The following was written by Doug Buser, a senior captain on the 2010 Seattle University baseball team who received his degree last June.
Two days after graduation, I started working down in the Gulf of Mexico for BP's High Interest Technologies Test Team.
The High Interest Technologies Test (HITT) Team is a global collaboration of spill response, environmental, and oil field experts with over 200 years of experience. The HITT Team's members focus on using their experience and the public's ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit to implement innovations for the Deepwater Horizon response effort. BP encouraged the public to submit oil spill response ideas, and after categorization, my team goes out into the field and tests these new technologies. I am the team's strategic communications lead, constructing messages to help connect my team with the media and the public.
This last year as a captain on Seattle U's Baseball team, I learned the importance of collaboration, humility, and service. I used these lessons in the professional work place when dealing with citizens that have been affected by the Deepwater Horizon Response and my Seattle U experience gave me the confidence to deal with local, national, and international news organizations. One of the highlights for me was getting my boss on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
Seattle U prepared me for the professional world, and has empowered me to achieve my early professional goals. Seattle U consistently challenged me both academically and athletically because of the university's commitment to educating the whole person. On a daily basis, I coordinate and communicate with local community officals, community leaders and members, federal agencies, the US Coast Guard and other military officials, members of Congress, and other members of the Incidient Command Posts, Area Command, and Unified Command. Seattle U's Jesuit education taught me the meaning of true service, and has helped prepare me to serve these local communities and reinforced my commitment towards social justice.
Seattle U's faculty challenged me to be an independent critical thinker, and the athletic department particularly showed me what true dedication means. Both of these traits were necessary for me to succeed in the classroom and on the baseball field. Being challenged intellectually at Seattle U prepared me to effectively collaborate with my colleagues.
As I reflect on my time in the Gulf, I cannot stress how much I owe being a student-athlete at Seattle University. The Seattle U community shaped me and prepared me, and I am trying to represent our shared values in all facets of my life.