Co-Salutatorian
Biology major Marisa Zarchy has had a healthy education at Union.
The Kildeer, Illinois, native was president of the Biology Club, co-president of the Pre-Health Society and an intern at St Clare's hospital.
A Seward Fellow with a double minor in Chemistry and Art, she was also an Admissions ambassador, an orientation advisor and a chem crisis tutor.
She presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and conducted summer research with Prof. Leo Fleishman. She did her senior thesis on “Classifying Temporal Properties of Cone Retinal Photoreceptors in the Lizard Anolis Sagrei Using Electroretinography.”
She immersed herself in Spanish classes, planned activities at Wold houses, volunteered as a Big Sister. For fun, she went on long walks around Schenectady and spent a spring break in Italy.
At Union, she discovered representational drawing; her detailed black-and-white “stipple” drawings were published in the Idol.
Through it all, she had her sight fixed on one goal: dentistry.
“Art was one of the reasons I wanted to go into dentistry, which is very detail-oriented and dexterous. Also, I excel at math and science so I found it to be the perfect
fit,” said Zarchy, the co-salutatorian, along with Fatima Mahmood, of Union's Class of 2006.
Zarchy worked as a dental assistant at 16, and she followed up in college by connecting with Schenectady dentist Barry Loffredo, with whom she traveled to Jamaica in January 2005 as part of his missionary program to set up dental clinics in ill-served regions. “I saw dentistry in the worst conditions imaginable, which really confirmed my career choice. I still loved it and I am anxious to begin,” Zarchy said.
The winner of the Samuel Feuer Prize given to the senior whose primary interest is dentistry and who has maintained the highest scholastic average over four years, Zarchy heads to Harvard School of Dental Medicine in the fall. Eventually, she'd like to specialize in orthodontics.
Among her most vivid Union memories are the close relationships she formed with faculty, including Kathleen LoGiudice of Biology and Jeanette Sargent, an adjunct Classics professor.
“I had classes with both the first term of my freshman year, and we have continued our friendship ever since,” Zarchy said.
The daughter of Dr. Andrew and Roberta Zarchy and twin sister of Elana, Zarchy is a graduate of Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill.
“It's twice the size of Union which is astounding, but that's why I chose this institution and I'm certainly glad I did,” Zarchy said.