Profile – Isabella “Izzy” Risitano ’25

Where’s Izzy? On her most exciting trip yet, post-graduation life as a December 2024 graduate. Izzy Risitano from Litchfield, New Hampshire majored in business administration and minored in data science and environmental studies.  During her time at St. Mike’s, she earned a professional endorsement credential from the Adventure Sports Center. Izzy is a passionate skier, backpacker, and hiker who shares her endurance sport adventures and accomplishments on her blog, Where is Izzy?, using it as a platform to inspire others while embracing her love for the outdoors, 90s sitcoms, and hard rock music.

Risitano’s Interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity.

Q: What is your favorite memory from your time at SMC?
A: “Oh my… I have to think about this one. Yes! It was my 2-day overnight with the mountain leadership course in my first year. I couldn’t have prepared myself for how much I’d grow from that short experience. Throughout the weekend, I remember seeing everyone struggle with something different, we all had different personal battles we had to get through We became very close friends and turns out would spend a lot of time, over the next several years, teaching trips as a group. This overnight leadership course got me fully ‘addicted’ to adventure sports. I ended up getting a tattoo of the shelter we stayed at too.”

Q: What were you involved in on campus?
A: “I was very involved in Adventure sports, especially, teaching the mountain leader course, being an instructor, and coordinating backcountry skiing. I was an honors committee student representative and tried to take as many environmental classes that landed me in the Campus natural areas as often as possible. During my senior year, I became very close with the business faculty and worked on innovative projects that have lasting impacts. Like my class with Professor Popovich, Sustainable Entrepreneurship, where we did an audit of the school’s sustainability and green rating, we compiled a report, and offered recommendations on what to put money towards, which was included in Prof. Kristyn Achilich’s, Director of the Institute for the Environment, Fall report to the Cabinet.”

Q: What was your favorite class at SMC and what is the one thing that you know you will carry forward from this course?

A: “Business analytics, this was the class that presented the most challenges, but I think I got a lot out of the class. It is the class that had the most relevant materials that I am using in the real world, in my current job. I think Prof. Apesin taught us to stand independently with our thoughts and to really dig into the numbers behind what we are learning.”

Q: What do you think is the most special aspect of the SMC Department of Business Administration & Accounting?

A: “How close the faculty is and how they can build their classes off each other. Like, Professors Zhen and Morris substituted for Professor Anderson in one of my classes and I got to interact with them in different settings. Professor Morris would come into Professor Popovich’s class because they had an incredible combined wealth of knowledge on sustainable business. And I love that the faculty gets together out of school- it makes you want to be their friends…. OH, and their dogs are amazing and so adorable.”

Q: What professor had the most impact on your life or educational journey?

A: “Popovich, as a late business major I took Management over the summer, and after that I was excited to interact with her on a day-to-day basis on campus and take more of her classes. Over the summer I took Management with her, she would apologize for spelling errors in her emails, on account of answering from her phone while she literally undergoing treatment in the hospital. She gave us her all everyday, despite having every excuse not to, and I wanted to reciprocate that energy in all of my interactions with her. She never stopped caring and in one class I had with her, we even had an apple crisp party because she knew we were all stressed and needed a break.”

Q: Thinking about what brought you to where you are today, what advice would you offer our current students following in your footsteps?

A: “Every student needs to find what makes them tick in a non-academic sense, something they would never consider to be a job, yet has the traits of one… for me, that was my engagement in adventure sports. Eben Widlund & Ben Morton trusted me with the lives of 50+ people in the backcountry over my 3 years instructing, which was terrifying but so incredible. I would advise everyone to find a non-professor mentor. This was huge for me, as Eben & Ben were such amazing resources and guides for me during my time at St. Mike’s. After I told my parents, they were the first people to know I had gotten my post grad job… I’ll never forget sharing that exciting moment with the ASC staff.”

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: “I would love to plug Ingrid Peterson, in the Career Center. I think about her internship class and the book: The Unspoken Rules by Gorick Ng, we read regularly. Also, if you want to get good advice- go to her, she knows what she is talking about and will help you achieve your goals in any way she can. Seriously, she let me have her office for my post-grad job interview!”