Oswego State has a new communications and community-connecting site called Laker Life that students, faculty and staff can now access. Michael Paestella, director of student involvement at The Point, said students will soon be asking, “How did we ever exist without it?” The website, powered by Collegiatelink, offers students the ability to create individual profiles, connect with school organizations, follow news, create co-curricular transcripts, and manage documents.

Laker Life was officially introduced to Oswego State during the last week of Spring 2013. Registered Oswego State students can create a Laker Life profile by logging in with the same username and password they use to access their Angel system or their college e-mail. Once logged in, the student can edit their profile to their liking and have free range of access to all of Laker Life’s facilities.

Michael Paestella said he believes that the new site is going to be beneficial for the college and is an important tool for the future of Oswego State. Paestella also said he believes in the near-future, programs such as the GST and IST courses, which are held in Johnson and Hart residence halls, will be able to utilize Laker Life to help keep record of student attendance at GST and IST events and track community service hours. Paestella also notes that Oswego State clubs registered with The Point will be able to hold their elections via Laker Life.

“Knowing how many SUNY schools are moving to it and hearing the stories of success from people who do SAPB-type of programming, to the Greek councils. I think it’s going to have a huge impact on residence life,” Paestella said.

But do Oswego State students know of this new campus communications site? For the upperclassmen, this may be a whole new world for them.

“Laker Life? No, I’ve never heard of it,” said senior early childhood education major Shannon Bandinelli. “It’s interesting, but has it taken off? Some of my classmates and I have already decided to just make a Facebook page for our class.”

For students apprehensive about Laker Life who question if it will actually be utilized, Paestella explains the site can be integrated with other social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Students with smart phones can create a “badge” for it.

“I think that once this site really takes off and people know what it can do and what it’s made for, I think it’s going to take the place of Facebook. Certainly for clubs,” says junior global and international studies major Jacqueline Phaneuf. “Once you do join, it makes a world of difference.”

For students interested in learning more about Laker Life, sessions will be held at The Point on Monday, Sept. 16. at 2 p.m. and Wednesday, Sept. 18. at 3 p.m.