Oxy Athletics and the Hameetman Career Center (HCC) hosted an Alumni Career Panel April 4, bringing together former and current student athletes. Four student-athlete alumni attended to share their experiences navigating their careers after graduation: Corinne Bates ’21, Erin Matsumoto ’17, Jesse Kreger ’16 and Glenn Gray ’10. Director of Athletics Shanda Ness moderated the panel. Together, the group discussed a wide range of career fields.
According to Ness, this was the second year that this event was held with the HCC to provide current student athletes the opportunity to hear how alumni have found the skills they gained from their athletic experiences valuable in the workplace.
“The Oxy Athletics Alumni Career Panel is an opportunity for our current student athletes to connect with alumni from various career paths who have successfully transitioned from being student athletes to their professional fields,” Ness said via email. “Through this panel, attendees will gain valuable advice on career development, networking and the impact of athletics on personal and professional growth.”
Ness began the panel discussion by asking the alumni to share how their athletic skills and experiences translated into their professional lives.
Bates, who majored in psychology and played on the lacrosse team, now works as an analyst for an FBI-organized crime squad.
“[As a student athlete], you have to balance a lot with practices, games, but also school, and if you want to succeed in both, you have to put a lot of time and effort in,” Bates said. “The same is true [in the workplace] […] If you want to succeed at your job, you need to take that initiative and learn as much as you can and put a lot of effort in and if you don’t know what to do, then reach out to others.”
According to Kreger, learning how to communicate effectively is another transferable skill from athletics to the workplace. As a computational biologist, Kreger said he does data analysis and mathematical modeling for biological instruments in various clinical trials for cancer research, evaluating drugs for cancer treatment. While at Occidental, Kreger was a math major and played on the tennis team. Kreger said a typical day for him now includes meetings with oncologists, clinicians and mathematicians.
“They all speak a very different language, so to get everyone on the same page and move things forward is definitely a skill that I’ve learned and redeveloped many times,” Kreger said. “I think being part of a college team or being in a team environment is huge for that. You all have difficult conversations with coaches or teammates.”
Gray majored in history while playing baseball at Occidental. After graduating, he went to law school and worked in the U.S. Coast Guard as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) before securing his current job as a labor and employment attorney for the Department of Defense. He spoke about his experiences as captain of the baseball team senior year, after being named all-region his first and sophomore year and then being unable to play junior because of an injury. According to Gray, this made him develop leadership skills that he uses in his day-to-day life with clients. He also said being a student athlete was a grounding experience and made him comfortable with failure and capable of handling adversity.
“Baseball is an air of failure. Now I’m being asked to consult people who really place their trust in me, and if things don’t work out, they don’t work out,” Gray said. “Sometimes you get bails, sometimes you get convictions. But one thing I kept coming back to was ‘Control what you can control.’”
The panel then began to discuss how resources at Occidental helped them prepare for their lives after college. Matsumoto, who double majored in kinesiology and psychology while playing on the basketball team, currently works as a physical therapist for professional athletes. She said the small school environment of Occidental allowed her to connect to her peers and professors in the kinesiology department, which helped her gain internships in the physical therapy field. However, she also said that a lot of her accomplishments were a product of her own hard work and willingness to take initiative by reaching out to various clinics for internships and volunteer positions.
“Be comfortable with the uncomfortable, and more opportunities will come your way,” Matsumoto said.
The guests shared advice they would give to their student-athlete selves for life after Occidental. Kreger said putting oneself out there and using athletic experience to connect with others is important, while Gray said being the best version of oneself is a way to continue competing after graduating. Matsumoto said to capitalize on opportunities instead of shying away and closing doors that could lead to something great.
“Just have a good attitude, work hard and be professional,” said Bates. “Those are three things I always really try to do, and I still try to do now.”
Over 50 student athletes attended the event and had the opportunity to network with the panelists afterward over an assortment of desserts. Ayla Shores (first year), a player on the women’s volleyball team, said it was interesting to learn how the alumni were still using the skills they learned through their Occidental athletic experience in their diverse career fields.
“It’s inspiring to see how beneficial some of these life skills are, like communication, time management and work ethic,” Shores said. “One piece of advice I will take with me is to self-advocate for yourself and how important it is to put yourself out there.”
Contact Lilia Tanabe at ltanabe@oxy.edu
