By Liam Reilly
@liampreilly852
The Office of Alumni Relations hosted their “Evening of Alumni & Student Career Networking” last Thursday night. The event held in the Dodge room in the Campus Union featured over 50 alumni who were eager to network with current students. Alumnus were spread out across 18 different tables that students rotated from throughout the night.
Maria Crawford, the Interim Director of Alumni Relations, helped put together the event. The first alumni and student networking event took place in 2009. The Student Government Association President at the time, Matt Fenlon, spoke about the idea with alumni director Tamie Kiddess Lucey and started planning the gathering.
Despite this taking place during the Great Recession where the job market was struggling, lots of Springfield alumni showed their support and attended.
Crawford was announced as the interim director in the fall when previous director Delaney Magoffin was hired by Williston Northampton School to be their Director of Alumni Engagement. Her new title has looked different from her previous position as the associate director.
“It’s been very busy,” Crawford said. “We’re doing the best we can, making the most of each and every day to continue to engage our alumni and students as best as we can with the resources that we have.”
Being able to engage with alumni and students was a huge part in setting up the evening of networking. Since returning to Alumni Relations in 2009 after taking a break, Crawford has met and established connections with hundreds of different alumni.
“It’s a list that has grown over the years, and it’s a combination of folks that I’ve gotten to know over the years,” Crawford said. “I have found that you need to invite between 300-400 people just to get 50-60 in the room. It’s better to have more alums than not enough.”
One alum that was present Thursday night was Kelsey Armstrong. She first graduated from Western New England in 2016 and earned her master’s degree in athletic administration from Springfield College in 2018.
Armstrong currently serves as the Associate Director of Athletics for Academic Success at the University of Massachusetts. Even though it was only two years, her time at Springfield helped Armstrong get to where she is now.
“I was fortunate to be hired as an athletic administration graduate assistant for the athletics department,” Armstrong said. “It allowed me to have real work experience during my masters which undoubtedly helped me transition into my first full-time role. The biggest influence on me was Coach Joel Dearing, we still connect monthly and he serves as a great mentor for me now.”
Armstrong represented UMass athletics at the event. At UMass, she works with Springfield alumni such as UMass athletics director Ryan Bamford. Springfield administrators and alumni were key supporters during Armstrong’s time on Alden Street, and now she wants to pour into student’s careers and invest in their growth as professionals.
“Ultimately, my best advice is to make meaningful connections with students, faculty and alumni while they are on campus and afterwards as well,” Armstrong said. “The greatest strength of Springfield is the community and network that you join when you arrive on campus. Use this as an asset.”
Students had over an hour to meet with alumni like Armstrong and learn what their career paths have looked like. Some alumnus even got creative and switched the format, having students give their own pitch of who they want to be.
“It was really full circle in the sense that we had a few alums at the event last Thursday that had come before as students,” Crawford said. “Nothing’s better than seeing those that I remember as students coming back, doing really well professionally and sharing their wisdom and expertise with our current students. It really shows that the Springfield College connection is alive and well.”
Tyler Walter, a third year student in the Sport Management program, attended the gathering and got to speak with different sport franchises like the Boston Red Sox and the Springfield Thunderbirds. Walter described the experience as eye-opening.
“It was awesome to see how many different avenues Springfield College has been able to help students throughout the years to be successful,” Walter said. “It was also cool to hear the alumni talk about their paths and how different they are and how no path is a straight one.”
The biggest takeaway for Walter was how much of a family the Springfield College alumni and students are. Even alumni who graduated from Springfield before the current students were born still showed up to give advice, showing the strength of the connections that Pride alumni can offer.
“They express the importance of having connections to be successful in what you want to do and their advice is helpful because they’ve been through it all – school, first jobs, reaching and surpassing their goals,” Walter said. “They’re definitely inspiring and helpful to say the least.”
After the success of last week’s event, Alumni Relations is preparing for another networking opportunity for students and alumni in New York City for the first time since 2019. The trip will take place on April 3, with 50 students being bussed to the West Side YMCA in midtown Manhattan.
“The West Side YMCA was built in the early 1920’s and outside of the building is an engraved spirit, mind and body YMCA triangle, so it’s a wonderful location for us,” Crawford said.
Crawford is hoping to have 15-20 alumni participate to make for an interactive networking experience for the students going on the trip. Any student can attend, regardless of major or class year.
“It will be general networking in nature but you never know who you may meet that may impact your career path later on,” Crawford said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students to engage with not just our New York City alumni, but folks that live in New Jersey, Long Island or Westchester. We’re really excited to go back there.”
Photo Courtesy of Springfield College