people. I think this summer Father Benedict returns from his adventures and he’s a really fascinating guy to talk to. Both he and Susan in Campus Ministry are wonderful people. They are really non-​confrontational and definitely not pushy about converting people (I know this is always an issue with non-​Catholics going to a Catholic school – It was an issue for me), but always supportive with the spiritual seeker, no matter their spiritual path.
I also continually hear good things about the education program there, but my experiences with it were less than to be desired. My interest in education was primarily coming from the study of the non-​profit sector that I was doing while studying business. I wanted a good background in education (both the state of education today, and in basic teaching principles), but the professor seemed to think that this wasn’t a good reason to take the general course on education (basically it’s a «this is what K-​12 education in WA is like today from all these different aspects» and included a good deal of organizational and legal information that was pertinent to my interests) and more or less booted me out of the intro class I was taking.
One of the only marks against the school is how often I heard complaints against my other alma mater, Evergreen, which is about a 10 minute drive south on the freeway. While at Evergreen I never once heard anything about Saint Martin’s, but once at St. Martin’s I was constantly hearing about Evergreen and all it’s failings and faults from other students. I suspect that as the school continues on this growth spurt, the student body may gain some of the confidence that is lacking, causing the constant griping about my alma mater to stop, which for all it’s faults, isn’t half as bad as I would have thought from what I heard from my SMU classmates.