World-Class University

Alejandro Figueroa ’04, Honduras
Archaeologist

By Elizabeth Johnston Hubbard ’03

From the moment he arrived on campus, Alejandro Figueroa ’04 says, he was amazed at how much there was to do at St. Law-rence. Originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Figueroa moved to the United States in 2000 to attend American University in Washington, D.C. In fall 2001, he transferred to

St. Lawrence for his sophomore year—and never looked back. He joined other international students and lived in the International House, or “I-House,” for three years. He was one of two student coordinators in the house, planning activities that involved not only international students and I-House residents but the entire campus and community as well.

“I think that’s where most people err in their perception of the I-House and international students,” he says. “We may live together, but we don’t isolate ourselves. It’s I-House’s task not only to bring together the international community on campus, but also to integrate that community into the whole that is St. Lawrence University.”

From intramural soccer and broomball, to the Anthropology Club and Amnesty International, Figueroa says his involvement on campus “encompassed all the areas of interest covered by St. Lawrence’s activities: sports and recreation, academia, and social and political involvement.”

He credits his post-graduate success not only to his involvement in campus activities, but also to his campus jobs, which he says “involved more than just dull labor and tedious tasks.” For three years he was an intern at the Language Resource Center and the Webmaster for anthropology and Caribbean and Latin American studies. “These positions,” he says, “brought me closer to both students and faculty. At the Language Resource Center I addressed technology problems and assisted in faculty research projects, such as the creation of a DVD video documentary on contemporary Spanish social poetry and the creation of an online publication containing student papers about the Caribbean and Latin America, and while working as a Webmaster I assisted in promoting the programs on campus.”

Following graduation as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, Figueroa went home to Honduras, where he is an assistant archaeologist for the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History. In this position, he says he finds himself “being helpful not only in conducting anthropological and archaeological research,” which he learned in his courses as an anthropology major at St. Lawrence, but also in “planning and coordinating nationwide cultural activities and museum exhibitions, creating and designing publications and Web sites that promote and divulge the work and research we do, and simply helping people understand their way around technology and machines.” He is a firm believer that people learn outside the classroom as well as in, and he says it was by following this belief that “I immersed myself in SLU’s extracurricular world, interacting with fellow international students, American students, and members of the faculty and staff, who each added their own flavor and perspective to my unforgettable experience at St. Lawrence.”

An intern in the University communications office in her senior year, Liz Hubbard is assistant director of donor relations and development research at her alma mater.