William Paterson is tackling the first-year student transition in a new way, and alumni are leading the charge. Through a new pilot program, as part of the Pesce Family Mentoring Institute, first-year students on the WP football team are paired with WP athletics alumni who serve as their career mentors.
“I want our players to start building professional relationships as soon as they get to college,” says head football coach Shaun Williams.
Showing the success that’s possible long-term, after WP, is a great way to inspire freshmen, he thought. “If we can pair them up in the professional world right now, with someone who is active and successful, hopefully they can see themselves in that role right now.”
The pilot program—the result of a creative collaboration between WP Athletics, the Office of Alumni Relations, and the Career Development Center, which houses the Pesce Family Mentoring Institute— was announced in January, and by March, freshman football players had been matched with their career-focused alumni mentors.
For the past 10 years, the Pesce Family Mentoring Institute has matched successful professionals, who are either alumni or community partners, with WP students—typically juniors and seniors— based on their career interest. Its work has reaped phenomenal success: Per the latest survey results, in 2022, 97 percent of WP graduates who participated in the Institute were employed or pursuing graduate studies within six months of graduation, far exceeding the national rates.
The football community via the Pesce Family Mentoring Institute takes a slightly different approach, though, starting the mentorship relationship for first-year students and using mentors who share the lived experience of balancing academics and athletics at WP.
“The Pesce Family Mentoring Institute has a strong track record in preparing students for success after graduation, consistently leading to impressive employment outcomes. That success, coupled with the strong support of the University community, alumni, and community partners, has us eager to leverage the Institute where there is interest and opportunity,” says Miki Cammarata, vice president for student development.
“Student athletes, by their very nature, tend to be driven and focused, and highly responsive to support from their coaches and more experienced teammates. These qualities make them great candidates for career mentoring,” she continues. “With the added benefit of their mentor being a former WP athlete, we saw nothing but positives coming from the expansion of a program that typically serves juniors and seniors.”
Sean Connolly ’89, a Pioneer football alumnus and regional vice president of sales for Belknap White Group, has been a mentor with the Pesce Family Mentoring Institute for five years. He was instrumental in conceptualizing and launching the new program for football players.
“So many of us had such a positive experience being part of the football team at William Paterson,” Connolly says. His son Ryan, class of 2016, also played for the Pioneers. “We all take great pride in the program and are stewards for its future. All of us were in that locker room; whether we were there yesterday or 30 years ago, we had the same experience. There is no better way to give back than to give your time; give wisdom, advice, or a friendly ear.”
Chris Jacobs ’91, a former Pioneer football player who works at BNY Mellon as a director in institutional bond sales, signed up as a Pesce Family Mentoring Institute career mentor after learning about the new program for football players via the recent football beefsteak dinner on campus.
“I have two recent college graduates myself, and I know how difficult it is to navigate the world after school is over,” he says. “I thought this would be the best way for me to have an impact.”
Jacobs has just begun work with two mentees from the football team and now hopes to expand his outreach to non-football players in WP’s Cotsakos College of Business, by organizing visits to BNY Mellon so students can learn about the company and different career options there.
Aaron M. Stanley ’98, a former Pioneer football player and current senior system implementation specialist at Deloitte, landed a job in the financial industry right out of William Paterson, with KPMG, thanks to the University’s Career Development Center.
He was a few months into volunteering with the Pesce Family Mentoring Institute when the football program was announced. He quickly volunteered to take on another mentee.
“I think it is important to support freshman football players in this way … they do not know what they do not know,” Stanley says. “I take it seriously to develop these young men into a better version of themselves by helping to guide them through the college experience and life.”
Football player Karim Nasser, who wrapped up his freshman year in May, is Stanley’s newest mentee. An accounting major who dreams of starting his own business someday, Nasser says he’s enjoyed connecting with a mentor who can not only guide him professionally, but who also shares the same interests and experiences.
“I’m happy that he actually played football. We clicked in quick. We don’t always talk about professional stuff,” Nasser says, noting that he and Stanley root for the same NFL team. “He’s been giving me advice on my major, telling me how to approach it, and talking about how to get ready for an interview,” he continues.
Nasser says he also appreciates having a successful black male man as his role model and mentor—someone who can relate to him culturally, as well.
That said, inspired by the enthusiasm around the new football program, work to create another community within the Pesce Family Mentoring Institute is underway: a Black and Latino male mentoring initiative, aiming to match male students of color with male professional mentors of color. Stanley has already agreed to take on another mentee from this community.
Additionally, starting next academic year, the football community will be extended to interested players who are sophomores, juniors, or seniors.
“This is another tool we can utilize to motivate our students to be more active in their academic life and proactive in their professional life: another voice, not just me and my coaches,” Coach Williams says. “The more people we have saying it—telling these young men that they can be successful, and they can have a professional career after graduation—the better.”
Thanks to WP’s alumni, there are now many such voices to be heard.
06/11/24
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