Student Profile: Cathy Millon
Cathy Millon says she started at Alma as a psychology major, but Catherine Fobes in the Sociology department quickly changed her mind.
“I love sociology because you have to use information from every discipline,” says Millon, a senior Sociology major and Women’s Studies minor. “To collect and analyze data, you have to use psychology, statistics, and life science skills. You have to be knowledgeable in current events and cultural affairs. I love that it’s something I can apply to every aspect of my life.”
Millon attended a peace rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 27, 2007, after President Bush announced the United States would send more troops to Iraq.
“I went with four other amazing women, and we heard celebrities speak such as Kim Gandy of NOW (National Organization of Women) and Eve Ensler of the V-Day Campaign,” she says. “We marched around the Capitol Building and there were so many people that by the time my little group got to the end of the march, people were still leaving the starting point. It was pretty amazing to be linked to so many different kinds of people for peace.”
Kim Gandy addresses the January 2007 Peace Rally crowd.
In June 2007 she was interning at Women’s Aid Services of Gratiot County, working in prevention and education.
In addition, Millon is involved in about 10 other campus organizations, including MacCurdy House (The Women’s Studies campus house) and Student Congress.
“I tend to be a very outgoing person who is always looking to be involved, so I know I would have been a part of organizations at another school,” she says, “But Alma gives me the opportunity to hold leadership positions in all of these organizations and also to link organizations to work together on programming.”
Sarah Chapman, Ruth Nardecchia, Kathy Millon, Becky Peacock, and Kat Johns in front of the Michigan block at the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Her small town upbringing attracted Millon to Alma. The College’s 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio allowed her to get involved and know her professors on a personal level.
The caring atmosphere of the College and its concern for the students also attracted her.
“When students work to make the campus a better one, the whole college tries to work together to make a difference,” she says.
Millon has a variety of goals for herself, including obtaining a master in social work degree and working as a school counselor, as well as earning her cosmetology license and opening a coffee shop.
“I’ve been encouraged numerous times to get out and do something more than sit in a classroom, and I love that about Alma,” she says.
