Throughout the academic year, Melinda Giampietro, Options Founder/President, will share some of her favourite things in her monthly Founder’s Feature. Melinda loves reading, data, research, and following academic and adolescent news around the world.
March Author of the Month
I think I have said this in Founders before: I love Maine. From The Cider House Rules to Stephen King novels to Orphan Train, I read any book set in Maine. I especially love Camden. I have visited all the major universities in the state and dream about one day eating at The Lost Kitchen. So, it was an absolute treat to read the latest Elizabeth Strout novel: Tell Me Everything. Strout won the Pulitzer Prize for Olive Kitteridge, and her new book weaves together characters from her many other stories. For a good overview of how her novels fit together, read this Guardian article. I recommend them all!
March Cookbook of the Month
Some months I feature cookbooks that are practical and that easily fit into everyday cooking and baking. This month’s book is definitely not one of those, but more for a weekend when you have extra time on your hands. Milk Street Bakes pushed my boundaries as a baker. I enjoyed the beautiful photographs and step-by-step instructions to make it seem a little less intimidating. This was a library book for me, and I wouldn’t purchase it as I don’t think I would use it consistently enough. But, it was fun experimenting nonetheless, and there is an excellent assortment of recipes from around the world (including Venetian cornmeal and currant cookies, Australian oat-coconut cookies, and Greek apple cake with honey and cinnamon). I think biscotti might be one of my five favourite foods (clams are clearly number one!), and there are two great biscotti recipes in here: Catalan biscotti (they are more like cookies) and Chocolate biscotti with pistachios, almonds and dried cherries. Perfect additions to the morning coffee!
March Hint of the Month
In all months of the year, I am a non-sleeper and a reader past my bedtime. But, I especially struggle when daylight savings hits and the mornings are much lighter. I was delighted when two of my favourite people bought me sleep masks for Christmas. Thanks, TOK and DLG! I highly recommend them to other non-sleepers. One is the blissy Silk Sleep Mask and the other is the Manta SILK Sleep Mask. The blissy mask is perfect for travel and the Manta is a blackout mask and comes with ear plugs, too!
March Event of the Month
At the end of February, we took a consultant team field trip! We attended The Forum’s Pitch Semi-Final. What an inspiring event! Before the event started, we talked with the showcase entrepreneurs to learn about their products. All had been connected in some way to The Forum through its different programming. During the pitches, we learned about everything from energy drinks to software for dairy farmers to biomedical innovations to mushroom leather. While it was an event highlighting entrepreneurs, it was interesting to see how many of the founders had engineering backgrounds. I can’t wait to cheer on the three finalists at The Odlum Brown Forum Pitch Finale event in April. Join me there!
March Sport Feature of the Month
This month’s Founders is a sporty edition. There are two things I found really interesting about the Super Bowl. One is the whole Kendrick Lamar and Drake situation. I enjoyed “The Story of ‘Not Like Us’” podcast episode about their feud and its place in music history. I appreciate Joe Coscarelli as a musicologist, and I always learn something new from his takes on music’s place in culture. I also didn’t know that Kendrick won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. I asked some students about this whole saga, and they had some interesting opinions. A-minor!
And hands-down the best Super Bowl commercial was the Nike “You Can’t Win, So Win” commercial. As regular readers know, I love Caitlin Clark. I immediately bought the Nike t-shirt while watching the game. It made me think about the double standard for female athletes and how they face a level of expectation and criticism that their professional male counterparts don’t face. It seems they can never win. So flex!
Finally, I am celebrating another Founder’s friend, Mikaela Shiffrin, in her 100th World Cup win! Put her name in Google and see the fun skiing confetti.
March Discussion of the Month
There is so much going on in NCAA college sports with rule, policy, and court-ordered changes. Since we have many sport families at Options, I thought I would summarize some of these that impact our students. I tried to pick a variety of sources and stakeholder views. It is truly the Wild West in sport recruitment right now.
This first article discusses a big change for our hockey families. NCAA has approved CHL players to play in the NCAA.
This article discusses the importance of general managers for college teams and their role in navigating a new chapter in college sports. Here is an article explaining these changes, “in the 2025-2026 season, as colleges will, for the first time, be allowed to compensate their athletes directly.” Its title “The Death of the Walk-On Athlete” is telling and foreboding.
If you really want to go deep, you can read about changes in transfer rules and the transfer portal in this article, which is making it harder for first-year recruits.
And finally, with everything going on in sports, this article makes an argument for sports as an academic major. It’s a great read!
To read more Founder’s Features, check them out under the Options News category.
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