‘One of the best decisions I ever made’: A transfer student transformed by St. Mike’s community heads next to Harvard

Isabella Pierie ’26 (Courtesy of Isabella Pierie)

As Isabella Pierie ’26 prepared to talk at Admitted Student Weekend earlier this spring, the transfer student opted for an unconventional opening: “I start off my speech saying I actually didn’t intend on going here originally.”

Pierie has learned that life sometimes isn’t what’s originally planned. She arrived at Saint Michael’s College at the start of her junior year.

“Things don’t always need to look linear, and that’s something I struggled with,” because Pierie thought they did, she said.

Pierie graduated in May with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and she currently has an independent research study under review for publication and an acceptance into Harvard’s Premedical Program — the next step toward the combined JD-MD she plans to pursue.

“(Coming to St. Mike’s) was one of the best decisions I ever made,” she said. “I got an amazing education here.”

An unexpected transition

The Manlius, New York, native started her higher-ed journey at Le Moyne College, a Jesuit institution in Syracuse near where she grew up. She was majoring in English and playing defense on the soccer team. After two years there, though, she wanted something different.

Isabella Pierie ’26, right, poses with her parents. (Photo courtesy of Isabella Pierie)

“I went to high school with all the same people that I went to college with,” she said. “I just wanted a change.”

Pierie applied and was accepted as a transfer student at both the University of Vermont — she thought she wanted something bigger — and St. Mike’s. Weeks before the start of the fall semester, her father died suddenly of a heart attack. The generous scholarship offered by St. Mike’s made it the more affordable option.

“It was a hard period,” she said. “My mom and I sat down, and she said, ‘You need to go to school. You love school. Your dad loves school. You just need to keep pushing.’ And that’s what I did.”

Less than a month later, Pierie arrived on campus. She credits Heidi St. Peter, Vice President of Enrollment Management, with making her transition to St. Mike’s successful.

“She is quite literally the reason I am standing here today,” Pierie said.

St. Peter, then the Director of Purposeful Learning, began their conversation in the usual way, asking about her transfer journey. Then Pierie shared about her father.

St. Peter said she remembers stopping everything and asking: “Are you OK?”

During that first conversation, Pierie recalled St. Peter eventually asking her: What did she want to actually do in her life?

Finding a path – and a community

Pierie was already interested in both law and medicine, even more so following her father’s death. She decided to shift her studies from English to Political Science with a focus in pre-law, and she began to connect with the St. Mike’s community, starting with her professors.

Isabella Pierie ’26 poses with her dog. (Photo courtesy of Isabella Pierie)

“Genuinely, I have never in my life experienced community in the way that I have experienced it here,” Pierie said. Professors stayed late and worked one-on-one with her on papers, as she navigated classes, grief, and working three jobs.

“She wasn’t afraid to talk to professors,” St. Peter said of Pierie. “She’s gotten to know (them), and she’s allowed professors to get to know her. Different opportunities open up all the time at St. Mike’s when that happens.”

One of those opportunities came via a campus-wide email — the chance to apply for funding through the Trustee Scholar Program to pursue an independent research study.

Pierie wanted to pursue a project where the legal and medical fields converge. She asked Peter Vantine, Director and Associate Professor of the Classical & Modern Languages & Literature Program who specializes in French, to serve as her faculty advisor. Other subject-area experts could help her with technical questions, but Vantine, she knew, could help her strengthen her writing.

The result is “Epidemiologic and Regulatory Evidence of mRNA Vaccine-Associated Myocarditis in Young Males and the Legal Ramifications,” her academic research paper currently being submitted for publication.

Connections on campus and with her research led to other opportunities, including a legal policy internship with the Vermont Public Health Association (VtPHA) and a chance to work with their new statewide vaccine coalition.

This summer, she begins work at a local law firm and study with Harvard’s Premedical Program — a one-year, largely online program for students who did not major in biology or biochemistry as undergraduates that serves as a pathway to medical school.

After that, Pierie plans to apply to Harvard’s JD-MD program.

“I couldn’t really decide which one I wanted to do more because I enjoyed both of them a lot,” Pierie said.

Pierie credits her parents and the St. Mike’s community for getting her where she is.

St. Peter said Pierie is a “great example of a student who had a clear idea of where she wanted to go, knew what we offered, learned even more of what we offered, and took advantage of it.”

“We all played our part, but she did the work,” St. Peter said. “She’s a hard worker, a really impressive person.”