Alumni to the Rescue

Winter seems to have dropped responsibility for the weather this week, so while I’m slipping or sloshing around campus I’m thinking of other things, too. Finishing my first feature-length film script, for one. Editing 30 papers for the intro to politics class I’m mentoring. Condensing the first half of my sustainability class at hockey rival Clarkson into 1000 to 1500 words. Finding a dress for my spring Kappa Delta Sigma social this weekend. Trying to remember where I put Susan Merrell '83’s gold eagle-embossed business card after our informational interview yesterday.

Note to self: invest in a rolodex-type device that scans, alphabetizes by industry and stores forever all of the millions of business cards I’ve collected in my almost 4 years at SLU. Not millions, maybe, but over a handful of cards have made their way into the bottoms of my purses, pockets and drawers since I discovered how willing our alumni network is to dole out career advice. And small cardboard cards.

My home this semester, Sykes residence, finally sees some snow.

I’ve gotten business cards giving campus tours to children of alumni. I’ve gotten them at sendoff events for upcoming First Years the summer before school starts. I’ve collected them intentionally at “mocktail” networking events, where students mingle with a roomful of alumni, competing for the most business cards as a reward for professional conversations. I went to a senior dinner with the board of trustees and added a few more cards to my collection.

My collection which, as I think of what to say in my thank-you note to Ms. Merrell, is luckily nowhere to be found.

The opportunities for involvement with the St. Lawrence network are limitless. I now regularly check StintsLink, our database I’ve finally started looking around, to see the jobs and internships alumni have posted. My dad attended a Red Sox game "Saints Network Event" with 50 parents and grads he’d never met while I was in Spain last spring. I got ideas for a West Coast alumni internship this summer from a friend’s mom while chatting in my swimsuit, after a meet.

Taking a break from networking to visit the TAUNY mitten-knitting contest downtown

More formally, our Laurentians in Residence program brings groups of alumni to campus every semester for students to learn firsthand what it’s like to advise Senator Gillibrand and former Senator Clinton, in Susan Merrell’s case; to perform 700 surgeries a year like panelist Karen Chojnacki ’91; to be handed a professional video camera atop the Himalayas and help finish a documentary, in the case of Jason Dittmer ’94, launching his St. Lawrence Spanish degree into a 10-year film career in Los Angeles.

Sitting at panels like Laurentians in Residence, at dinners with the board of trustees and in front of my computer pretending my future can be catalyzed with a plan makes me appreciate the incredible involvement of our alumni. And, as much as I dislike the idea of leaving this place, I can’t wait to develop into someone who, 20 years down the road, can help more excited students (like me, right now) find their place in a world St. Lawrence gave us the confidence to improve. 

Sleigh bells ring, no snow needed! An impromptu  ride around campus for the Outing Club's winter weekend