It’s testimony to the value of a liberal arts education that Gregg Fedchak ’79 majored in government and has made a career as a fiction writer and artist. The Boonville, N.Y., resident identifies the high points of his career as the publication of three novels (The Broccoli Eaters, Love among the Tomatoes and Bad Apple Jack) by Windstorm Creative, along with his solo art show in the Cogar Gallery at Herkimer County Community College in spring 2007 and his twice having had a painting selected for the International Juried Art Exhibition at the Frederic Remington Museum in Ogdensburg, N.Y.

Going to college in the town where he grew up, Fedchak was a stellar student at St. Lawrence. He was a Faculty Scholar, was elected to several academic honoraries, and was active in the Community Development Corps, which set up and ran community service projects. “As for memberships at St. Lawrence,” he says, “I took my induction into Phi Beta Kappa, the national academic honor society, very seriously.” His favorite memories of St. Lawrence revolve around his professors, such as Hinchman in government, Kahn in Art and Art History, Carlisle in history, and O'Connor and Young in religious studies. His other fond memory is “the hockey games, of course!

“The liberal arts education that I received at SLU was essential in giving me the broad-based tools necessary to critique society and the way we live today,” he says, alluding to his artistic expression. “There's no better way to get the vision necessary to see things clearly - or at least more clearly - than with a serious liberal arts background.”