SEATTLE – On Monday night, Seattle U student athletes gathered for the department's annual Career Event, taking place for the first time in a virtual space. The event, co-hosted by the Seattle U Career Engagement Office, featured a variety of panelists, including many recent Redhawk alumni, discussing topics within the overarching theme of "transitions."
"We had four really dynamic sessions with our student athletes," said Hilary Flanagan, Executive Director of the Career Engagement Office. "In addition to the strong engagement and great conversation, the best part was seeing the student leaders who helped plan the event step up as moderators and panelists themselves. Our guest speakers and game emcee brought a compelling mix of vulnerability and inspiration for actionable steps to take based on the insights that they have gained through their experiences. The entire Career Engagement Office team looks forward to continuing to work with our student athletes as they dive more deeply into the resources available to them, and we are encouraged by the opportunity for them to stay connected to the participating alumni and other student athlete alumni through Redhawk Landing."
Sessions were divided up by year in school with topics including "Transitioning to What's Next" for seniors, "From the Back-Burner to the Front-Burner, Prioritizing Career Engagement" for juniors, "Beneficial and Challenging Interactions – Experiential Opportunities and Networking/Mentoring" for sophomores and "What Can I Do Every Day to Get Ready?" for freshmen.
"I loved that the alumni focused on the bridge between graduating and between starting a job, and the emotional/social side that comes with it," said softball senior Ally Choate. "I think that often gets overlooked, and I'm grateful our panelists covered it."
"I enjoyed hearing from the alumni about the different points in their careers and varying experiences," said baseball junior Desmond Parisotto.
Seattle U graduates serving as panelists included Emmanuel Chibuogwu, '17 (men's basketball), who now works as a data scientist at Amazon, Julia Besagno, '14 (women's soccer), who now works as a registered nurse at Boston Children's Hospital, Jamie Hegg, '20 (women's track & field), who is currently in the Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership graduate program at UW, Stephanie Bayless, '16 (women's swimming), who now works as a manager and recruiter for Sherwin Williams, Tyler Yeh, '20 (baseball), who now works on the audit team at Parametric and Emma Mitchell, '19 (softball), who is in her second year as a law student at St. Louis University. Also joining as a panelist was Laurin Taylor MS, LMHC, a counselor with GoodTherapy.org.
"This event reminded me that we are all Redhawks for life," said Mitchell. "Being able to present to a community that helped shape me into who I am today was a super awesome experience to be a part of. Seeing familiar Redhawk faces, seeing new Redhawk faces, and talking about how being involved in the Redhawk network for life was so neat to be involved in."
Current seniors also served as panelists, sharing their very recent experiences and takeaways as student athletes as part of the session for current sophomores.
"I remember attending this career engagement meeting as a sophomore and remembering how beneficial it was to hear from the upperclassman," said women's basketball senior Makenna Schoenhofer. "Fast forward and now I am the upperclassman, and I wanted to make sure I could share a little bit of knowledge with them and hopefully make an impact on their journey here at Seattle U."
The annual Career Event is a key programming component of The Redhawk Experience (TREx), Seattle U's distinctive Ignatian approach to intercollegiate athletics.
The lifelong habit of mind of engage, reflect, serve, and prepare was on full display on Monday night. Student athletes showed up and engaged in their sessions and reflected upon their career preparation through follow-up surveys. Alumni panelists "came back to campus" to serve, and the student athletes left the career event prepared to advance their career preparation.
All student athletes and alumni are encouraged to join Redhawk Landing, Seattle U's mentoring and networking platform that opens doors by connecting them to a powerful online resource where university community members can build purposeful connections and mentoring. Learn more about Redhawk Landing HERE.
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