My name is Randy Martinez. I'm a biology student, and this is my sophomore year.

I grew up in Manhattan, in New York City. It was definitely an interesting transition. My first few days I'm talking to my mom and I'm explaining to her there's rabbits and deer outside my window. She's like, "stay-- stay where you are!" [laughs]

I think the most exciting part about being a Paul Smith's student-- having access to what we have here on campus and all the amenities that it brings, having friends in the culinary program who can make you pies and make you cakes. But also, we have the VIC, which is this 3,000 acres of groomed and wooded trails that you can go out and explore and then in the winter, you can ski on for free and have access to it.

My choice in Paul Smith's for biology was a very unique one, looking at the human body as this whole ecosystem and how it sustains itself, and it maintains itself the same way that the park and the lakes do here.

To be a Smitty is kind of something that is indescribable. It's really an experience. I was doing this big hike to raise awareness for climate change. And I just went around, and I was like, "hey, guys, you have to go on this hike, and it's at 3:00 AM, so I understand if you don't want to join me." And a bunch of people were like, "absolutely!"

And we're hiking up this mountain, you know, three miles up, and as soon as we get to the top, all I hear is a bunch of other Smittys yelling down to us. And to think that anywhere in the Adirondacks that you go up for a hike you're going to bump into someone you know speaks to what being a Smitty is like.