Junior Mercy Franzonello enjoys reading bedtime stories.
Courtesy | Mercy Franzonello
Mercy Franzonello is a junior history major and dance minor from Chelsea, Michigan. She works at Mossey Library, is a member of the Tower Dancers, and is co-head resident assistant in McIntyre Residence.
What’s the best dorm besides McIntyre?
I’m probably Simpson’s biggest fan. I think that all of the dorms are great, and they’re all good for the different people that live in them, but Simpson has a unique and fun culture that drives the rest of campus culture. In McIntyre, we try to live up to Simpson culture, so really, it’s a driving force for us.
After a busy day of work and classes, what’s your favorite way to unwind?
My roommate and I have recently been reading bedtime stories. We go to the children’s section of the library and pick out the randomest books — sometimes they’re really weird. One of the ones we read recently sounded like it was put through Google Translate and made no sense at all.
What’s a good piece of advice you received from someone at Hillsdale?
Director of Academic Services Christy Maier once said that homework will expand to fill whatever time you give it and shrink to fill whatever time you give it. And I think that’s so true, because somehow everything always does get done, even if you have a limited amount of time. So sometimes it’s always better not to give yourself all day to do something that you probably could squeeze into less time.
What advice do you have for freshmen?
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Sometimes it’s good to take yourself seriously. But if you come to Hillsdale, you’re probably a driven person and want to do well academically, and that’s really good. But sometimes it’s also good to take a step back and have fun.
What do you love about the history major?
We have the best professors ever. You can’t take a bad history class. The professors just know everything about the subject that they teach, so regardless of what class you’re taking, you’re gonna get expert knowledge on it.
What’s your favorite hobby?
I love to dance ballet. Here, I’m a part of Tower Dancers, so I take dance classes and also perform. It’s been a lifelong journey — I’ve been dancing since I was 4 and danced pretty professionally in high school, and then started with Tower Dancers as soon as I got here.
What’s the best and worst thing about living in Michigan?
The best thing is that Michigan is the best state, but also the Great Lakes. My family loves to go to Lake Michigan in the late summer, because then the water is warm and there are fewer people if you go at the very end of August when people are going back to school. It’s peaceful and the water’s warm, which is so amazing. Ironically, the worst part of living in Michigan is all the rain — which is probably also because of the lakes.
What’s your comfort film?
The four-part “Little Women” BBC series. I tend to like a lot of BBC film series because they’re longer, and that lets them stick closer to the book. If you have more time, you just get more details from the story.
If you could fluently speak any foreign language, which would it be?
Italian. I’m Italian, so I feel like I should know how to speak it. I don’t at all, but I think that’d be pretty cool. I would love to go to Italy someday and be able to speak it.
What’s a favorite childhood memory?
Getting lost in the woods with my goats. My best friend growing up who goes here, junior Evelyn Shurtliff, would come over to my house, and we would put my goats on leashes and walk around in my woods and would keep going until we felt like we got lost. The thing is, we never got lost — I live on five acres, which isn’t that far. But we’d scare ourselves into actually thinking we were lost and letting the goats guide us back home, which was fun.
Do you have a favorite musical?
“The Sound of Music.” I really like the music. Growing up, I would always watch it with my mom on Dec. 21. I don’t know how it ended up being that date specifically, but I know for sure that it’s that day because one of my brothers was born on Dec. 22 and so one year, we didn’t get to watch it together, because she was in the hospital. So I watched it at home while she watched it in the hospital while she was in labor.
What’s your favorite thing about being co-head RA of McIntyre?
I love being an RA because you get to know the freshmen as friends. I think that a lot of juniors don’t, especially women, because it’s harder to get to know the freshmen when you’re not living in the same dorm as them. I’ve already become friends with some of the freshmen in ways that I just don’t think I would have, at least not as quickly, if I was living in an upperclassmen dorm. I also just love this year’s RA team. I don’t know how we got so lucky, but they’re amazing. We just all get along so well, and we’re all close friends.
