Emma MacDonald | Sports Editor & Social Media Coordinator | emacdonald@mail.smcvt.edu
Hearing the sentence, “Congratulations to the Class of 2019” with her classmates feeling bittersweet emotions is a memory Annie Martin, ‘19, has very fresh in her mind. Watching her graduation cap soar up into the air and land right by her feet, was a moment Martin assumed would end her journey at St. Michael’s College. Four years later, instead of her story at St. Michael’s ending after graduating, a new chapter had just begun.
On Oct. 7, 2024, she walked into her first day of work at the same place she used to call home. She was hired as the new Associate Director of Athletics at St. Michael’s College, the place she earned her degree at and made count- less memories during her time at St. Mikes just four short years ago. Martin
sat down at her empty desk ready to fill it with some of the same pens and pencils she used while a student.
Along with Martin, numerous other alumni work at St. Michael’s College. According to the College Office of Human Resources and Department of Institutional Advancement, 118 alumni
now serve as employees. They work in a range of departments from HR to academics. When looking at such a high number of alumni returning back to St. Michael’s, something special must be drawing them back. Is it a collaborative and supportive environment? The passionate teachers? Familiar Environment?
I think that is one of the coolest characteristics about St. Michael’s is our strong alumni network,”
Kate Soons, ’92, an instructor of biology at St. Michael’s said she could go on for hours about how much of an impact the friendly community has on individuals. “It’s a friendly community, and just by virtue by being on campus we’re friends!” Soons talked about how the school means much more to her than just a college. This may be because being a purple knight literally runs in her family, or at least that’s what Soon thinks. Soon’s father graduated from St. Michael’s in 1964, and in the 1980s, he brought her all the way to Colchester from Missouri to just give the school a look. That “look” led her to spending four years at the school where she ended up meeting her husband too. Years later, their son graduated from St. Michael’s in 2021. “One of our cool characteristics about St. Michael’s is our strong alumni network,” said Soons.
The way students at St. Michael’swould describe Kate Soons as a passionate and heartfelt person and professor, was the same way she talked about the St. Michael’s community’s passionate and heartfelt people. Soons thinks the reason so many alumni work at St. Michael’s is simple. “It’s the people. It’s a community. It’s a small tight knit community where I can have a conversation with anybody in the stairwell,” Soons said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a professor, if it’s a staff member, it’s a student I just talk to everyone.”
Soons said this sense of community contributes to a strong alumni net- work. “I think that is one of the coolest characteristics about St. Michael’s is our strong alumni network,” Soons said.
Paul Constantino, ’92, professor of Biology at St. Michael’s also happens to be a proud alum. This is also where he met classmate Kate Soons many years ago! “I remember meeting her freshman year and remember thinking, I like this person, she’s really cool.
We went our separate ways freshman year, then ended up back together working at St. Michaels.” When talking about his undergrad experience at the college, Constantino’s favorite thing about the school is how professors get to know their students and vice versa. Before St. Michael’s, he taught at Marshall University where he had 150 students in his classes which was hard to make connections with. He remembers making connections with his own professors here at St Michael’s when he attended the college. “While at Marshall I was really looking for the chance to get to know my students again and actually get to know their ambitions and what was driving them and have more of a direct connection with them,” Constantino said.
He feels that he succeeded at St. Michael’s because his professors actually knew him and cared about him doing well. “If it wasn’t for that I probably wouldn’t have finished in four years,” Contantino said . “I wasn’t motivated, didn’t know what I wanted to do at the time and that bond with professors led me to graduate.” Constantino, like many other professors at St. Michael’s strives to create strong bonds and connections with his students because he knows the impact it will have on them due to the same way St. Michael’s professors had on him.
Like Soons and Constantino, Annie Martin would say her experience at St Michale’s College shaped who she is today. “My older cousins, Sheila, ’09, and Mary, ’12, played soccer here, and my sister Claire, ’14 played lacrosse, which undoubtedly sold my twin, Kate ’19, and I on being a Purple Knight, Martin said. “I feel incredibly lucky to now work here, as there’s something special about Saint Mike’s that draws everyone in [and back in again].” Family played a huge role for the Martin’s during their time at St. Michael’s and also for the Soons family. “My four years on a college campus fundamentally shaped me, and experiencing it as part of a team was an irreplaceable experience.”