Teacher preparation students often have busy schedules. In addition to seminars, coursework, and study groups, they must make time for classroom placement experiences in local schools, a necessary and proven way to prepare Syracuse University School of Education graduates to succeed in their own classrooms.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to fit time for wellness and other activities into that schedule, but that’s exactly what Madalyn Julianna (“M.J.”) Paige ’28 strives to do. The SOE sophomore is taking advantage of some of the more than 300 extracurricular clubs and organizations Syracuse University has to offer—including the Girl Gains Lifting Club—and encourages her peers to do the same.
Getting Experience
Initially, the Shelton, CT, resident did not plan to go to Syracuse. After all, it was the college Paige’s older sister—S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumna Kaitlyn ’25—had chosen, so maybe younger sister should look elsewhere. But then she discovered the SOE’s newly revised Inclusive Childhood Education bachelor’s degree program.
“I love this program and the way it’s structured,” explains Paige, who joined the Education HIVE living-learning community in her freshman year. “I’m obsessed with getting experience in schools so early on.” Paige is referring to one of the hallmarks of SOE’s teacher preparation programs: students jumpstart their professional careers with five semesters of field placements, starting in their very first semester.
Paige, therefore, already has her first in-school experience under her belt. The Book Buddies program embeds freshman teachers-in-training in Syracuse schools to work with young students who need an extra boost with reading and literacy. “I loved it,” says Paige, adding that the first grader and third grader she read with were “adorable.” Paige starts her first in-classroom placement in spring 2026: “I’m really looking forward to it!”
In addition to her major, Paige is taking a minor in Communication Sciences and Disorders through the College of Arts and Sciences, with the intention of becoming a special education teacher, inspired by helping her younger brother, who has a learning disability.
Group Leader
Paige agrees that a full academic schedule like hers can be an impediment to health and fitness, looking back on her freshman schedule as an example: “My first semester Tuesdays were back-to-back classes, four of them, and then I had Book Buddies off campus. I had no time for lunch and only about 10 minutes between classes. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and hungry.”
“[Girl Gains] is a community, something to look forward to, and it makes me feel more comfortable in the gym.”
But, importantly, she managed to get to the gym every other day.
Fitness has long been a focus for Paige. She lifted weights in high school and was the captain of the women’s bowling team. Interest in lifting waned for a little while, she admits, but that was until she contemplated what it would take to walk to and from class with a heavy backpack: “All summer before college, I was working out to make sure I could walk across campus—on a treadmill with a backpack on!”
Now with easy access to the University’s gyms and weight rooms—in the Barnes Center at the Arch and in her current dorm, Ernie Davis Hall—Paige got back into lifting. Today, she is the secretary of the University chapter of Girl Gains, an international organization founded to inspire more women to the gym, as well as a lifting group leader.
Paige and her lifting partners meet on Fridays, and she guides them through specific workouts that target different muscle groups, while giving pointers on form.
More Comfortable
Being part of Girl Gains helps Paige stay consistent, she says, adding that keeping fit is only one of the club’s benefits: “It’s a community, something to look forward to, and it makes me feel more comfortable in the gym.
“Do everything, try everything, but make time for yourself and test your limits.”
“This club is about making it OK for women to take up space in a gym,” Paige continues. “It helps us meet new people. The women in the club are from all over the country; they range from freshmen to seniors; and they are taking different majors, like interior design, international relations, and psychology …”
And that’s where we could end our story—except Girl Gains is just one of six activities Paige fits into her calendar! She was concerned that she may have left something out, but we think we have the rest of her activities listed below.
“I was just like this in high school!” observes Paige of her full plate of extracurriculars. “Do everything, try everything,” is her advice to other students, but with a caveat: “Make time for yourself and test your limits. I’m someone who needs to stay busy, but not everyone is the same. You should acknowledge that and learn to understand yourself and other people.”
“That’s what college is all about,” she adds.
M.J.’s Busy Schedule
Aside from Girls Gains Lifting Club meetings, here’s what else fills the pages of M.J. Paige’s organizer:
- Alpha Phi Omega: Syracuse is home to the Phi Chapter of this co-educational national service fraternity. In fall 2025 Paige and her brothers took part in ZooBoo, helping the local Rosamond Gifford Zoo with its family Halloween event. They also will assist the zoo’s 2025 Holiday Nights event.
- First Year Players: This theater organization gives first year and transfer students a chance to perform or be a member of the crew or pit of an annual spring musical produced by upperclassmen. Auditions for the musical version of Mean Girls start early in the spring 2026 semester.
- Kappa Delta Pi: SOE hosts the student-led Alpha Iota Delta chapter of KDP, the international honor society in education that supports educators throughout their teaching careers. KDP members get together regularly for meetings, social events, and donation drives. Check them out @kdp_su.
- Peer Advisor: SOE peer advisors are sophomores through seniors who serve as a resource for incoming first-year students, beginning in the summer before arriving on campus and lasting throughout the first year.
- University 100 Ambassador Group: U100 is a select group of student ambassadors chosen to represent the University to prospective and admitted students, their families, members of the Board of Trustees, alumni, and visiting dignitaries.
Learn more about the School of Education’s Inclusive Childhood Education bachelor’s degree program, or contact Heather Macknik, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment at hmmackni@syr.edu or 315.443.4269.