As the FUSA Senate Chair took a bite out of his roast beef and Swiss cheese wrap, he giggled as he tried to talk about his life outside of the leadership roles he takes on at campus.
‘I think it’s very funny the perception that people on campus have of me is a very different person than who I really am,’ said 21-year-old Dan Lamendola ’09. ‘It’s hard to know the real me behind the scenes when everyone sees me as just this FUSA senatorwith an intimidating shaved head.’
Most people go through their four years of college just getting their credits in and fulfilling the college party lifebut not Dan Lamendola.
Frank Fioretti ’10, one of Lamendola’s good friends in FUSA and Executive Board, said ‘Dan is a great person, a great FUSA Senate Chair, but an even better friend,’ he said. ‘He offers honest input whenever the situation merits and has the ability to combine his own unique brashness with a twist of wit and humor which usually receives a laugh from the people around him.’
Dan Ferrara, one of Lamendola’s roommates in the campus apartments agrees. ‘He is very good at what he does,’ he said. ‘So many decisions are made at this school with his input and most people wouldn’t have any idea.’
As Senate Chair, Lamendola has helped redefine the role that the senate plays in the University’s decision-making process. Two of his major goals he wanted to accomplish were the improvements of Advising and the Registration process. Although those were his top goals, he had to also focus on other issues, such as study abroad and financial aid. ‘While advising and registration continue to be really important issues, I had to remember that I was responsible for focusing on the Senate as a whole,’ he said.
Lamendola also is in the process of making transportation more efficient for Fairfield and its students. He suggested that instead of an empty Stag Shuttle Bus running around campus all day that they initiate vans driven by students in work study. It takes care of the problem that students, especially sophomores without cars next year, can now get around campus and town when needed. In addition, it takes care of the Fairfield’s green initiative, as well as gives more jobs for work study.
‘Lamendola is unlike most people I know because rather than take credit for things that he accomplishes, he is more proud that the organization is moving in a positive direction and less concerned about the few people who make it,’ said Fioretti.
Since Lamendola displays hard work and dedication, Fioretti said that Lamendola tends to get aggravated when people do not take their positions seriously or create excuses for not doing what they should be doing. ‘He has used the quote, ‘excuses are the nails that built the house of failure,’ said Ferrara.
Besides playing a major role in FUSA, Lamendola is on other committees as well. He is involved in the Student Health Advisory Committee, a.k.a. the ‘SHAC,’ in the Health Center, which is a group of students that discusses issues with student health on campus as well as suggests programs for particular situations. Also, from his freshman year through his junior year, he was the Eucharistic Minister, and he is the only student representative on the Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee (AOD). ‘I like these kinds of positions because I am able to offer the perception of a student and give a different motive so the student voice is heard,’ he said.
Daniel Joseph Lamendola grew up in North Kingstown, Rhode Island as the youngest of eight children (four brothers and three sisters), three of whom are already married. It goes without saying that Lamendola is a pretty big family man; he said that all the noise in the house is ‘fun and would not want it any other way.’
With an Italian, Irish, German and French background, Lamendola said he plans on having a big family of his own someday. ‘I really can’t imagine having anything smaller than that. I have a unique relationship with each one of [my siblings] and we’re all very close. Not to mention, they are almost all on Facebook now, which makes it a lot easier to keep in touch with each of them!’
Lamendola looks up to all his older siblings, and continues to establish his own relationship with each one of them. His parents are also a huge support system in his lifeand vice versa. For fourteen years, Lamendola’s mother has endured Parkinson’s disease, and as of now, it is getting to the point where her disease is visibly evident and impacting her life. A lot of what Lamendola does to help take care of his mom is the simple day-to-day things around the house. ‘It is difficult for her to balance herself carrying things upstairs or downstairs; like laundry or anything that she’s purchased,’ he said. ‘It also takes a lot of time to cut up her food, so before dinner I’ll usually cut it up so that she can enjoy eating with the rest of us.’
Nevertheless, Lamendola strives to keep her strong. Every year for the past thirteen years, the two participate in a walkathon in Central Park, NYC. Lamendola even recruited ten other students from Fairfield one year to also participate, and they took a bus trip. ‘It’s a fun thing to go to. Even though my mother has progressed the slowest in our family, she remains the best person I know,’ he said.
The other parent is not much less important to Lamendola. When asked who has been the most influential person in his life, Lamendola scratched his chin and paused for a moment. He then responded, saying it had to be his father, Richard Lamendola, who happens to work for his father’s (Lamendola’s grandfather) chemical manufacturing company. ‘The way I think and the way I do things almost lines up perfectly with the way he thinks and does things,’ said Lamendola. ‘It is scary to some extentI also have his reflective personality in the way we analyze a situation,’ he said.
Ferrara agrees that Lamendola is an over-analyzer, but nonetheless, he has strong points. ‘[Dan and I] talk a lot about teachers, about Fairfield, about politics,’ he said. ‘If you want to get him talking, just bring up anything liberal or trade unions and he’ll give you an hour lecture about why he disagrees and he’ll make a very good argument.’
Ferrara proceeded to explain how Dan’s moral opinions on certain issues are very important to him, and how he has no problem addressing them. ‘Dan’s the type of kid that if a teacher wants to hear their own opinion regurgitated on a test and Dan doesn’t agree, he’ll write what he thinks, knowing he’s going to get a lower grade,’ he said. ‘He’ll be the first person to bring a well thought-out and structured argument to the professor explaining why his answer is correct.’
Friends go to Lamendola to ask him for his advice and opinions on things because of his unique abilities to think contemplatively, just like his father. Kayla Crouch, who has been one of Lamendola’s best friends from North Kingstown since the first grade, said that he is known for being clever and mastering how to challenge and debate with his teachers all through elementary school.
But even if Lamendola disagrees with something or someone, he will always listen first and then give his input, which is why his leadership roles fit him well. ‘Him and I have very different viewpoints when it comes to politics; he’s conservative and I am a progressive liberal, but it has never hindered our relationship,’ she said. ‘We can go for a while without talking, but easily pick up where we left off the next time. That’s just the kind of guy he is.’
Lamendola also gets his rather unique sense of humor from his father, and he said it is what is distinctly similar about them.’ ‘He is always quick with a joke that hits really close to home,’ said Fioretti. Lamendola smiled as he described his method of amusement as being ‘sarcastic, while very straight forward.’ He continued to say, ‘If someone was to describe me, and they did not say that I’m sarcastic, they would not get the full picture of me.’
With a big family – his father is one of nine – holidays are loud events’centered on food.” Over the years, Dan has developed a knack and enjoyment for cooking. In fact, he even started a cook book with original recipes that he’s secretly taken note of from his family, relatives and friends. He has a ton of cousins and family to cook for, which he recently did for Christmas Eve for nearly 75 people! The only time he really spends money on food is when he wants to cook. ‘I’m good with saving my money, so when I wanna spend it, I get nice food from the store,’ he said. His food creations range from appetizers to cool breakfast recipes to original fish dishes. ‘My goal is to cook with my family to learn the recipes, so that I not only have the recipe, but have the story behind each one to be creative with it,’ he said.
Creativity does not stop there for Lamendola. He emphasized the relaxation and stress relief he feels when he has a paintbrush in his hand or when he just sketches a drawing. ‘Very few people know about my ‘hidden talents’ as an artist,’ he said, with a chuckle. He said that his favorite class that he has ever taken at Fairfield is the Scene Painting class. ‘No one ever thinks of me as the artistic type, but if I ever needed to make a poster or create things for FUSA or something, I would really look forward to it,’ he said.
Along with the political and artistic side, Lamendola is also athletic. . Going into 8th grade, Lamendola played soccer, lacrosse and baseball. When he attended a male catholic school, Bishop Hendricken High School, he was in cross country. Nowadays, he still enjoys running, but said that he refuses to go to the gym and run on the treadmills. ‘I get antsy if I go to the gym; I’m more of an outdoors person. Over the summer, I do a lot of landscaping, and I snow plow in the winter,’ he said.
If that wasn’t enough, Lamendola got even more on his list of accomplishments. He is a Biology Major with a Religious Studies Minor. After he graduates from Fairfield, Lamendola plants to get his MBA at Bryant University. For the long term, he wants to go to medical school because he is interested in eventually becoming a neurologist. ‘His mother told me he decided to be a brain surgeon after asking her to pull over next to some roadkill so he could, ‘see the guts,” Crouch added.
However, Lamendola is in no rush to attend medical school because he wants to keep his options open. ‘I am certain he will make a difference in the medical world because he is one of the most hardworking and determined people I know,’ said Crouch. ‘Once anyone spends some time to know Dan, they realize he is a unique, intelligent and confident person. I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a household name one day for curing a disease or something equally extraordinary.’
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