Emily Thomas joins Saint Michael’s HR Office

Before joining Saint Michael’s College on June 2 as Human Resources & Payroll Assistant, Emily Thomas earned a 2011 psychology degree from the University of Vermont and traveled to far corners of the world.

“I love to travel — in the last few years I’ve been to India, Hawaii, Fiji, Dubai and Costa Rica,” said Thomas, who lives in Colchester with her husband, Christopher Thomas. Most recently she worked at Hickok and Boardman, Inc., in Burlington as account manager in both personal and business insurance.

Besides travel, Thomas loves cooking, gardening, yoga, dance and pottery.  “After we graduated, my husband and I decided we wanted to travel together, so we spent six months overseas living in Hawaii and Fiji, working in organic gardens and Waldorf schools,” she said. Thomas grew up in Manchester, VT, and graduated from Burr & Burton Academy there, while her husband grew up in Derby.

Now Thomas is glad to have landed at Saint Michael’s. “I always gravitated toward working in an educational environment and setting – I appreciate the culture and the people,” she said. “I really connected with the College’s mission statement and just the environment that Saint Michael’s encompasses. It seemed like the perfect fit — one of those ‘the stars aligned’ situations.”

“I hope to bring my enthusiastic and positive perspective to the Saint Michael’s community — a diverse perspective and an open mind that I’ve cultivated from my travel experiences,” she said.

Thomas said she has known co-workers or friends who attended or graduated from Saint Michael’s “and I picked up that there’s really a strong sense of community and giving back to the community — that once you’re part of the Saint Michael’s family, it’s kind of forever. At weddings I’ve been to you could see that even people who had graduated maybe 10 years ago had their community of friends for life. That’s a nice feeling.”

“My brother’s in the Navy and speaks of the camaraderie that’s so important,” she said, “and I sense some of that at Saint Michael’s too.”